Posted by Sean Rowland on June 25, 2009
Only one more year left for the College World Series at Rosenblatt Stadium and that is truly sad. Giant boo to the NCAA and Omaha for replacing Rosenblatt. I know the reasons, it’s outdated, it’s 50 years old, lacking revenue sources (aka suites)…blah, blah, blah. I always find it sad when great old stadia is put down, but this one’s different in that not only are they taking the stadium away, but also the incredible festival feel of the neighborhood it surrounds. Seeing the stories this week along with remembering the scenes from the prior years, really makes you feel for sad for those fans and the neighborhood to be losing the whole atmosphere and pagentry that surrounds Rosenblatt when the CWS comes to down. All of the traditions are great and I’m sure some will make there way to TDAmeritrade Park and new ones will be made, but I doubt it comes close to prior ones. I’ve been following the news for a year or so and was hoping it would never get finalized. Maybe we’ll have to take a trip out to Omaha to say goodbye to a beautiful ballpark and tradition.
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Posted by Sean Rowland on June 21, 2009
Had an opportunity to see Saturday play at the US Open at beautiful Bethpage Black. My Mother-in-Law lives in Farmingdale, which made it extremely easy to walk the 10 minutes to the train station and then take the shuttle over to the course. I’ve also had the opportunity to play the Black and it was one beautiful, yet ridiculously difficult course. So well designed and every hold just beats you up. I’m around a 21 handicap, ended up shooting 106 the first time and 102 the second time. But, I couldn’t have been happier to shoot a 46 on the back that second time around (from the whites).
We got lucky to get three tickets and my Dad came down for the weekend. If you ever go to a major, get tickets for the first days and do NOT go to the Final Round. It is very difficult to follow the leaders and it gets so packed, you can’t see anything. Found that out at the ‘03 PGA at Oak Hill. We had a great spot behind the 6th green and watched a lot of guys come thru. Spent a lot of time in holes 6-9 and then saw the Tiger hoopla as he came to finish. We took off after the second round ended around 4 pm and worked out perfectly with the heavier rain coming in later. Nice to luck out with the rain and see a lot of golf. Of course, I was rooting hard for Phil, a bit dissapointed that Glover won, but he was the steadiest golfer out there the whole week. As for the fans and atmosphere, it is a loud and great time, but there are also a lot of obnoxious, drunken jerks just trying to join the ‘party’. Most fans are respectful, though there is not much holding back there comments. Nothing beats that roar though from a huge New York gallery!
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Posted by Sean Rowland on June 18, 2009
On Sunday, we made our trip down to Philly to see Citizens Bank Park and the Phillies play. I’ve now been living in NJ for almost five years, yet this was my first trip to the city and I was really impressed! There is a lot to do and the whole Independence Park area right near Center City is awesome. We spent all of our morning time here and checked out the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, Old City Hall, the First Congress building and a few other spots. There’s more museums and stuff in this area that we missed and we’ll likely come back to. It’s also VERY easy to drive in. You take an exit off of I-95 and a few turns puts you next to the Visitors Center where there is a lot of parking underground. And there were a TON of Red Sox fans checking out the sites while Boston was in town.
We took the Subway to the game to save some money (instead of paying $12 for parking twice). Citizens Bank Park is incredible. All of the accolades and high remarks toward it are well deserved. I won’t get into the details, as you can check out the review to the right. But there is SO much going on inside the ballpark including the wonderful Ashburn Alley. The concourse and amount of food options are amazing. But what really makes the ballpark is that all these ‘distractions’ don’t deter from the game or action. The ballpark is loud and fans are into it. I know Philadelphia is a football town, but baseball has just as strong a following as hockey and football. Now I realize the World Series win has a lot to do with it, but you really could sense the passion here. Yes, as a group they are loud and love to boo, but most of it was deserved. Architecturally, I really loved the ballpark design and all of the angles and unique seating bowl. Fenway Park has just a slight notch over Citizens in my book and even in the rankings I have Fenway leading. Only the location really kept Citizens Bank. All in all a great ballpark trip to a really beautiful facility.
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Posted by Sean Rowland on June 13, 2009
Plans to see the Phillies-Red Sox game at Citizens Bank Park have been finallized and tickets are all set thru Stub-hub (which sucks, because I don’t get my collectable ticket stub, first time I have to do that). Can’t Wait! Check back early next week for a report
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Posted by Sean Rowland on June 11, 2009
I always enjoy seeing the Yankees logo negatively altered. Anyway, the weekend plans for a new stadium are very much up in the air right now. The original plan was to see the new Yankee Stadium on Saturday, but other business came up. I’ll be seeing the inlaws in Long Island on Saturday, so we could spend the night and then on the way back to Jersey go to the Yankees game. But there are two problems…1) Parking, which is impossible nearby (and a venture I don’t particularly want to do). So we would have to catch a train 30-40 min out of the way. 2) No tickets and they are playing the Mets, so StubHub prices are ridiculous. Essentially, it’s probably best just to save the trip for an easier day and one that we can do a little easier from NJ or Manhattan-Penn Station.
The alternative is Citizens Bank Park to see a Sunday Matinee vs Boston. Again, tickets are a bit of an issue, but they are more reasonable for this game. The weather is a little up in the air too (it’s been an insanely difficult forecasting week) and I have been rained out of my only attempted stadium visit here before.
What stinks is that the next three weekends are out, so I would just have to skip a new stadium and then go onto July and the trip to Lakewood. I’ll post back tomorrow with the plan.
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