BBQ’D In The Bleachers
While the new Yankee Stadium is an upgrade over the old building, one thing that remains the same is the bleachers – on a sunny day, you will cook out there. Cook like a lobster.
Besides that bit of unpleasantness I thoroughly enjoyed my first trip to the new stadium. A 12 inning affair that ended when Jorge Posada hit a walkoff single to center field. Yankees win 6-5.
Once your sitting down inside the new palace it really is hard to tell the difference between one stadium and the other. However, the outside looks completely different, shaped the same but more of a resort feeling than that of a baseball field. And, as a die-hard, life long Bronx Bombers fan, I’m fine with that.
One thing I was really syched about is the bathrooms. They made more!! In the old place, if you had to take a leak in between innings, you were pretty much guaranteed to miss 20 minutes of the game. How many times in my life do I remember standing in a long line at the old stadium, tears in my eyes, bladder about to burst, eyeing the garbage can, not sure if I’d make it to the stall.
Besides more bathrooms there are also food and beer vendors around every corner. No more walking half way across the park for a specific food item or beer type. And, the icing on the cake. Smoking is allowed…..in the Hard Rock Cafe.
So, while the new place had more comfort and convenience than the old place, once inside, you really do feel like you never left the House That Ruth Built.
By the time I arrived home at 8pm I thought maybe I’d catch some fireworks or possibly go see the late showing of Public Enemies. In reality I was asleep on the couch by 10:30 and didn’t move until 9 a.m. the next day.
Sunday afternoon I attended the new Johnny Depp film Public Enemies. Surprising to me, I found the film “just okay”. It was a little long and it was hard to get invested in the characters. I didn’t find myself rooting for the bank robber John Dillinger, but at the same time I wasn’t hoping for the FBI to catch him. In simplest terms I was indifferent toward the film and when that happens, at least for me, it makes for a poor movie-going experience.
Sunday night I went for a walk and had supper with my old pal Andy the puggle while his owners were away camping. It was the first time I really got to see him since he almost moved away last month and while I left Andy after an hour, with dog hair on my shirt and scratches on my sunburnt legs from when Andy jumped all over me as I walked in the door, I must say, I loved every minute of it.
So this may be the first Fourth of July in almost a decade where I didn’t do any holiday type activities like picnic, party, or see fireworks, but I still had a good time none the less.
And while I can honestly say I can’t wait for my next trip to the new Yankee Stadium I can also say with 100 percent honesty, my days of sitting in the bleachers during day games are O-VER!!
Unless of course they put in A/C
