Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Ballpark stories

Since I am still reeling a bit from my lousy box of triple-threads, I have not really felt like blogging about cards that much. I had a post all ready to go about Edinson Volquez, but never pulled the trigger. I was going to do a nice little write-up on Jason Varitek and his surprising season thus far, but never have gotten around to it, and I have thought about posting my second box of Topps Finest, but have not felt like scanning. I got the baseball card blues, baby.

So for giggles, I thought I would toss around to my five readers a question, just to learn a little bit about your teams and their stadiums.

I was listening to our local sports affiliate that has some crews down in Arizona for the Blazers/Suns series. The radio announcer had the chance to go take in an Arizona Diamondbacks game the other night and was completely taken aback to know that the Diamondbacks have a major concession problem...they sell out of hotdogs by the second inning...every night! He says he has never been in any stadium, in any sport that has such a dysfunctional concession stand situation. I was wondering if any of you are Arizona fans and can confirm this oddity.

Then I started thinking of stadiums that I have been to and my favorite and least favorite features about them. I would have to say that Safeco Field brings memories of garlic fries, seagulls, and a train that passes by outside the stadium each game. The stadium features a mostly seafood affair, from clam chowder to fish and chips, as well as all the standard stadium fair.

By far the oddest concession stand I have visited is in the Rose Garden in Portland, where there is a popcorn/espresso stand. An odd combination to say the least, and each time that I have been there the stand employee does not seem to have a clue how to use the espresso maker and once even had a patron come behind the counter and make his own espresso!

Kind of a disjointed post, but your assignment is to tell me about your team's stadiums and your favorite/least favorite features about the concessions of the stadium.

4 comments:

  1. Well, fortunately Citi Field has a lot of nice concessions to speak of (unlike Shea, which really only had some good Knishes in one stand on the field level). The tacos in the main food area there are some of the best I have ever had anywhere, not just at a ballpark.

    Most people rave about Shake Shack, but I have never been to the one in the stadium because the lines are always insane and I have been to the one near the Museum of Natural History.

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  2. Petco Park is definitely a nice stadium, but there's nothing particularly interesting about the concessions. Anything 'unique' is just from a chain restaurant. They used to have a "five for $5" deal: hot dog, chips, drink, popcorn, and a cookie for five bucks. Not bad - you could just bring a flask in and your $1 coke turned into a crazy strong $1 jack and coke. Or you could "upgrade" the drink to a beer for a total of $10.

    For some reason they did away with it this season. Too popular, I guess. I think they sell ticket packages that include a drink and a hot dog, or at least they did last season, but I haven't heard any promos for it this season.

    So somehow, in America's finest city (at what HAS to be one of America's finest ballpark - it's really nice) there is very little to get excited about in the way of concessions.

    So maybe that's the one reason for people to feel sorry for us San Diegans.

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  3. The old "K" the concession stands were overly crowded behind the lower deck. I haven't had the chance to visit the remodeled "K" but understand that they widened the concourse to help fix this. The best thing about getting food there is the Kansas City style bar-b-que!! The food vendors also do a great job coming by multiple times to make sure you get all you need.

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  4. Miller Park . . . Cactus League Nachos. Best value on earth.

    Being that I haven't been to a ton of Brewers games since Miller Park opened and I've been living in Minnesota, I can only tell you the worst thing going on at the Metrodome was Papa John's pizza was one of the busiest stands. This never made any sense to me and give you an idea of how horrible that place was for both baseball and concessions. Most of the stands were closed except for the prime/weekend series.

    I'll have to touch back with you after I've seen everything Target Field has to offer. My first game is May 6th.

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