The Friendly Confines of Wrigley Field. One of the true Cathedrals of baseball. I was lucky enough to take in a game at Wrigley over the weekend and as fun as it was, it made me sad.
Yep, sad. Sad that Turner Field couldn't have taken a page out of Chicago's book.
What an experience Wrigley was. It was basically a frat party the entire time in the bleachers, but it was more than just that. It was walking to the stadium and realizing that EVERYONE was decked out in head-to-toe Cubs gear. Guys, girls, young and old, everyone (except for a few Reds fans here and there) was supporting the home team. As much as I LOVE the University of Georgia, the last time I checked, they don't play at Turner Field. How about you sport a Braves hat?
And another thing, the stands were packed from the jump. Not by the bottom of the second, but by the top of the first. And these fans, despite the frat nature of them, were EDUCATED ON BASEBALL. They knew when to stand, when to clap, when to cheer and boo and they didn't need prompting from a jumbotron. It was nice to be around baseball fans who knew what was going on. And one other interesting tidbit, no cartoon figures outside the main gates to entertain fans and no in-between innings tool races or kisscams. This was BASEBALL and that is all anyone cared about.
But I should stop railing on Braves fans.
The old-fashioned scoreboard was neat to look at and the pennants signifying the standings was tight. Throw in the 7th inning stretch which WASN'T followed by a country song (thanks for making the stereotype true!) and the Cubs victory song and flag were very cool. They fly a flag to boast of a victory. The song was a bit cheesy, but EVERYONE was singing it so you didn't feel like a dork.
Then when you walk outside of the stadium after a big win...you DON'T have to sprint to your car to avoid getting mugged or pestered by homeless people. Nope, you can walk across the street to one of 2000 (seemingly) bars or restaurants. I went to Vines. (We thought about doing a bit of a crawl to 312 and Toons, but decided to stay and enjoy the scenery at Vines.) How can you NOT LOVE drinking a brew on an outdoor patio after a win? Did I mention the scenery? I love wifey, but while she was in the bathroom, it was nice to have nothing but hot chicks in sundresses to look at. WOW. Props to you Chicago for hiding all of your ugly women (or at least seding them to White Sox games.)
I just love the idea of having places to go around the stadium after enjoying a game. San Diego had it. It is a shame Atlanta didn't want to jump on something like this. I wish a rich dude could go in and buy up a bunch of the property around and behind Turner Field and turn it into some bars or some restaurants. Buy out that sh*thole that is the Bullpen and those old homes and turn it into a place people WANT to go to. Why should I drive down from Suwanee to go to the Ted if I cannot go out afterwards? (Well I would, but I'm a true baseball fan who would enjoy a drink after the game.) There are more of us out here. We want to make it an experience, and one that doesn't include Tooner Field.
And if the city could put a MARTA stop by the stadium, that would help the cause too!
as for the fans.....I'll save that for another day.
1 comment:
Here I was happy to have had great seats at Turner last week. Sounds fantastic. I guess you can cross that off the bucket list now. Sounds like they didn't need to be entertained every half inning by some zany contest on the HD board or have some kind of cartoon midway. I imagine public transit has a train stop directly adjacent and then oh look bars right across the street.
You shake your head really that even with the old style designs in places now days what we just accept in our ballparks. It's just kind of disappointing the way Atlanta was laid out because it's such a newer city in terms of growth and the layout is just poor. The majority of the people now live on the north sides of town so the stadiums are out of place.
Turner field is a nice park in terms of watching a game and the atmosphere is decent when they are winning....but can you imagine season tickets to the Cubs or the Red Sox the event that is every day if you lived in Chicago. Even if you live IN THE CITY it's still not easy to get to the Ted.
Sigh.
I hope you got a great char dog a beer and a deep dish.
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