A Day at the Park

Update-After two more games here, I am feeling better about the stadium. However, those damn parking garages have inspired me to nickname it "Butter Face Park." The $5 day of game tickets are great. The seats are in the nose bleeds, but there are plenty of excellent SRO spots (I like right below the press box).

It is tough to review baseball stadiums. There are so many historical and personal biases, that it is almost impossible not to make comparisons. There will never be another Fenway or Wrigley, where it can feel like you are watching a Little League game-and I have to admit that, although a die-hard sox fan, some of my best game memories are seeing the Sox play at Yankee stadium.

For me, the really difficult thing about reviewing Nationals Park, however, is that there is one aspect that is just so unconscionably bad, and I mean string up the architects, owners, and the (non-existant) D.C zoning commission from the left field foul pole for selling the city a bill of goods bad, that it is hard to see the good things about this stadium—and there is a lot here to like. So for this reason, I’ve broken my review into two sections. The stadium as it fits in the city and the inside the gates experience.

The really, really bad

Hey gang, let’s build a ball park in a location with lots of faux industrial backdrops (ala Baltimore), great water views (ala San Diego and San Francisco) and sightlines to the Capitol dome and Washington Monument (ala no where else on Earth) and then, LET’S NOT TAKE ADVANTAGE OF ANY IT.

Check out this photo overlooking the main entrance from the upper decks.

Doesn’t that look nice? The people streaming in past the brick buildings with the dome in the background? Unfortunately, the photo is just an example of my lame Photoshop skills. This is how it really looks.

Hmm…not quite the same is it. This is how WashPo described the future stadium in 2006:

The ballpark, scheduled to open in March 2008, will offer views of the river on one side and of the U.S. Capitol dome on the other.

Yeah, right. Oh, and that building blocking the view was built by the team owners. They knew about it when they first presented the plans for the stadium touting the great views. Of course, WashPo never took them to task for this.

Actually, you can see the river and the dome from a couple of very limited sight lines in the upper decks, however, when sitting in 90% of the stadium, there is nothing, absolutely nothing that connects you with the city or makes it unique in any way.

After walking around the stadium for a few minutes I came to the realization that this was a cookie cutter design. It was probably on file with the architects, ready to be taken out and dusted off for use in whatever city was to build a ballpark next. Any real views are purely accidental. Shame, shame, shame. Stupid, stupid, missed opportunity that the city is now stuck with.

I won’t go into the views of the stadium itself from the outside. Fact is, you can’t see it very well thanks to two giant parking garages blocking it from view at the main entrance (WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?). There is a nice entrance on the river side with a grand staircase leading you in, but few people will ever walk around there.

The Stadium Experience

Okay, I got that off my chest. Now on to the good. First, this thing is huge. I mean really, really huge. Don’t know if that is a good thing or bad, but I envision the Nats having trouble filling all those seats as the season wears on.

As poor as the sight lines are looking out to the city, they are great for seeing the game. Whether you are at waiting in line for food or just strolling about, you are always close to the action. This is a good trend that should be continued with future stadium designs.

Along the same lines, the best thing about this stadium, in my mind are the open viewing areas in centerfield. The Red Loft bar is great. We spent some time staying dry there during the rain delay and it was a lot of fun. Just get your beer from the friendly bartender, claim a spot at the rail and chat with the fellow fans. The ticked price started to feel more like a cover charge.

They also have a standing room place next to the bar where mom and dad can watch the game while the kids spend their hard earned money in the batting cages near bye. (although part of me thinks that if the ungrateful rug rats don't want to watch the game, then leave them at home. You can see these SRO spots in the pic below..right behind Spencer Tracy

Lots of good food choices, and Old Bay at the condiment stand. It is nice to see Five Guys and Ben’s Chili Bowl there for a little local flavor.

The scoreboard is awesome. The largest in the league and hi-def. I want one for my house.

A couple of things that they may want to work on. First, as you can see from this picture. There was a good crowd there that day.

However, look at the seats behind home plate. Virtually empty season ticket seats. On TV, it gives the impression that the stadium is empty. They should do something like opening them up after the 4^th inning or so.

There is also an issue that can be correct by the Nats marketing department. I like the Nats logo and, until last season the color scheme was red and white. However, they have succomed to the DC design mandate that everything has to be red, white, and blue, and loaded with stars and stripes. At times I felt like I was on the set of Fox News. Come on guys, show some originality not EVERTHING in DC has to be draped in the flag. It diminishes the local presence of the team.

Okay, this has gone on longer than I wanted. The bottom line? If you can get over the cookie cutter design, and total disregard for its environs, the new stadium has a lot to offer.