Remember the cat who jumped on the field during the Mets' debut at Citi Field? Did he jinx the team, and are the Mets suffering the curse of the Opening Night Cat?
Blogger Ed Leyro wondered about this issue. And I wrote about his theory in a piece for The Faster Times. Check it out here.
Sadly, Squawker Jon is a skeptic on the theory, though. As for myself, I'm a believer. Think about it - the Mets razed the feral cats' home at Shea Stadium, and left them out in the cold with the new ballpark. Could I see an angry cat vowing revenge? I say yes! Just look at what's been happening to Luis Castillo, or is that Catstillo?
What do you think? Leave us a comment!
Showing posts with label Citi Field. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Citi Field. Show all posts
Friday, August 7, 2009
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Waiting out rain delay at Citi Field was no 'Thriller'
The raindrops started falling just as our 7 train pulled into "You'll have to pay the MTA for using a corporate name" station. By the time Squawker Lisa and I were in the station, the steps leading down toward Citi Field were filled with people waiting out the torrential downpour.
Rain delays at Shea or the old Yankee Stadiums were nightmares - fans crammed into concourses and entryways. Things would be different at Citi Field. And we could always while away a rain delay by getting some food at Taste of the City.
Wrong!
Even when the rain let up, conditions were deemed dangerous enough that fans were warned to take cover. We briefly wandered into an uncovered area and an usher made us move away from a railing.
(Ordinarily, I would throw in some crack here about the Mets being so injury-prone this year that one of them would probably get hit by lightning, but ex-Met Geremi Gonzalez was tragically killed that way a couple of years ago. Besides, the Mets are perfectly capable of injuring themselves on their own.)
So rather than waiting out the delay on a line for Shake Shack one of the other options, we made our way to Taste of the City only to find that the whole area was CLOSED!
Since people kept moving toward Taste of the City without realizing that it was closed, we found ourselves crammed into the very sort of rush-hour crowd we expected to avoid.
Yankee fans around us began to complain that the concourses at the new Yankee Stadium were a lot wider than those at Citi Field, which might be true, but the main reason that this situation would not be the same at the new Stadium is that there is no one place that all the fans would want to flock to. Sorry, Johnny Rockets.
We left the area near Taste of the City and it was definitely easier to wait elsewhere. Eventually, we returned and were toward the front of the crowd when Taste of the City finally opened. We raced to Blue Smoke and got on line, only to find that it was closed!
All of the restaurants there were shut.
After about ten minutes, the shutters came up on Blue Smoke's windows and the waiting crowd cheered.
You know your team is not having a good night when two of my biggest cheers were for the reopening of a rib joint and Luis Castillo catching a pop up.
We got our food quickly, but then ran into another problem - getting back to our seats. We were sitting in Section 136, which is quite close to Taste of the City, but the area was so mobbed that it made no difference - we found ourselves stuck for awhile. It was so bad that I wondered if we would have been better off taking the escalator up to the 300 level, then going down the steps later. We'll have a chance to test this out Sunday night when we are sitting in the 300 level.
We finally made it back to our seats, only to be a little disappointed by the ribs. In fairness to Blue Smoke, I'm not sure what food would have been worth the aggravation we went through to get it. But they were not as good as the first time we were there in April. We got the chicken wings for the first time and I enjoyed them more than Lisa did.
Later, we split a fried flounder sandwich, which was fine, though I could have done without it being drenched in tartar sauce (Lisa liked the sauce).
As much as I like the food at Citi Field, the novelty of good ballpark food might be starting to wear off for me. Wanting to sample everything is beginning to seem more like overeating, especially since I will be back there tomorrow.
Then again, obsessing over the food at last night's game is better than obsessing over the game itself.
The only good moment in the game for my side came just after someone sitting in front of us offered us some chicken fingers he was not going to eat. Even though I wasn't hungry by this point, the chicken fingers looked good. (Hmm, maybe this is why I felt like I was overeating last night.) The guy was wearing a Mariano Rivera shirt, but he was offering the food to Lisa first, and she was wearing an A-Rod shirt, so I figured it was OK.
As soon as I bit into the chicken finger, Gary Sheffield homered into the section next to us. CC Sabathia had retired the first twelve batters up to that point. Where do we get more of those magic chicken fingers?
As for the seats themselves, Section 136 row 15 had its ups and down. Sitting in field level, we were closer to the outfielders at least. We got a decent view of the main action, though from out in the outfield. Our view was obstructed on deep flies to left and center, but we could pick them up on the video screens.
The seats are covered, which would have been good if it started raining again. But it also meant that we could not see either big scoreboard. That was a big minus.
There were a lot of Yankee fans in our section, which Lisa and I attributed to these seats being the ones that were available through drawings that fans from both teams had likely entered.
Knicks' top pick Jordan Hill threw out the first pitch (along with their other first-rounder, Toney Douglas). Interesting choice considering that Hill may not be long for the team if the Knicks can pull off a trade for Ricky Rubio.
After all the hoopla about the eighth-inning singalong, the Mets completely dispensed with it last night. Lisa thought they should have played a Michael Jackson song and I agree.
The night after the game, I am feeling a lot less charitable about all the errors and beginning to realize that my attitude toward the Citi Field food should no longer be "Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough."
And after last night's listless performance, I hope the Mets now "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'."
Rain delays at Shea or the old Yankee Stadiums were nightmares - fans crammed into concourses and entryways. Things would be different at Citi Field. And we could always while away a rain delay by getting some food at Taste of the City.
Wrong!
Even when the rain let up, conditions were deemed dangerous enough that fans were warned to take cover. We briefly wandered into an uncovered area and an usher made us move away from a railing.
(Ordinarily, I would throw in some crack here about the Mets being so injury-prone this year that one of them would probably get hit by lightning, but ex-Met Geremi Gonzalez was tragically killed that way a couple of years ago. Besides, the Mets are perfectly capable of injuring themselves on their own.)
So rather than waiting out the delay on a line for Shake Shack one of the other options, we made our way to Taste of the City only to find that the whole area was CLOSED!
Since people kept moving toward Taste of the City without realizing that it was closed, we found ourselves crammed into the very sort of rush-hour crowd we expected to avoid.
Yankee fans around us began to complain that the concourses at the new Yankee Stadium were a lot wider than those at Citi Field, which might be true, but the main reason that this situation would not be the same at the new Stadium is that there is no one place that all the fans would want to flock to. Sorry, Johnny Rockets.
We left the area near Taste of the City and it was definitely easier to wait elsewhere. Eventually, we returned and were toward the front of the crowd when Taste of the City finally opened. We raced to Blue Smoke and got on line, only to find that it was closed!
All of the restaurants there were shut.
After about ten minutes, the shutters came up on Blue Smoke's windows and the waiting crowd cheered.
You know your team is not having a good night when two of my biggest cheers were for the reopening of a rib joint and Luis Castillo catching a pop up.
We got our food quickly, but then ran into another problem - getting back to our seats. We were sitting in Section 136, which is quite close to Taste of the City, but the area was so mobbed that it made no difference - we found ourselves stuck for awhile. It was so bad that I wondered if we would have been better off taking the escalator up to the 300 level, then going down the steps later. We'll have a chance to test this out Sunday night when we are sitting in the 300 level.
We finally made it back to our seats, only to be a little disappointed by the ribs. In fairness to Blue Smoke, I'm not sure what food would have been worth the aggravation we went through to get it. But they were not as good as the first time we were there in April. We got the chicken wings for the first time and I enjoyed them more than Lisa did.
Later, we split a fried flounder sandwich, which was fine, though I could have done without it being drenched in tartar sauce (Lisa liked the sauce).
As much as I like the food at Citi Field, the novelty of good ballpark food might be starting to wear off for me. Wanting to sample everything is beginning to seem more like overeating, especially since I will be back there tomorrow.
Then again, obsessing over the food at last night's game is better than obsessing over the game itself.
The only good moment in the game for my side came just after someone sitting in front of us offered us some chicken fingers he was not going to eat. Even though I wasn't hungry by this point, the chicken fingers looked good. (Hmm, maybe this is why I felt like I was overeating last night.) The guy was wearing a Mariano Rivera shirt, but he was offering the food to Lisa first, and she was wearing an A-Rod shirt, so I figured it was OK.
As soon as I bit into the chicken finger, Gary Sheffield homered into the section next to us. CC Sabathia had retired the first twelve batters up to that point. Where do we get more of those magic chicken fingers?
As for the seats themselves, Section 136 row 15 had its ups and down. Sitting in field level, we were closer to the outfielders at least. We got a decent view of the main action, though from out in the outfield. Our view was obstructed on deep flies to left and center, but we could pick them up on the video screens.
The seats are covered, which would have been good if it started raining again. But it also meant that we could not see either big scoreboard. That was a big minus.
There were a lot of Yankee fans in our section, which Lisa and I attributed to these seats being the ones that were available through drawings that fans from both teams had likely entered.
Knicks' top pick Jordan Hill threw out the first pitch (along with their other first-rounder, Toney Douglas). Interesting choice considering that Hill may not be long for the team if the Knicks can pull off a trade for Ricky Rubio.
After all the hoopla about the eighth-inning singalong, the Mets completely dispensed with it last night. Lisa thought they should have played a Michael Jackson song and I agree.
The night after the game, I am feeling a lot less charitable about all the errors and beginning to realize that my attitude toward the Citi Field food should no longer be "Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough."
And after last night's listless performance, I hope the Mets now "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'."
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Still plenty of good tickets available for Citi Field's Subway Series
For all the hullabaloo and to-do over unsold Yankee tickets at premium games, it looks like their crosstown rivals are having similar problems. Believe it or not, the Mets still have Subway Series tickets for sale.Here's the story. If you'll remember, for most of the season, the only way to get guaranteed Subway Series tickets for Citi Field this year was either to buy some partial season ticket plan or pack or whatever they call it in Metsland.
And a few weeks ago, Mets.com had their annual drawing for the opportunity to buy Subway Series tickets. Squawker Jon and I both registered for it, as we've done each year.
But this is the first year one of us actually got chosen. Jon's name was drawn last week, so he had the opportunity to buy four tickets. He got ducats for us for Friday and Sunday.
Jon and I were all pleased with our luck. Then a few days later, I was surprised when I got picked for the second chance ticket-buying opportunity. I passed on it, as I was out of town for the weekend. But I wondered why the tickets weren't sold.
Then this morning, I see in my email yet another ticket-buying opportunity - this one for the general public - for this weekend's series. Granted, all the cheap seats are gone. But there are still other seats available. I was offered Caesars Club Bronze tickets for each of the game. At $161 a ducat, they're too rich for my blood, but they're a bargain compared to the $900 tickets the Yanks still have available for Yankees-Red Sox.
The Mets, of course, still have some of their most expensive tickets - the Delta Club Gold ones - available. They will set you back $525 a piece. Again, compared to Yankee tickets, they are a bargain.
Granted, the Mets are drawing just under 39,000 a game, in a 44,000 or so capacity stadium (42,000 seats plus standing room.) But, much like Yankee Stadium, they appear to also be having a problem selling the most expensive seats. No surprise there. What is surprising to me are all those $161 seats available - I found them for each day. At Yankee Stadium, those type of tickets were long gone before their own Subway Series weekend.
At any rate, Squawker Jon and I, for the first time ever, will be going to two Subway Series games in the same weekend. I'm going to be sure and cheer a lot for my man Luis Castillo!
What do you think? Leave us a comment!
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