MLB stadiums

[Mr. Laser Beam]

The song? Are you thinking of "We're Gonna Win Twins..." ?
Over the loud speakers, I can kind of see that sounding a bit like "Jungle Love" (after a few cocktails anyway).

Yep, that's the one...

Were the beef sandwiches you had from Murray's? They are great.

Yes, and yes.

I also remember this guy on the Hiawatha Line rail, was wearing a Mauer shirt - but where the 'Mauer' would be, it instead said 'Baby Jesus'. Which, given the blatant Mauer worship going on in that city, was entirely amusing. I mean, come on, I know the guy's a good catcher and hitter and all that, but there are OTHER players on that team BESIDES Joe Freaking Mauer!

 

[Pegaritaville]

But Joe is home grown!
Yeah, the worship is getting a tad out of hand.

 

[SmoothieX]

that weird "Jungle Love"-like song they sing when the team takes the field ...

Don't you never say an unkind word about the Time! Me and Silent Bob modeled our whole fucking lives around Morris Day and Jerome. I'm a smooth pimp who loves the pussy. And Tubby here is my black man servant. What?

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

that weird "Jungle Love"-like song they sing when the team takes the field ...

Don't you never say an unkind word about the Time! Me and Silent Bob modeled our whole fucking lives around Morris Day and Jerome. I'm a smooth pimp who loves the pussy. And Tubby here is my black man servant. What?

Hey, I'm not being unkind, I actually like "Jungle Love" (even though Prince played all the instruments and co-wrote it). I only wish I could find a decent version of the Twins song. The only ones on YouTube are stupid dumbass remixes. At the ballpark, the crowd noise was so loud I couldn't hear the song clearly enough....

And don't ever buy shrimp on a stick there. That is all.

 

[Starbreaker]

Jungle Love by Steve Miller is better.

 

[Captain Ice]

Jungle Love by Steve Miller is better.

Totally. Compared to this the other versions are lacking.

If we're talking about catchy tunes, I have to toss in the one they play at Wrigley when the cubs win.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

The Yankees/Rays game is about to start. I just had an idea of how they can make that dump Tropicana Field better:

Paint the inside of the dome black. Then add a bunch of little white dots to simulate stars.

(I don't know what they'd do with the lighting rigs/catwalks in the top of the dome - move them to the periphery, maybe?)

It'd be the next best thing to a night sky, and they wouldn't have to worry about getting the ball 'lost' in the whiteness of the dome. I figure it'd be a nice temporary measure until the Rays can get their new ballpark built.

 

[Starbreaker]

Somebody is going to get pissed off one day when you call their stadium a dump.

 

[RevDMV]

That'll be tough it's pretty universally derided...

 

[SmoothieX]

If they could get butts in seats, the Rays would have one hell of a home field advantage.

Think the Twins in the dome back when they were winning titles. Just swap catwalks for the hefty bag.

 

[Captain Ice]

That'll be tough it's pretty universally derided...

I understand that even the fans call it a dump.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Somebody is going to get pissed off one day when you call their stadium a dump.

Good. Let them.

As for the Trop, go ahead and try to tell me that it doesn't suck. Do it with a straight face. You can't, can you?

(Especially since those damn catwalks COST THE RAYS A GAME the other night.)

I only call a stadium a dump when it IS a dump. Notice how I haven't done that with places like Fenway or Wrigley? That's because, well, they aren't dumps. The Trop, though? The Oakland Coliseum? Those are obviously shit piles and everyone knows it.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

The new Cisco Field proposal for the new A's ballpark in San Jose

 

[SVD]

^ looks nice!

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

This'll be, what, the FOURTH city for the A's? First Philly, then KC, then Oakland, now San Jose.

Well, Oakland had its chance, and they muffed it. Good riddance, I say.

 

[the 4th hanson bro]

Are the Marlins not as broke as they claimed when they pleaded for public money to finance their new stadium?

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I don't think the Marlins exactly come out as mustache twirling villains on this. Read this link, for example.

Instead of taking money provided by revenue sharing out of the organization as true profit, Samson said, the club used its surplus to pay down debt so it could secure the financing required to honor its end of the deal.

Also, it can be argued that Miami politicians should have paid closer attention in the first place.

And besides, there's more in this than simply a new ballpark for the Marlins. There's going to be a whole lot of stuff springing up around the new park. Could Miami really afford the alternative to getting a new stadium, which would have been losing the Marlins altogether? Somehow I doubt it.

 

[SmoothieX]

^Since no one goes in the first place, it hardly matters. Florida gets better spring training crowds than it does for their MLB teams.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ I still think the Marlins attendance will go up when they get the new stadium. I'm convinced that part of the reason they don't get many big crowds now is that Sun Life Stadium simply sucks. You get a stadium that sucks, your crowds will suck. The new stadium will look better, play baseball better, and have a fucking ROOF, all of which can be nothing but a good thing.

Especially the roof thing. You won't get things like THIS anymore.

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTSIJzvNIM8[/yt]

 

[the 4th hanson bro]

And besides, there's more in this than simply a new ballpark for the Marlins. There's going to be a whole lot of stuff springing up around the new park. Could Miami really afford the alternative to getting a new stadium, which would have been losing the Marlins altogether? Somehow I doubt it.

The city of Miami is projecting a 100 million deficit for 2011. Interestingly enough, the cost of the parking garage for the new stadium is $100M - to be financed through a bond issue, so it's not a 1:1 relationship: Kill the stadium, the city balances its books, but the increased debt level means more debt service.....

In the current economic reality, commercial credit is still tight, consumer spending low, and overall confidence is low. Will a lot of new development "spring up" like flowers after a rain around a new stadium?

Since the majority of visitors to the stadium are local, how much increased spending in the area take away from spending in other areas?

New stadiums aren't about increasing the bottom lines of the localities they're in, they're about increasing the organization/owner's bottom line with more suites, PSLs, renegotiated concessions deals that are more favorable to the organization, tax credits and breaks for building, pieces of the parking revenue, and so on.

^Since no one goes in the first place, it hardly matters. Florida gets better spring training crowds than it does for their MLB teams.

^ I still think the Marlins attendance will go up when they get the new stadium. I'm convinced that part of the reason they don't get many big crowds now is that Sun Life Stadium simply sucks. You get a stadium that sucks, your crowds will suck. The new stadium will look better, play baseball better, and have a fucking ROOF, all of which can be nothing but a good thing.

The product on the field sucks. Having a new barn won't change that and the novelty of going to a brand new stadium will last 1 game? "Yep, new stadium's cool, team still sucks". Most sports fans aren't going to shell out hundreds of dollars on a consistent basis to see games in a new stadium unless the team is a good draw.

Detroit's Joe Louis arena is probably recognized as one of the worst arenas in the NHL, yet the Red Wings are one of the top draws in the league year over year. Why? Because the Red Wings have made the playoffs something like 19 years running.