America's Game
Not the greatest experience at the Old Ballgame on Friday night. Oh, Royals. Technically, I did get more than I paid for. The tickets were given to us from a season ticket holder, and included in the deal was a free parking pass. And the Royals won. And because the Royals got 13 hits, we can exchange our tickets for 13 bagels at Panera Bread this week. We got to go to the game with close friends and had great seats. And yet, the hometown team still managed to leave a slightly bitter taste in my mouth.
It all started with the approach to the stadium. It was a beautiful night and there was a great giveaway. We were playing the Twins (typically a big draw), and yet the Royals were somehow unprepared for the big crowd. Even though it costs $9 to park at the game, the team only opened half of the parking gates thus creating a severe logjam just trying to get into the park. And so we idled. We waited. And then the parking people gave us the wrong directions to get us to our lot.
Things were way worse for the people who didn't have tickets to the game yet. Cost-cutting was evident at the ticket booths as well, as many of them were unstaffed. People had to wait an hour to get a ticket, which meant a lot of people just turned around and went home. It's too bad, because there were 31,000 people at the game even though a lot of people went home when they realized they wouldn't make it through the ticket line before the 7th Inning Stretch. It would have been close to a sellout.
Finally in the stadium. Hungry? Too bad. You guessed it. Understaffed and under supplied concession stands. It took Stacy 40 minutes to get a pretzel, the pain of which was dampened by the fact that the Royals absolutely lit up the Twins at that point, thus causing her to only miss the bottom of the inning.
Since I only paid for food, I feel a little bad complaining. But dang. Help a brotha out. I'll probably be back to the yard this year, but I'll be looking for a far improved game day experienced.
Fair Dinkum
It all started with the approach to the stadium. It was a beautiful night and there was a great giveaway. We were playing the Twins (typically a big draw), and yet the Royals were somehow unprepared for the big crowd. Even though it costs $9 to park at the game, the team only opened half of the parking gates thus creating a severe logjam just trying to get into the park. And so we idled. We waited. And then the parking people gave us the wrong directions to get us to our lot.
Things were way worse for the people who didn't have tickets to the game yet. Cost-cutting was evident at the ticket booths as well, as many of them were unstaffed. People had to wait an hour to get a ticket, which meant a lot of people just turned around and went home. It's too bad, because there were 31,000 people at the game even though a lot of people went home when they realized they wouldn't make it through the ticket line before the 7th Inning Stretch. It would have been close to a sellout.
Finally in the stadium. Hungry? Too bad. You guessed it. Understaffed and under supplied concession stands. It took Stacy 40 minutes to get a pretzel, the pain of which was dampened by the fact that the Royals absolutely lit up the Twins at that point, thus causing her to only miss the bottom of the inning.
Since I only paid for food, I feel a little bad complaining. But dang. Help a brotha out. I'll probably be back to the yard this year, but I'll be looking for a far improved game day experienced.
Fair Dinkum