The spectators in many of the priciest seats disappeared, too. Some of the tickets were unsold, and...

The spectators in many of the priciest seats disappeared, too. Some of the tickets were unsold, and other spectators with tickets closest to the infield spent time inside the three areas serving them free food, leaving empty blue seats.

"We saw that. I don't think I've ever seen that at Yankee Stadium," said Jensen Lewis.

Mystique = empty seats and sterile atmosphere.

9 months ago tabler84 10 comments 0 recs |

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I don’t mean to kick them when they’re down, but we’ve also got this.

by tabler84 on Apr 18, 2009 9:20 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I’m sporting a nuclear sunburn from Friday. Great seats—second row of second deck in left field, just on the fair side of the foul pole.

More to the point, I could not believe the area behind home plate and how empty it was. Meanwhile, the rest of the stadium looked full, other than two sections down either foul line. It was really bizarre, though—I’d like to know how it looked on TV, because it looked terrible from my vantage point.

Though I look right at home, I still feel like an exile

by Manhattan Tribe Fan on Apr 18, 2009 10:37 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I’ve also noticed this at the new Nationals park too. There are lots of other empty seats around the park, of course, but it looks very bad to have the block of sets directly behind home plate almost entirely unoccupied, even if their ticket holders are enjoying seared mahi mahi at an exclusive nearby concession.

We did have about 30,000 empty seats at a recent game, and that of course is a much bigger problem.

by jhon on Apr 18, 2009 11:02 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yea, I was actually really confused. There were a good 5 sections that were basically empty until the 7th inning

by Roger Dorn on Apr 18, 2009 11:21 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

All this garbage about “tradition” and such nonsense has reminded me of an article that Bill Livingstone (I know) wrote in, I think, 1996 when Ignatius lost in the football playoffs for the first time in forever, seemingly. I was a junior in high school, and I saved it for a long time. Chico Kyle was quoted as saying something to the effect of, “Our tradition is not winning. It’s seniors teaching freshman how we do things and the right way to do things.”

The Yankees, their fans, and obviously the sports media have totally lost sight of that kind of idea. They seem to think that they can hang 2000 pictures of former Yankees around their new stadium, lay Babe Ruth’s bat across home plate, and hang the same concrete facade around and suddenly they’ve got, in big, bold and capital letters, tradition. Of course, everyone else out there, people not blinded by the shiny and new, people who see the difference between expensive and quality, deride and pity the Yankees.

Yes, I hate the Yankees. But I also feel sorry for their fans. They will never have days like Tribe fans had on Thursday. Maybe more importantly, they’ll never have moments like Tribe fans had in October of 2007 when Kenny Lofton stayed at third, or like we had this winter when CC did what Yankee fans felt was “inevitable.” And that’s the difference – Tribe fans, I think, don’t feel entitled to anything. When the Yankees lost to the Sawx after being 3 up in 2004, they kept shouting “26!” and other such jackassery. What Indians fan has ever shouted, “2!”? And because the media spoon feeds these “fans” in New York, that sense of entitlement and because they’re probably many, many years away from hoping their team competes and wins instead of expecting them to do so, the Yankees will never know how fun and exciting sports can be when you don’t treat them as a destiny, and instead pin your hopes to a side that has its strengths and its flaws, but is yours.

Long, probably pompous way of saying, they’re a bunch of jackasses.

Il faut d'abord durer.

by CU Adam on Apr 18, 2009 12:14 PM EDT reply actions 18 recs

I deride, but I most certainly do NOT pity. Their jackassery demands I not pity.

by lenred on Apr 18, 2009 1:52 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

they’re a bunch of jackasses

I don’t intend to let up or budge one inch on this. In the immediate term the Yankees must be beaten as swiftly as the season schedule, but in the long run their resource advantages need to be undone a great deal more. It’s a problem that’s not going to go away. Nothing is more damaging to the game that I love than the excesses of the Yankees. I think Jay put this best when he said that it’s like they start every inning with a runner on third and their fans think they’ve hit a triple.

I also hate the Yankees.

by jhon on Apr 18, 2009 2:24 PM EDT up reply actions 2 recs

I didn’t want to add another Yankees shot to the list, but while we’re on the subject …

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Force quit and move to trash.

by vbc3 on Apr 19, 2009 2:33 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I just love watching rich people, don’t you do too Patty?

Resident LGT results-oriented boob.

by mauichuck on Apr 19, 2009 2:37 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Not sure how to feel about this, to be honest, Chuck. During yesterday’s broadcast, Joe Buck observed that ticket prices have made the new Yankee Stadium feel very “corporate,” and he said, “It’s easier to make a lot of noise when you’re wearing blue jeans than when you’re wearing a suit.” Tim McCarver idiotically followed that with, “It’s easier to stir the ghosts when you’re wearing blue jeans.”

While I agree that a richer crowd is a quieter, more sterile crowd, I don’t love to over-generalize. I always think of a good friend of mine, who grew up proudly as “the poorest kid on the west side of Cleveland.” Now he makes more than god and owns two houses in Europe, and yet he goes to baseball games with a painted chest. So yeah, it’s funny watching the confused rich folks, I guess, but I’m sure there are plenty of well heeled fans who are still chugging beer and making noise.

Screw them all, is what it comes down to. Screw them all regardless of income.

by tabler84 on Apr 19, 2009 11:44 AM EDT up reply actions 1 recs