Well, much like Leo had his first trip to Werner Park over the last week, I had my first trip to the other new ballpark around town- TD Ameritrade. I had intended on checking it out at some point at a Creighton game, but just never got around to it, so a CWS game was my first trip. I was a little nervous about going down and wasn't really looking forward to fighting the crowds. Sure, you had to fight them at Rosenblatt, but at least I had a handle on where to park and I knew my way around the area for the most part. Since I get lost taking the trash out to the curb, I was just glad that I wasn't the one in charge of driving down here. And yet, turns out I had nothing to worry about. But we'll get to that shortly. (I should point out that Husker Mike has great coverage of his experiences as well, for another take on how things are going.)
Anyway, I think rather than making this into a narrative, it might be better to just break down the pros and cons and go from there:
Pros
Traffic: Almost non-existent. I was worried that there had been a bomb threat or something- we were literally the only car getting off on the Qwest Center exit and pulled right into our parking spot. Sounds like it was nothing like what is going on at Werner.
Concourses: The concourse at Rosenblatt on a hot, humid day was frankly disgusting, and difficult to move through. Not so at TD Ameritrade.
Restrooms: Say what you will about me, but I despise peeing in a trough at a stadium. I'll take a solo urinal any day. If you want to quibble, it would've been nice to have a separate entrance and exit for the restrooms though, and they could probably prop open the doors on hot days for airflow.
Sight lines: We sat up in the second tier for our game, and the action was easy to follow. I had a lot easier time following balls and strikes and the path of the ball then I ever did before. Although judging by the way some people reacted to foul balls that were 50 feet away from them, I may be in the minority here....
PING- Gone: I'm not necessarily a "baseball traditionalist" (whatever that means) but the PING just never represented baseball to me (the Ping I'm talking about is the sound the ball made off of the aluminum bats prior to this season). This has nothing to do with the new stadium, but I'm glad they improved the makeup of the bats so that they play more like wood and just wanted to throw that out there!
Concession Lines: Even before the game, the lines moved very quickly. No problems here.
Traffic Afterwards: We were leaving as the next crowd was moving in, and things were a bit more congested, but moved very smoothly. I can't overstate how much better this is than Rosenblatt.
Player entrances: I don't know why, but I thought this was cool. As we were leaving, the teams were also leaving out front, still in uniform, just to the side of the main entrance, open and accessible to people. It just seemed like a small thing that put the players on more of a human level instead of elevating them to the level of celebrities or something. They are basically kids here to play the game of baseball. Not sure if that makes sense to anyone, but I liked it.
Storms: Despite the lack of Storm Chasers at this particular stadium, storms are a fact of life here in the midwest. I wasn't there last night, but how nice is it that people can take shelter in the Qwest Center rather than being left to fend for themselves in the elements? This is a benefit that most people- myself included- likely never thought about. I've been at Rosenblatt during a few storms, and it's not really the best place to hang out at.
Cons
People watching: When you sit up in the second deck, you do miss out on the quality people watching (aka checking out girls if you're a guy) that you could always get at the CWS as people walked around the stadium. Since I'm there to watch the game, this isn't really a problem for me. But I think my wife will miss that aspect when we go to a game together.
Cup size: No, not the size of the player's cups- get your mind out of the gutter. The souvenir cups seem to have shrunk in size. And I know this will likely never happen, but isn't it time for stadiums and arenas to explore refill options on these cups to reduce waste?
Flags: Where are the 8 flags in the outfield with the names of all the participating teams? There's a cool visual over the left-field bullpen with the logos of every team, but I still want the flags. Hopefully MECA will bid on them during tomorrow's Rosenblatt firesale.
That's it. I really don't have anything worthwhile to complain about. The only thing I really miss about Rosenblatt is the front of the stadium, where it was kind of wide open with the food in front of you and the big statue in all it's glory. Even though I supported the stadium, I honestly expected things to seem weird or off, and I expected to have a lot of nostalgia for the old place, and it just didn't happen. The new setup simply works too well. And this doesn't even take into account what the zoo is going to do with that property. This is a win-win all around- and hey, even Texas went two and BBQ and are gone- not that I'm bitter or anything.
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