Shoes, Ships, and Sealing Wax

Opening Day

Yes, I got tickets. No, I'm not going...I gave them to my dad and a friend of his, two old Senators fans who used to skip school to see opening day at Griffith Stadium.

I was more interested in seeing the park than I was in having the "opening day experience," which includes huge crowds, security, and in tonight's case, a game that might not be over 'til Monday. I saw the park last night, so I'm good.

In no particular order, my impressions:

It's pretty. It's really pretty.

There are ample places to part with your money. On our first walk around the main concourse, it looked like there was a vendor of some sort every ten feet.

By the third inning, you couldn't walk around the concourse because of the lines at the vendors. I'm not griping about that...one of the reasons for last night's dress rehearsal was to examine traffic flow, or lack thereof. I expect that in a few weeks, once the staff get a handle on things (people were literally bumping into each other behind the counter where I bought dinner) it will be much smoother. Tonight...if I were going, I'd pack a sandwich.

When we got to the park, the only line was at Ben's Chili Bowl. I waited until after batting practice to eat, and I only had to wait because my veggie burger had to be cooked. If I'd been eating normal food, I would have been able to grab it and go...possibly without even paying for it. The actual line logistics were a bit ambiguous, another thing I expect to see fixed pretty quickly.

We did climb up to our regular season seats, and I felt a little dizzy.

I will use this picture as wallpaper on my office computer, to inspire me to work harder to get better raises so that someday I'll be able to afford lower-level seats.

There was an actual baseball game being played, a fact lost on several people who were sitting in front of us. I can't figure out why, but some people decide the perfect time to get up to go stand in the half smoke line is just as a pitcher releases the ball. I suppose these are the same people who want to get up at hockey games as soon as a player gets a breakaway, or just after the snap at a football game.

A couple years ago at a Mets game, Victor observed that my aunt (who was then in a wheelchair, just before she died) could steal second on Paul LoDuca. This is still probably the case. I have to keep reminding myself that it wasn't Schneider for LoDuca, it was Schneider for Lastings Milledge. And I'll whisper a little mantra: Jesus Flores is the future.

The RFK shuttle worked out better than I hoped. We'll have a parking space for our regular season games (next to DOT; man, that is a nice-looking building), but if that turns out to suck, the shuttle seems quite viable.

Speaking of buildings, I used to work on L Street; I'd walk from the Half Street exit from the Navy Yard Metro. I completely could not get my bearings down there last night, it's already a completely different neighborhood. (But not all new: my dad pointed out to me the building in the Navy Yard where my grandfather worked. He'd have loved having a baseball stadium across the street.)

Probably not too many people will be excited by the view of the old USS Barry in the Anacostia, but I'm sure there are a few naval history buffs out there who'll appreciate it.

Our seats last night were under the score board, so we just saw the backs of all the guys in suits for the opening ceremony. I didn't even bother trying to take pictures. Our first few Saturday games are afternoon, so maybe I'll have enough light to use the long lense and get some decent shots of the field and players then.

And finally, to prove I really was there:

Posted by Nic at March 30, 2008 10:55 AM | TrackBack