Mikey D

Grace got free tickets from an old friend who is working in the D.C. area to last night's Phillies-Nationals game at the new National's Park, so it was our chance to see what the new park was all about. We sat in right field on the lower tier (there is an upper and lower level to right field) about four rows from the field. We had a great view of the entire field of play.

This was my second Phillies-Nationals game, and much like last year the Phillies fans came out in droves. I'd say the stadium was 50% Phillies fans, and that is not an overestimate on my part. I've said it once and I'll say it again: Philly fans are some of the most loyal and dedicated fans I have ever seen.

Back to the stadium. My opinion of it? Welllllll, it's just 'eh'. First, let me complain. Sitting in right field in seats that were $35 a pop, there are certain things you expect. One, the fucking scoreboard. The Nationals decided to put their gigantic HD scoreboard up in right field, right above us. Since there is a second tier, we were unable to see anything the scoreboard had to offer. That's just awful in my opinion. To not have the scoreboard centrally located for fans is baffling to me. They had an ivy-covered area in centerfield...with nothing above or around it. You know what would have been great there? A scoreboard. A scoreboard that I could see.

While the stadium is nice and new, there is nothing about it that makes you go 'ooo' or 'wow'. For traditionalists that don't like a lot of extras that's a good thing, but at the same time, I was hoping they'd have something that would make the stadium stand-out and make it its own. Instead the stadium just looked plain and came off bland. I can see fans loving it for this year, but five years down the road what will draw fans to the park? What about the stadium will make families want to spend money and come down to the yard. Certainly not the quality of baseball...ooo burn.

And now the thing that completely turned me off to this stadium- the atmosphere. There was absolutely no life. Last year, this is what a Nationals-Phillies game sounded like:



We got nothing close to that this year. You know how the PA guy announces the home teams' players' names in a fun and exciting voice, and the visiting teams in a low, monotone voice? Well it was low and monotone for everything! There was no "pump up the crowd" music. Da-da-da-da-da-da- CHARGE! None of that. Nothing! A National's pitcher would strike out a batter and there was no applause, no music, no nothing. Just a monotone announcing of the next batter. Even the Philly fans couldn't get into the game, and that's just remarkable in my opinion. It was beyond boring and lame, and in this over-stimulated day and age, just unacceptable.

If you're going on a national ballpark tour (Adam), leave this one until the end. It's not worth it. Or maybe you'd want to do it as soon as possible just to get it over with.

~Mikey D