One of my regrets as a sports fan is never making it to old Yankee Stadium. I despise the Yanks and their fans drive me crazy at Camden Yards, but it’s a baseball monument.
However, if the city of New York needs any help tearing that place to the ground I’ll work for free. Lots of bad memories there. I’ll be on a train in 10 minutes, sledgehammer in hand.
Every time I told people that I was going to Yankee Stadium the first thing they asked me was how I was going to afford going.
I spent $18 on StubHub and had fantastic seats in right field.
You’ve got to arrive early to Yankee Stadium because honestly the baseball game is probably the most boring part of the place. You walk in and feel like you’re in a museum. It’s designed to look like the old place, but with a new theme. Banners of the historical players that O’s fans hate hang from the ceiling and if you want Yankee apparel just walk 5 feet in any direction.
But, I’m a baseball fan so I headed to my seats for batting practice. I went with my buddy of mine to a Rays/Yanks match up and he got a ball during BP that Lance Cormier tossed into the stands. In fact, just about every ball hit deep was tossed into the enthusiastic crowd.
Unlike Camden Yards, the fans at Yankee Stadium were there to watch baseball. Not to start the wave, or watch the crab shuffle. Actually if I could coin a phrase for the fans at Oriole Park it would be: “I went to a hot dog race and a baseball game broke out” — I’m bitter.
Yankee fans are still annoying, but I had to admire the fact that the Stadium seats 52,325 and 52,325 were there for a week day game. The chant every player’s name one at a time during the first inning until they acknowledge the crowd. In between pitches Nick Swisher turned around a saluted the crowd.
If you want to see a slugfest, travel north and go to the homerun derby a game at Yankee Stadium. I know the original dimensions from old Yankee Stadium were used (318 in left, 408 in center, 314 in right), but to me the place seems like a $1.5 billion Wiffle Ball Field.
The other part of Yankee Stadium that drove me crazy was that if there was any space available in the park it was occupied by an advertisement. I know they wanted to keep the name, but the place looked like some low A ball parks with all the ads. Everything was sponsored. Homeruns weren’t just homeruns, they were Geico Homeruns. The Geico Gecko danced around when a ball left the yard.
If Yankee Stadium’s intensity was brought to Camden Yards it would be something else.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great stadium. But I have yet to go to a place that matches Camden Yards.
So, what you really want to do is live in Boston. It's a better ballpark than Yankee Stadium, it's an intense fan base. they hate the Yanks more than you can even imagine. And best yet. They BEAT THEM on a regular basis!
So deal with it. Turn in your Crabcake for a Lobstah Roll and pack your bags for the Back Bay. Or wherever a Blogger's Salary will get you lodging in Beantown.
Nah, if I've convinced you that I want to be a Boston fan I've failed miserably with this post.
I'm an O's fan through and through, I just wish the fans at Camden Yards appreciated the Birds more than a hot dog race.
Why would one's repulsion by Yankee fans lead someone to believe they'd be any less repulsed by RedSox fans? They're just YankeefanLite. Add the color red & take away all those trophies, hard to tell the difference.