September 29th, 2008 at 7:08 AM ^
is stopping someone else from going. Go Tigers!!
September 29th, 2008 at 8:01 AM ^
I live in Chicago, and while I am a huge Cubs fan, I live about five blocks from the whitesox urine-soaked hell hole of a ballpark. It took me forty minutes to get home on friday, and I was only going ten blocks. I cannot wait for there to not be baseball on the South Side anymore.
Hopefully, the Tigers make sure that it is the Twinkies, not the ChiSox, getting obliterated by Tampa in three.
Go Cubs.
September 29th, 2008 at 11:36 AM ^
Uh, the urine-soaked park is the ancient one on the north side. You know, the one with 90-odd years of urine on the floor, plus the distinct stench of failure.
Bizarre that the two starters today were traded for each other, and of course Freddy pitched for the title team in '05 and is an in-law of Ozzie's. Freddy has a history of pitching well in big games, so even though his velocity is for shit right now, he could still find a way to get by.
Oh, and it's going to start raining here any minute now. Winds will shift at some point today from blowing across from right to left to blowing pretty muchdead out to center.
September 29th, 2008 at 11:58 AM ^
September 29th, 2008 at 12:47 PM ^
You can always tell a Cubs fan who has never been to the Cell. Every Cub fan I know who has been there likes it a lot, obviously for completely different reasons than they like Wrigley. The better food and beer selections available, the Bullpen Bar, tailgating, etc. Wrigley has the history, better upper deck seating (assuming you don't have a beam in your way, they're way way closer to the action), and bars galore (though highly overpriced) within stumbling distance, and even a few pretty good bars within a relatively short walk.
There's some good bars not terribly far from the Cell too if you like history (two of the oldest bars in the city are within walking distance, including the oldest continuously operating bar in the city), and there's also a bar with good beer selection and a nice outdoor space in the back where you can play bags and such. But obviously nothing like the density of places to go around Wrigley. Personally I prefer tailgating, but that only works when someone I know with a car is coming and willing to drive.
September 29th, 2008 at 1:47 PM ^
I have been to the Cell a dozen times. My last trip saw a Minnesota Twin hit for the cycle. It was my first in person. I have actually had the pleasure of attending games at ten major leauge stadiums. I can honestly say that the Cell is amongst the worst.
Better concessions can't make up for a lack of character. The Cell just has a feel like Old Busch Stadium: generic.
As far as the ballpark neighborhood, I live in Bridgeport because it is dirt cheap. It is nice in that there aren't as many hipster douchebags as in, say, Wrigleyville. That being said, it is an awful place for a ballpark. I can't imagine how it must have been before Stateway Gardens came down. Woof.
September 29th, 2008 at 8:27 AM ^
1) The Cubs get eliminated in 3 games.
2) The Cubs get eliminated in 4 games.
3) The Cubs get eliminated in 5 games.
4) The Cubs get eliminated in 9 games.
5) The Cubs get eliminated in 10 games.
6) The Cubs get eliminated in 11 games.
7) The Cubs get eliminated in 12 games.
8) We avoid an all Chicago World Series.
September 29th, 2008 at 1:51 PM ^
The Cubs have, by a large margin, the best run differntial in the NL. A seven game series is quite the crapshoot, so there is certainly no assurance that the better team will win, but the Cubs defineatley have the most well-rounded squad in the NL. I like their chances until Boston or perhaps Tampa.
The Brew Crew will be starting an exhausted Sabathia, Gallardo (?) and .... Jeff Supan, maybe? Color me unimpressed.
The Mets have some ballplayers, but I'm not terribly scared of that rotation beyond Santana.
Any playoff team that doesn't pitch to Manny should beat the Dodgers.
The Phils are scary. That offense is a monster, and facing Hamels twice in a short series would suck.
They've got as good of a chance as anyone.
September 29th, 2008 at 2:53 PM ^
The Mets didn't make the playoffs.
As far as stadiums, I've been to the following, ranked in order I liked the the STADIUM, in the last year:
1) PNC
2) Citizens Park
3) Jacobs or whatever Cleveland is calling it
4) Miller
5) Fenway (it was ALCS game 7, so its admittedly inflated, probably closer to 14)
6) Nationals
7) Comerica
8) Minute Maid
9) US Cellular
10) Great American or whatever Cinny calls it now
11) New Busch
12) Camden
13) RCN Dome
14) Turner
15) Wrigley
16) MetroDome
17) Yankee
18) Shea
Having lived 2 EL stops from wrigley, the only good thing about it was the bar scene. I'd rather travel 50 minutes further down the red line to the Cell any night of the week.
September 29th, 2008 at 5:08 PM ^
September 29th, 2008 at 6:48 PM ^
It takes a certain kind of person to like Wrigley. If you are concerned with being able to get a five course meal at the ballpark, hearing shitty rock music from the eighties in between innings, and having wide concourses so you don't have to get near those other pesky fans, then it is not the place for you. If you can't stand to walk more than a quarter mile from your car, or be bothered to talk to the people around you, you will hate if.
If you respect the history of the game, and want to be out with the crowd instead of retaining the expirience you get in your living room at the ballpark, then it, along with the perhaps even greater Fenway, is the best there is. Don't worry about being forced to take in a game at Wrigley. Tour buses are ligned up around the block, and tix are hard to come by.
Ones I've visited (in order of personal enjoyment)
1) Wrigley (yeah, I'm biased, oh well)
2) Petco Park ("Hells Bell" is the exception to the rock music rule"
3) Comerica
4) Dodger Stadium (great sight lines)
5) Coors
6) Great American
7) Turner
8) The Cell
I don't have loads of animosity for the White Sox. The White Sox care about the Cubs, the Cubs care about the Cardinals. I just don't see what is special about the ball park. It is just about the same as a dozen others built before it, and God help you if end up in the upper deck. To it's credit, concourses are navigable, fans are friendly, and parking is easy. It just isn't my favorite place to take in a game.
I'm glad to hear that the Nats went with a more Modern look, because I think all that can be accomplished with the retro parks has been done by the Pirates and the Pads.September 29th, 2008 at 10:00 PM ^
The Cell was built before every one of the more recent parks except the Skydome. The parks built before it were mainly those dual-use circular cookie cutter stadiums that were way better for football than baseball. Camden Yards was built the year after the Cell was.
Comerica is decent but it's more swept back than the Cell is, so upper deck seats there are even farther away than the Cell. I prefer the Cell, as did a friend of mine who is a Pirates fan. We hit 6 games in 7 days a few years back, we rated them:
1) PNC. Amazing park, too bad the team sucks, but the place is just fantastic in every way. It's everything everyone says it is. And there's even a bar area right by it now. I don't know if you could build a park any better.
2) Jacobs Field. I went to college in Cleveland and I've always really liked the Jake. Just a very well-designed park for watching the games. The left field seats on top of their mini-Monster there are usually pretty cheap and they're great seats as long as you're not right by that artard with the drum.
3) The Cell -- we sat on top of the Bullpen Bar. Best seat deal around if you can do it - buy crap upper deck seats, get in right when the gates open to get a reserved table for some extra money, and have waitress service from seats just over the outfield wall. Even the bathrooms in there aren't that crowded, so you almost never miss any action. Other lower deck seats are all great, but if you are stuck in the 500 level, especially in the outfield, the ranking of this place drops some.
4) Miller/Comerica is a tough call. They have their elements that are nice but Miller just seems kinda blah even though the roof was open that night (weather was beautiful) and Comerica's seating is very swept back so you end up pretty far from the action pretty easily, even in the outfield where their original fences were very, very far back, and consequently so are the seats.
6) Wrigley has great history, but the experience that day was miserable as the weather was one of those putrid May Chicago days. Forecast high was 65 but that was early in the morning and we didn't know that, it was about 40 by first pitch. Other games I've been there have been more pleasant as long as I'm not dragged by friends to the front part of the bleachers, where the bulk of the stereotyped "idiot Cubs fan who doesn't know jack and is just getting drunk" types sit. If you're stuck in the upper deck though Wrigley is one of the better parks to be at since it's so much lower to the ground than the modern parks.
September 29th, 2008 at 10:18 PM ^
The Nats new stadium may look nice, but I was put off by its amenities. The bathrooms were tiny. Having to wait so long to piss was a joke.
I regret not making it to any of the west coast parks. I've heard much good about each of them. Unfortunately, my trek to the west coast was in February.
Wrigley to me has too many draw backs. It's decrepid. The obstructed views can suck. Concourse navigation is a joke. I think the biggest drawback is self inflicted though. Its a personal tradition of mine to drink Old Style at Wrigley. The problem I faced before I moved back to Houston was I can no longer buy alcohol in Wrigley or the Cell. The new Illinois vertical liscense law prohibits me (at age 23) of buying alcohol. The state of texas won't give me a new horizontal liscense until I'm 24. The state of Illinois won't sell to me until I get that liscense. It wasn't worth the $40 to buy an ID early just so I could drink for the last two months I was in town.
Speaking of beer... the redeeming quality about Turner field is $70 gets you all you can eat and all you can drink (bud and bud light). The two PA ball parks by far had the best craft beer selections if you ever make it out to Philly.
September 30th, 2008 at 8:38 PM ^
Sorry to hear that about Nats Park. I am an architecture students, and the elevations were encouraging. The whole "retro" thing HOK has been doing is getting a bit old.
I made it to Miller this past summer, but I arrived late and didn't have time to really enjoy the stadium. I can say the parking was beyond awful, but, for some reason, free.
I can't ever understand how people can sit at Wrigley and drink so much. I can understand having a few beers with the game, it is part of the tradition, but there are people who get hammered before hand, then drink 100 dollars worth in the park. It's too expensive to be that drunk.
I got tix for Cubs/Dodgers, Z vs. Bills on Thursday. I am so pumped.
September 30th, 2008 at 10:44 PM ^
September 29th, 2008 at 11:59 AM ^