OT: Steiner Sports (Yankees) Article in NY Times

[ooo-ribay]

Originally Posted by Fuddjcal

This is so funny, I feel the same way about "my" Dodgers. Have not been able to see them on TV all year. F@$* Them! No Vin Scully, F$%# Them.

Other than practically having to be "dragged" to Kershaw's No No, I haven't been back since. I spent all of $10.00 there. While I pay for parking where ever I go, I REFUSE to pay the parking at Dodger Stadium due to Frank McCourt still owning part of the lot. F$%^ HIM.

I am to the point where I cancelled my Baseball package this year and have not watched a game in 2 months. I think I'm cured.
Thanks Dodgers, and thanks Baseball...it was a good run, F&%$ YOU!

Leave the Dark Side and come to the Giants. You'll be glad you did.

[GKreindler]

I'm probably speaking out of turn here, and after all, I'm only 34, so take this with a grain of salt, but there was certainly some kind of aural magic to the renovated Yankee Stadium that the new one lacks.

I never went to the old ballpark (though I would probably kill someone to have been there), but the place in the '80s and '90s was my home. And there was something about how the enclosed structure held in the sound and vibrations of the crowd...I've just never felt anything like it before.

I've only been to one playoff game in my life, Game 1 of the 2002 ALDS. The electricity, the volume, and the thunder that came from that crowd. God. And I've been to plenty of games in the new place, and it's never sounded even remotely the same. Might it have something to do with the fans? Perhaps. After all, I haven't been to any postseason games in the new place, so there's bound to be a different level of intensity there. But, I still think the new stadium just doesn't carry the sound in the same way the old one did. When the Yankees were behind and attempting a comeback, the crowd would get into it, and you could literally feel the place rumble. I wonder if that was the 'cauldron of sound' that Babe Ruth referred to? Lord knows it wasn't hip-hop music.

Maybe I just really miss Bob Sheppard. And Eddie Layton. ESPECIALLY Eddie Layton.

Speaking of whom, any of you fellas who went to that ballpark in the 1980s and long for those great summer days will appreciate this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7W5N9TySsQ

I'm done chasing kids off my lawn.

Graig

[RichardSimon]

There are a few sadly negative remarks on this thread about the current state of baseball.
And yes I agree with some of the negative statements about the game.
But,,,,
My feeling is that baseball is still the best sport in the world and it is played by the best players in the world.
I still can enjoy watching a terrific pitcher throwing a gem. I still can enjoy watching the best defensive center-fielder in the game making a spectacular catch.
If you cannot enjoy baseball for the beauty that it is then that is just sorta sad.

[barrysloate]

I've been to the new Yankee Stadium only once and I found it to be deafening. I could not carry on a conversation with the person next to me, even if he and I both talked as loudly as we could. When you watch a Yankee game on TV, there is a commercial break between each half inning, which you can mute. But if you are at the ballpark, the noise is amped up to a million decibels during that time. They want people to sing and clap and get up and dance. I don't want to. I want to sit quietly and talk baseball. But you can't do that. As such, it was not a pleasant experience.

[Runscott]

It's a shame younger fans will never get to experience the pre-glitz baseball game experience. I started off going to games at the Astrodome in the 1960's, and at the time our scoreboard was the hugest anywhere. Even that was obnoxious. I was at the game where they unveiled their next scoreboard - also the hugest anywhere. I remember Omar Moreno playing right field that day - he turned around to watch the first scoreboard replay ever, which was him trotting lazily after a ball that was hit by him. The beginning of the end.

As far as food goes, you went to the ball game to have a burger or hotdog, and peanuts...maybe french fries. You didn't expect, or need, anything else. That was baseball game food and anything else would have been sacrilege.

[baseball tourist]

Originally Posted by Runscott

It's a shame younger fans will never get to experience the pre-glitz baseball game experience.

This is exactly the crowd that these teams are trying to attract. The next generation of fans. If it's too loud, you (we!) are too old!

[Runscott]

Originally Posted by baseball tourist

This is exactly the crowd that these teams are trying to attract. The next generation of fans. If it's too loud, you (we!) are too old!

I hadn't thought of it like that - good possibility that younger guys would be bored to death by a 1960's baseball game experience.

But we also have to keep in mind that all the marketing surrounding the game and individual players today, and their modern aura of being celebrities more than ballplayers, and today's kids' (and adults') focus on video games, immediate gratification and all wants and desires at their fingertips, contribute to expectations at the ballgame. Additionally, all the glitz can attract people who otherwise could care less about being at a baseball game.

Barry commented about all the noise between innings, but that noise and other stimulation is what today's humans have to have. Most people can't even sit still at a coffee shop without having a computer or cellphone in action. When we were kids, the only reason to get up between innings was to pee or buy a hot dog. Now everyone gets up to see what can be purchased or to experience some of the extracurricular activities. Not to mention 'selfies'

[ooo-ribay]

Originally Posted by Runscott

It's a shame younger fans will never get to experience the pre-glitz baseball game experience. I started off going to games at the Astrodome in the 1960's, and at the time our scoreboard was the hugest anywhere. Even that was obnoxious. I was at the game where they unveiled their next scoreboard - also the hugest anywhere. I remember Omar Moreno playing right field that day - he turned around to watch the first scoreboard replay ever, which was him trotting lazily after a ball that was hit by him. The beginning of the end.

As far as food goes, you went to the ball game to have a burger or hotdog, and peanuts...maybe french fries. You didn't expect, or need, anything else. That was baseball game food and anything else would have been sacrilege.

My first game was with my Dad at old Crosley Field in Cincinnati. It's how I became a Giants fan . I remember you could see cars on the freeway beyond the outfield.

[perezfan]

That experience was supposed to make you a REDS fan