America's Favorite Pastime has me Cheering (at the Radio)

For Christmas '07, JC gave me $50 worth of "Bomber Bucks" to use towards buying some Yankee Tickets. We didn't get a chance to use them last year, so I went up on Friday to see what I could get for their first year in the new stadium. You might have heard that the prices in the new stadium are not entirely in line with our economic situation. Catch a game on TV, and you'll see a lot of empty ($375) field level seats. Last year, sitting with the bleacher creatures would set you back $12, while hiking up to the nosebleeds would cost $19/seat. This year, bleacher tickets are $18 and upper level start at $23. Happy to watch any game, I thought I'd go up to the Bronx and just pick up two tickets to any game. I got to the window and found out that the lowest priced ticket left is $60... for the rest of the season. All the "cheap" tickets are sold out until the 2010 season.

How has the national pastime become so expensive? I guess it could have something to do with a 1.5 BILLION dollar stadium. When JC lived in the Bronx, she could show up on game night and pay $5 for bleacher tickets. Today, if a family of four decides on a whim to catch a game (given what's left), you're talking $240 before you walk in the door. It makes me more and more interested to watching some local minor league games, like the Brooklyn Cyclones or the Staten Island Yankees.

My first few games cost me more in sausages and beer than the ticket price, but I later got wise to going for the game, and learning the stadiums rules on bringing in outside food. At this point, I can't justify spending an extra $70 for "free" tickets, so looks like I'll have to hold on to the gift certificate until next year. This year I'll have to enjoy the new stadium through the magic of my AM radio.

Yankee Stadium Old and New

DW and I had to go up to Lehman College this morning for a staff meeting. We were en route via the B train, when I realized that the 4 would get us closer. The clincher to make a mid-route line switch? The chance to see what's visible from 161st Street: Yankee Stadium.


It's coming along, but the whole trip up was sad for us. The trip from 161st to Lehman passes by the school where we met (which is closing), DW's old address from when we first courted, and Yankee Stadium preparing for it's last season with the team. Even the team that brought back Clemens will get no extra seasons with the house that Babe built.

(click for a higher-res version)

The silver lining on this cloud is a gift DW gave me for Christmas: A gift certificate, redeemable at the Yankee Stadium box office for at least one last game in the old stadium, and DD's first game. And DW made sure we'd have the most important bases covered:
Pics by me from the 4 train, 161st station, and DD's room. :)

Harry Potter and the Bloody Ballgame

Cover to cover, Potter is done! I can finally get back to the real world. Reading the paper, listening to the news, and catching up on a few unread RSS feeds.

I won't post anything about it just yet, not even impressions. If you're reading it, enjoy. :)

Bloody ballgame? Remember that I said a few months ago the NY bloodcenter is doing a rewards campaign to increase donations this summer? Well, it looks like they're bloodthirsty for platelets, because I got this in the email this morning:

HIT A HOME RUN...

for patients who need platelets.

I gave blood about a month ago, so I'm not eligible for this, but it might be worth checking out. And you don't have to tell anyone that you did it for the tickets -- just say it's for the children. People eat that stuff up.

Link: NY Bloodcenter Summer Campaign
Link: Schedule a platelet donation (by August 30th for Mets tix)

Yankees Game Upset

DW and I went to the game on Friday night. We had bought tickets to see the Yanks at Tampa Bay while we'll be down there and saw that tickets for the Mets/Yankees game were on sale. Assuming they'd be sold out, we tried. Sure enough, they were there and we got great seats! Four rows in! Take a look!


Oh, wait... that was the Mets / Diamondbacks game that we were given great seats for. Four rows off the field. Here are the seats we got Friday, also four rows in:

Yeah, bad seats on paper, but we would never care. Baseball is baseball, and there really aren't any bad seats in Yankee Stadium. We can now attest to this. ;) It is a hike up to the section, but you can still watch all the action pretty clearly.

Since we were really psyched to see a fun, "premium" game, we came ready to cheer on our boys. Of course, when the visiting team can come via subway so can all of its fans. And they did. It started out good natured enough, but took a turn for the mean-spirited really fast. We cheered, they hissed, they scored, we got to take all of the verbal abuse.

While our failure to perform didn't help curtail the smack-talk, we were surrounded by some really arrogant and obnoxious Mets fans. I would expect this kind of banter at a Red Sox game, but we're New York vs. New York already! Where's the respect for the big apple? To top it off, I was sitting next to an 11-year-old who kept yelling in his manliest pre-pubescent squeal, "Stop it! Stop it! This isn't your house! Be quiet!!" Oh, the memories of being a child dorkus.


We did win the next two games so I should really get over it. DW hopes the Mets fans will have learned their lessons, and become more respectful and responsible citizens. I, on the other hand, hope someone spilled mass amounts of beer on them and their dumb smug smirks. But that's just me.