No regrets but glad to be home: susandennis

No regrets but glad to be home

I got to the ballpark an hour before the game. I left at the end of the 1st inning. It was good to go and see what it was like but, it was not fun. For a whole lot of reasons. I sat there at the end of the 1st inning, uncomfortable and cold and irritated and thought, heck, this is not a good time and I don't even need to justify the cost of this free ticket. I want to be home watching it on TV and so that's where I am.

Most always I ride my mobility scooter to the ballpark. I did not today and that was my bad. My one hip was killing me and sitting on those cold, hard seats was not helping it. Then my other hip started bitching and I started worrying about how I was going to get home. (It was painful, but I did make it.)

While it was lovely to have a whole row to myself. it was creepy to have people settled in here and there - not enough of them to warm the place up. And not enough to muffle the sound. They have the sound system set ask if there are 50,000 people in there. Ear drum blasting. And in between mask muffled announcements, you could hear everything - the guys behind you farting, the guys in front of you arguing. The radio broadcast is played in the concourse but with nobody there, you can hear it in the stands. You can't hear what they are saying - that would be helpful - but it sounds like Charlie Brown's teacher.

I decided to get a ballpark hot dog and a drink and a pretzel. The line was short but it moved like they wanted to serve the last person as the 9th inning ended. I finally got my food. The hot dog was from the last batch cooked in 2019. And as cold. The 'hot' pretzel was also stone cold. had no salt, and had the texture of a biscotti. $25.

But, most of all, it was just creepy. The way they checked tickets and made you stop and wait and re-show it at every turn. Everything was cordoned off. To get from here to there - 2 feet away - was a half mile walk. My Fitbit is going to LOVE the steps today. It just felt like you were intruding and they weren't happy about it.

I did have a good view of my nice, padded, luxury seat that is my regular season ticket. I moved up one row and over one section after last ticket season. I don't know why I didn't take a better picture of it. But, if you zoom on this, in the bottom right hand corner are two people one in turquoise and one in white. My seat is just behind them. Section 33, Row, G, Seat 18 Unless, my sales guy has a better seat for me come 2022. It will be good again. But, until then, I doubt I'll go back.

bill_schubert

April 7 2021, 22:01:58 UTC 6 days ago

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As mom would say: "Well, now you know"

Sorry I couldn't accompany you. But for the cold it probably would have been a lot better with a couple or three people.

susandennis

April 7 2021, 22:03:07 UTC 6 days ago Edited: April 7 2021, 22:04:48 UTC

Yes, having you there (hehehe) would have saved the game. But, yes, now I know and I'm glad of that, really. It's certainly no tragedy.

adafrog

April 7 2021, 23:11:00 UTC 6 days ago

{{{hugs}}}

galebird

April 7 2021, 23:27:46 UTC 6 days ago

My job at Fenway was to literally follow up on stuff like this as I witnessed it or heard about it in the ballpark. I have a jacket from the Red Sox with QUALITY CONTROL emblazoned across the back — not a fun thing to wear when the team is losing! I hope the Mariners have people like that too and they can at least fix some of this. The concessions being terrible is kind of a no excuse area. Man. I am bummed and it wasn't even me who went to the ballgame today it was you!

Here's to better games ahead, be they this season or likely 2022.

April 7 2021, 23:33:15 UTC 6 days ago

I wish I'd seen someone with a quality control jacket! I have actually bought concessions at this ballpark and they have been good. These were so bad, I will remember them for a really long time. It will be a long time before I ever purchase food there again.

BUT, the rest was really COVID-ism and not really avoidable.

IF I go again, it will be with a ticket where I can take the scooter. And all of my expectations will have been reset.

Yes, 2022 cannot come soon enough.

(At least the Mariners are winning this game quite nicely.)

jwg

April 7 2021, 23:31:15 UTC 6 days ago

We went to Fenway Park for the game today. people were pretty far apart. Grandstand for us. Food was served in boxes to be eaten at the seat. Felt fine. Red Sox won 9-2 and the game actually took slightly less that 3 hours. Much better than watching on TV. The weather was cool, but we were dressed properly. Very glad we went. Next game on the 23rd: Mariners!

April 7 2021, 23:34:47 UTC 6 days ago

What a different experience. At least the Mariners are winning this game quite nicely.

epiphyta

April 8 2021, 00:47:02 UTC 6 days ago

It just felt like you were intruding and they weren't happy about it.

Yeah, some things, I'm willing to wait for the experience to be more like it was — I was sent a "Hey, come back and get a massage!" message from an acquaintance's place, and I could sure use one, but I'd be masked and the massage therapist would be in PPE and . . . I would not relax. I can wait.

kensmind

April 8 2021, 04:30:32 UTC 5 days ago

Yeah I'm jealous. I could only check the score on my laptop from time to time. You brought them good luck. When I checked, they were tied 3-3, and when I got home I saw the final score.

April 8 2021, 14:15:53 UTC 5 days ago

It turned out to be a really fun game — made funner by my being home, warm and properly fed!

richiewebber

April 8 2021, 09:14:58 UTC 5 days ago

cinnamontoast

April 8 2021, 13:28:28 UTC 5 days ago

We watched a Mets game on tv a couple of nights ago. It was weird seeing the stands so empty this early in the season. The Mets are usually well attended until their lose column grows significantly larger than their win column. We're Yankees fans (I know, boo hiss — Everybody hates them. Yankees fans don't care.) and I really want to find a way to live-stream or listen to the games without spending an arm or a leg to the YES network. There are two things I miss about living in NYC — The food and going to Yankee games.

rsc

April 8 2021, 14:14:19 UTC 5 days ago

They have the sound system set as if there are 50,000 people in there.

Oh, so very much this. Our seats yesterday (we don't get our regular seats for these games, although all our seats are in the same general vicinity) were quite near a pillar with a speaker on it (and that pillar blocked our view of the third basemen and a good bit of center field), and it was loud. But now matter how many fans are in the stands, I get annoyed that the people who run the place appear to think that it's a bad idea for people to have conversations between innings.