Huh? What? Oh, yeah. I was supposed to become a baseball fan this year. How's that going?
Previous installments:
The Baseball Diaries Part 1
The Baseball Diaries Part 2
Okay, here's the deal. My last entry was written on the night of the Nats' home opener, which was...wow. Six months ago. At the time, I honestly meant to give this baseball thing a shot. It just didn't work out. All those goals I outlined? Didn't accomplish a single one of them. I'm not sure why it didn't happen. I guess a combination of real life getting in the way, along with general apathy. Mostly apathy. I think I may just have to accept the fact that I'm a one-sport man. Or maybe I'll give hockey a try.
But the one thing I really did want to do this season was check out the new stadium. And I kept putting it off and putting it off until this past Saturday, when I realized the regular season was wrapping up. So I checked the schedule and saw that since I couldn't make it to any of this week's games, this past weekend was my last chance until next year. Sunday was naturally out of the question since the Redskins were playing, so Saturday night's game against the Padres it was.
I'll break down my thoughts into three sections: the stadium, the food, and the game.
The Stadium
It's awesome. Superior to RFK in every conceivable way. Better view from the seats, better view from the concourse (and of course, by that, I mean "a view from the concourse"), better proximity to the Metro, better restrooms, better everything. It's so great, I actually found myself getting angry at RFK for sucking so much. Why haven't we demolished that place, anyway? It's not like it's still being used. Oh, right. The United. Okay, it's not like it's being used for anything important. Let's blow that sucker up.
Strolling around before the game was a lot of fun. The team really goes all out to present a festive atmosphere. A DJ. Contests. The presidents posing for pictures. Speed dating. A guy walking around with a live owl on his arm. I also briefly checked out the much-ballyhooed PS3 area and...okay. I mean, I guess there's no good reason not to have Guitar Hero stands. I'm not sure what any of it has to do with baseball, but yeah, okay, why not?
My one major complaint is that there's only one giant video screen. For most of the people in the stadium, this isn't a problem, as their view is fine. But anyone sitting out in center field, as I was, doesn't see jack. They couldn't have installed a second screen on the opposite side of the stadium? Even a smaller one? I'm sure "Nat Flix" was absolutely hilarious, but I wouldn't know, because I couldn't see it.
Food
It was really nice to have a couple of dozen food options instead of the handful that were present at RFK. Same lousy customer service, though. Before the game started when no one was buying food, I saw multiple employees just standing behind the counter twiddling their thumbs. By the fifth inning when everyone was buying food, they'd all disappeared. When the guy in front of me in line got to the counter, Employee A asked him to hold on, because Employee B, the person supposed to be working the counter, had apparently wandered off. After a minute of uncomfortable silence where no one was getting served and the line was getting longer, Employee A reluctantly grabbed a pair of gloves and started serving people.
(Speaking of gloves, Nationals, tell your employees to take them off when they step out from behind the counter. I saw one kid counting money while walking through the concourse on his way to wherever it was he was going, with his gloves still on. No doubt he was still wearing those gloves when he went back behind the counter. I'll bet the next person he served spent some time in the restroom yesterday morning.)
Back to the food. Now, I didn't want to eat as much as I did. But I figured that to really deliver a comprehensive review, I had to. It's called journalistic integrity, people.
Nats Dog - $4: Decent hot dog. Nothing special, but it wasn't bad, and toppings were plentiful. And considering how inflated stadium pricing for food is, $4 actually felt like a bargain.
Popcorn - $4.75: Actually a pretty good value. It comes in a nice large box, wasn't overly-salty, and I didn't run into any unpopped kernel until I got to the bottom.
Budwiser (bottle) - $7.50: Yes, it's a ridiculous price for a Bud. Here's what really struck me, though: a bottle of domestic beer is $7.50, while a bottle of Coke costs $4.50. Which is also fucking obscene, but with only a $3 difference between the two, kudos to the Nats for making the decision between soda and beer so easy.
Chicken Tenders - $9.50: Blatant false advertising, as these weren't tender, nor would I be surprised if they weren't actually chicken. But regardless of what animal or animals they were made from, for almost ten bucks, I expect a lot better than rough, tasteless meat, dried out after sitting under a heat lamp for God knows how long. They give you a ton of fries so you don't feel completely cheated, and packets of BBQ sauce to drown the alleged chicken in, but it's still a lousy menu item.
The Game
Meh. Obviously, it wasn't surprising that the Nats lost. Had I gone to Friday's game, I also would have seen the Nats lose, but at least I would have also seen a decent attempt at offense. As it stood, I saw neither offense nor defense. Mostly, it was just guys in jerseys standing around.
What was surprising is how vicious the Nats' fans were about it. Being a Redskins fan these past ten years, I'm well acquainted with home fans booing their team. But last night was the first time I'd ever seen fans actually taunting the players on their team. When Willie Harris fell backwards on his ass while trying not to get hit by the ball coming his way, it got particularly brutal.
Anyway, thus ends the great baseball experiment. For this season, in any case. Maybe I'll give it another shot next year. Maybe not. I will however make the same offer I made a year ago, where if the Indians win the World Series, I'll dive into the sport with both feet. But somehow, I think I'm safe.
Previous installments:
The Baseball Diaries Part 1
The Baseball Diaries Part 2
Okay, here's the deal. My last entry was written on the night of the Nats' home opener, which was...wow. Six months ago. At the time, I honestly meant to give this baseball thing a shot. It just didn't work out. All those goals I outlined? Didn't accomplish a single one of them. I'm not sure why it didn't happen. I guess a combination of real life getting in the way, along with general apathy. Mostly apathy. I think I may just have to accept the fact that I'm a one-sport man. Or maybe I'll give hockey a try.
But the one thing I really did want to do this season was check out the new stadium. And I kept putting it off and putting it off until this past Saturday, when I realized the regular season was wrapping up. So I checked the schedule and saw that since I couldn't make it to any of this week's games, this past weekend was my last chance until next year. Sunday was naturally out of the question since the Redskins were playing, so Saturday night's game against the Padres it was.
I'll break down my thoughts into three sections: the stadium, the food, and the game.
The Stadium
It's awesome. Superior to RFK in every conceivable way. Better view from the seats, better view from the concourse (and of course, by that, I mean "a view from the concourse"), better proximity to the Metro, better restrooms, better everything. It's so great, I actually found myself getting angry at RFK for sucking so much. Why haven't we demolished that place, anyway? It's not like it's still being used. Oh, right. The United. Okay, it's not like it's being used for anything important. Let's blow that sucker up.
Strolling around before the game was a lot of fun. The team really goes all out to present a festive atmosphere. A DJ. Contests. The presidents posing for pictures. Speed dating. A guy walking around with a live owl on his arm. I also briefly checked out the much-ballyhooed PS3 area and...okay. I mean, I guess there's no good reason not to have Guitar Hero stands. I'm not sure what any of it has to do with baseball, but yeah, okay, why not?
My one major complaint is that there's only one giant video screen. For most of the people in the stadium, this isn't a problem, as their view is fine. But anyone sitting out in center field, as I was, doesn't see jack. They couldn't have installed a second screen on the opposite side of the stadium? Even a smaller one? I'm sure "Nat Flix" was absolutely hilarious, but I wouldn't know, because I couldn't see it.
Food
It was really nice to have a couple of dozen food options instead of the handful that were present at RFK. Same lousy customer service, though. Before the game started when no one was buying food, I saw multiple employees just standing behind the counter twiddling their thumbs. By the fifth inning when everyone was buying food, they'd all disappeared. When the guy in front of me in line got to the counter, Employee A asked him to hold on, because Employee B, the person supposed to be working the counter, had apparently wandered off. After a minute of uncomfortable silence where no one was getting served and the line was getting longer, Employee A reluctantly grabbed a pair of gloves and started serving people.
(Speaking of gloves, Nationals, tell your employees to take them off when they step out from behind the counter. I saw one kid counting money while walking through the concourse on his way to wherever it was he was going, with his gloves still on. No doubt he was still wearing those gloves when he went back behind the counter. I'll bet the next person he served spent some time in the restroom yesterday morning.)
Back to the food. Now, I didn't want to eat as much as I did. But I figured that to really deliver a comprehensive review, I had to. It's called journalistic integrity, people.
Nats Dog - $4: Decent hot dog. Nothing special, but it wasn't bad, and toppings were plentiful. And considering how inflated stadium pricing for food is, $4 actually felt like a bargain.
Popcorn - $4.75: Actually a pretty good value. It comes in a nice large box, wasn't overly-salty, and I didn't run into any unpopped kernel until I got to the bottom.
Budwiser (bottle) - $7.50: Yes, it's a ridiculous price for a Bud. Here's what really struck me, though: a bottle of domestic beer is $7.50, while a bottle of Coke costs $4.50. Which is also fucking obscene, but with only a $3 difference between the two, kudos to the Nats for making the decision between soda and beer so easy.
Chicken Tenders - $9.50: Blatant false advertising, as these weren't tender, nor would I be surprised if they weren't actually chicken. But regardless of what animal or animals they were made from, for almost ten bucks, I expect a lot better than rough, tasteless meat, dried out after sitting under a heat lamp for God knows how long. They give you a ton of fries so you don't feel completely cheated, and packets of BBQ sauce to drown the alleged chicken in, but it's still a lousy menu item.
The Game
Meh. Obviously, it wasn't surprising that the Nats lost. Had I gone to Friday's game, I also would have seen the Nats lose, but at least I would have also seen a decent attempt at offense. As it stood, I saw neither offense nor defense. Mostly, it was just guys in jerseys standing around.
What was surprising is how vicious the Nats' fans were about it. Being a Redskins fan these past ten years, I'm well acquainted with home fans booing their team. But last night was the first time I'd ever seen fans actually taunting the players on their team. When Willie Harris fell backwards on his ass while trying not to get hit by the ball coming his way, it got particularly brutal.
Anyway, thus ends the great baseball experiment. For this season, in any case. Maybe I'll give it another shot next year. Maybe not. I will however make the same offer I made a year ago, where if the Indians win the World Series, I'll dive into the sport with both feet. But somehow, I think I'm safe.
Off to look into this hockey thing.
1 comments:
If you want to hear fans booing their own team on a regular basis, go to a Phillies game. Man, I love Philly...
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