New York- Yankee Stadium Review

Yankee Stadium

Year Built: 2009

Capacity: 52,325

Surface: Kentucky Blue Grass

Cost to Build:

$1.5 billion

Overall Grade: A

Return Someday: Yes

In 2009, professional sports most winning franchise got a new home, and they christened it by winning their 27th World Series Championship. The new Yankee Stadium, "the House that Jeter Built", is a very beautiful ballpark. It should be, after all, it is the most expensive stadium ($1.5 billion to build) the majors to build. The seating prices definitely are reflective of the stadium's cost to build...way too pricey! Even with all of the modern amenities and upgrades, I still prefer the old Yankee Stadium.The new stadium is really really nice, but it's just not Yankee Stadium to me. I felt like I was watching the Yankees on the road in a super nice ballpark. I miss the old 1923 stadium a lot. I also liked Citi Field better than the new Yankee Stadium, which is really hard for me to admit to. I'm sure the House that Jeter Built will eventually grow on me, but it will take some time. The new stadium comes complete with the Great Hall, where players of the past are honored. The stadium also has a Hard Rock Cafe, the NYY Steak House, a Lobel's Butcher Shop, Monument Park, a Steiner Sports memorabilia shop, the Yankees Museum, the largest video screen in sports, and Babe Ruth Plaza...just to name a few.

My favorite thing about the new stadium is the Yankees Museum. They display jerseys, autographed baseballs, WS Trophies, bats, etc... from former and current Yankees players. I really enjoyed the Babe Ruth display case. You can see the museum before the game or on the guided stadium tour. Save your money and avoid the Stadium tours. The Stadium tours aren't that great. You got to see a lot more in the old stadium. The only good things are seeing a less crowded Monument Park and the new Yankees Museum. Going into the Yankees dugout was cool too. No stops were made to the visitor's clubhouse or press boxes. It's really not worth the 20 bucks per person.The customer service at the New Stadium is far superior than that of the old Stadium. In addition, the food options are an enormous, much needed improvement from the latter. There are a lot of NYPD staffing the stadium as security, and they are actually really friendly for getting directions. Getting to the stadium is very easy via train. The Stadium is family friendly, and even visiting fan friendly. Just expect to pay an arm and a leg for some decent seats.

My trip to the ALCS game #4

The Big A, a sea of red, rally monkey dolls, thundersticks, a monument to Nick Adenhart, bad umpiring calls, footlong italian sausages, Sabathia's strong 8 innings on 3 days rest, and more. We went to last night's ALCS game and it totally rocked! There were so many NY fans throughout the stadium, cheering on Jeter and the boys. The best was seeing most of the depressed Anaheim fans with their annoying thundersticks leave in the 7th inning when the score was 5-1. No rally monkey sightings at all last night. Tomorrow's game is now just a formality...To quote Ice Cube..."today was a good day."

Too bad Torre couldn't pull it off. It's kinda boring with the Phils in the WS again. Plus I was really hoping to go see the Yankees in a WS game at Dodger Stadium, since I've never been to a WS ever...stupid Dodgers!!!

Atlanta- Turner Field Review

Turner Field

Year Built: 1996

Capacity: 50, 096

Surface: Grass

Cost to Build:

$209 million

Overall Grade: A

Return Someday: Yes

I apologize to my faithful readers that I haven't written a posting for quite a while, we spent a week in Atlanta, then went to Costa Rica. We were fortunate to visit Atlanta's famous Turner Field. What an experience! The stadium was originally constructed as the 85, 000 seat Olympic Centennial Stadium for the 1996 Summer Olympic games. Immediately afterwards, it became the new home to the Atlanta Braves after some modifications. The stadium's nickname is "the Ted", affectionately named after Atlanta business tycoon, and former Braves owner, Ted Turner. In the parking lot is the original outfield wall from Fulton County Stadium with te exact marking where Hank Aaron hit his 755th homer.

There were many bronze statues of former Braves greats like Hank Aaron in the front plaza o

utside the stadium. Once you enter, there is a huge photo of Hammerin' Hank's 755th homerun ball on the side of the stadium wall.

In the entry plaza, there is a Cartoon Network kid's zone with games and activities. The was a talented marching band playing a drumline outside which was really cool to see.

Since Atlanta is the home of Coca-Cola, there is a Coca-Cola area in the LF. They have these huge Coke bottle shaped chairs to sit in and Coke bottle cannons that shoots out smoke when a homerun is hit.

There is also a huge Coke bottle standing up that is made up of Braves jerseys, bats, and coke bottle plastic caps. The food options were really good. They had a nice restaurant that we dined in before the game. The menu was pretty much usual ballpark fare, but it was a great experience, nonetheless. We both had the pulled BBQ chicken sandwich with fries. The stadium staffwere very friendly...as they d

emonstrated that famous southern hospitality. This was pretty much universal throughout the city as well. It was a very humid day with the temperature at 94 degrees, which doesn't seem all that bad, but with the humidity, it was pretty brutal. I have never experienced humidity like this before in my life. Before the game, we took a tour of the stadium and the Braves Hall of Fame museum. Both were very interesting and historical. We got a free foam tomahawk to do "the chop." We never did "the chop" because we were actually rooting for the visiting team...luckily for us, the Yankees were in town! The Yankees won by the way. The fans were very friendly, showing their southern charm. The seats were very comfortable. Apparently Coca-Cola isn't the only company based out of Atlanta. Chik-Fila is a hometown favorite and they have a few Chik-Fila concession stands, but even better, they have a 25 foot tall cow standing up holding a sign and a wearing a Braves cap. He does the tomahawk chop with the crowd when they play the chop music. It was really cool seeing that.

We truly enjoyed our Turner Field visit, and would definitely go back if we were ever in the neighborhood. We also toured the World of Coca- Cola, CNN, Centennial Olympic Park, and the sweet Auburn neighborhood where we saw Martin Luther King Jr.'s birth house and his final resting place. If you've never been to Atlanta, Georgia, treat yourselves and make the trip. You won't be disappointed, I promise.

I'm going to Hotlanta!!!

I just found out that I get to go to Atlanta for a work conference in June. And the best part of it all, the Yankees are in town that week playing the Braves. I've never been to Atlanta, and I am definitely going to one of the night games at the famous Turner Field. Woohoo!!! Another ballpark to cross of my list. I will be at 18 out of 30 current stadiums...only 12 more to go, that is until they tear down some of the current ones and build new ones. Then I have to go to those too! Which isn't a bad thing at all. I love traveling to new ballparks!!!

New Yankee Stadium

Well peops, it's official. The first game is being played in baseball's new cathedral. It just started and Jeter led off for the Yankees with a double. This gives him the last Yankees at bat in the old stadium and the first Yankees at bat in the new park. Pretty cool...I am so excited about the new season starting in two days. The new stadium looks beautiful. It better be, due to it's billion dollar price tag! For free, MLB.com is showing all of this weekends NY home games for the Mets and Yankees to show off the new stadiums in NYC. I can't wait to go back this September to see both stadiums first hand. I just bought our Yankees tickets online last week and our behind the scenes tour tickets of the Stadium. I haven't bought our Mets tix yet, they haven't gone on sale yet...not really sure what the hold up is over in Queens, but Opening Day is only 2 days away...hmmm? From what I have seen so far by watching the game vs. the Cubbies is that the friese and monument park are still a part of the Yankee stadium tradition. the big change is the huge Sony scoreboard screen in CF...wow, it's gotta be the biggest one in the Majors! Have a great baseball viewing weekend my friends!