Booster Seats

I was catching up on my reading and came across this paragraph in Newday's Neil Best's column from February 26. Neil is the sports media columnist who also tackles such socially relevant issues as new stadia and ticket sales.

Some fans have expressed concern about obstructed views from the first row of the promenade level of Citi caused by ribbon boards affixed to the facade, just below the railing.

"If you're a shorter person it could be an issue," [Mets Executive VP Dave] Howard said, "but we think that can be addressed in some way with booster pads . . . For most adults it should not be an issue, and if it becomes an issue we'll have the means to address it."

This was Dave Howard talking to Neil back in late February. Dave, why don't you meet me at my seat in the second row of the Promenade on Tuesday night and we'll discuss getting a 6'0" adult a booster pad.

follow up to the Obstructed views

As a follow-up to my earlier post there's a lot to fix, I found some photos of Shea that showed the railings. I liked the ones that were at Shea because they blended in with the seats and were not obtrusive. MetsPolice.com has been following this post as well.

We see Shea's Upper Deck and Mezzanine walkways up close and we can see how the railings and steps were just not in the way.

there's a lot to fix

Update 5/3 - I posted a follow-up to this post with some photos from Shea for comparison

MetsGrrl.com is really angry over the Mets treatment for their fans. Two posts worth of anger. I am angry too. I don't think this is going away anytime soon.

The SectionSix mets blog has an online petition. The author sums up the obstruction problems this way...

Here is the problem I see.....the Mets, I am afraid, will continue to sweep these issues under the rug, dismissing this as a non-issue and never really making an effort to make the situation right.

And over on MetsPolice.com, the Mets Police Chief responds to the post from SectionSix asking for suggestions. This is another issue that won't just disappear. So I offer my suggestions. I'd love Dave Howard, or Fred or Jeff Wilpon tell me "no" to my ideas. I challenge them to.

1. The plexiglass has to go. Shea had railings in front of the first row of seats and boxes in each level. They were thin, and you could grab your hand around them. They were also painted the same color as the other hand-rails and seats in that level, so you hardly noticed them. They could have done the same thing here. I don't see what type of extra safety the plexiglass provides. I'd love for a photo from the first row in the Upper Deck at Shea to compare to though.


2. The LED ribbon. At Shea, the LED ribbons were installed 40 years after the park was built. They went on a facade that was actually tall enough to have the ribbons block the face of the facade instead of any views. Citi Field was built with fairly small facades. And they knew there would be LED ribbons there from the start (how could they not?). It doesn't look like an issue in this photo
   
   but you compare it to this one, and see how it just wouldn't naturally fit.
   
   From here,
   
   you can get a sense of the difference.
   Maybe the LEDs could have gone on top of the stadium "roof", so that they weren't in anyone's way. In hindsight, they should have built the facades to be think enough to have the LEDs not block the views, but it's too late for that. Or LEDs that are just less tall so they don't cause the problem. Expensive to replace them now, and less tall may not work as well. But it's an idea. I did find myself looking over at the current balls/strikes/outs because that was the natural direction I was pointed in, and the flag poles obstructed the RF scoreboard.


3. The out of town scoreboard. I actually found myself NOT looking towards it like it used to look at the one at Shea. That's the problem with having everything separated now. I would align the bottom of the scoreboard with the "roof" that it hangs to, support it above, and then have the advertisements. As seen here,
   
   it appears to hang down from the top so the overhang blocks some views from that section. If you have the overhang above the "roof", you're not blocking those views anymore than you'd block them without it at all. Also, those last rows should be discounted, just like the last rows at Shea were in the Mezz and Loge levels because of the overhang. With TV monitors. It's Left Field in fair territory, so you can't expect to see everything on the field in the LF corner. I am glad the out of town scoreboard isn't part of the outfield wall. The outfield wall should be solid (padded) wall and nothing else.

Aside from all this, there are some general flaws that really cannot be fixed. For instance, the pitch of the seats is different than it was at Shea. It makes you "closer" to the field, but with everyone else closer too, their heads are in your way. That's unfortunate, but short of tearing apart the entire Promenade and re-building it, I don't see how that can be fixed.

My take on seeing a game at Citi Field

I'm going to break this up into a couple posts. First, I'd like to get some of the bad out of the way, starting with a few things that were (mostly) uncontrollable circumstances.

• It was hot. On the ride home, my car showed an outdoor temperature of 92 degrees. The angles of the April sun and where my seats were in the Upper Box in RF made for a nice combo for sunburn, but from behind and mainly on my left side. There was a little sunscreen left in my bag from my Spring Training trip (where I managed to NOT get burned), but it was too late when I went looking for it. I bring this up mostly because the stadium is angeled differently than Shea, so learning the sun patterns (as outfields know already) will take some time.
• This was a day game after a night game, so it was no surprise that the Mets did NOT take batting practice, so I can't really tell you how hard it is to get autographs when everyone is moving in and out (though without access to the dugout, I could only imagine). More on BP in a little bit later. The extra time, however, did allow me to get into different Field Level seats (down the lines and in the OF) to take pictures.

And now to the just plain bad... I am not going to mention some of the other points like ticket pricing-box office scams, lack of respect for Mets fans or their history, or the fact that the exit onto the BQE from the Grand Central going home clogs up the entire roadway from before the airport. Other blogs have done a fine job with these things, as well as the obstructions, and I contribute my opinions when I can.

The view from my seat. These are season ticket "box" seats. No offense to mini-plan holders or individual ticket holders, but these should be better than the others. The view would have been great if not for the LED ribbons that sit along the very small facade of the Upper Deck. For the couple games that I have from this season ticket holder, I'm right on the place where the seating angle changes in RF, and the LED ribbons follow.

A note on the photos - the camera angle and height seemed to be a bit higher than my actual eye level. You can see more of the field closest to me from the photos than I could actually see sitting in my seat.

As you can see, there was no view of the RF corner from the bullpen entrance/exit, to the corner, and down the line almost back to the infield dirt, and everything from the coaches box back to the dugout and seats was also obstructed. When you look on the Mets tickets page at the view from the seats, those photos are very misleading. I wonder if the view looks better in row 4 instead of row 2. When people came to sit in row 1 in front of me, the view got worse because THEY blocked the views of home plate, the pitcher's mound, and 1B. I had row 2 seats in the Mezz box from this same ticket holder at Shea, and there was never a problem seeing with or without people in front. If I were on the aisle, there was a plexiglass window at the bottom of the steps that may or may not further obstruct the view.

I'm trying to find a good photo to help illustrate this last point. I noticed a gap in the stands between the front row of seats and the field itself along the RF line (the Mets side) that I didn't notice on the LF (visitors) side. Walking around during BP, I saw a few Nationals players coming over to sign out in LF. It looked like they could reach or even step right into the stands. On the Mets side, there was that gap creating distance between players and fans. I hate to say it, but I think that was done on purpose. But it did not stop Bobby Parnell from coming over, and after a few minutes of reaching, coming into that gap (which leads into some tunnel under the RF seats) and signing autographs for a lot of people for a pretty long time. This was later in BP when only the Mets pitchers were out in the RF corner working, and even when that was done. In a related note, I saw Brian Stokes signing closer to the dugout (but in the "fans" area) but didn't get close enough to see if there was any structure in his way. I would like to see what this is all like when the Mets are actually taking BP as a team.


part 1 | part 2 | summing it up

Down in Front

Shannon Shark, the Mets Police Chief, over at metspolice.com has been keeping track of some obstructed views in the 500s section. When I first heard about obstructed views, or just bad vantage points in the stadium, and I guess this was a few weeks ago (before anyone got a chance to see for themselves), I never imagined seeing paying customers in the front rows subject to that kind of problem. But here it is, seemingly well documented. And I've learned in the past few weeks that I shouldn't be surprised about anything that the Mets have done.

I'm a bit curious what the obstructions are for the 400s (I can tell my piece of it tomorrow), and even in the lower areas (if anyone's actually sitting there).

I hate having to get on the Mets organization, but it seems like everything they do or say turns to shit. It's like a marriage or job that's really just meant to end.

Speaking of things ending, I saw this note the Daily News, courtesy of Metsblog.com presented by Verizon (don't get me started there) about possible major shakeups in the pitching rotation and/or coaching staff. A shakeup could be an act of desperation, or it could be the best thing that happens to the team all year (remember the coaching changes that happened to the 1999 Mets that seemed to spark that club). Just be careful how you handle this - the last time the Mets had a change like that, well, mistakes were made (remember that late night in Anaheim last June).