It’s amazing that a warm-weather destination would choose to lock its baseball team in a giant warehouse. Tropicana Field, not-so-affectionately called “The Trop,” should be hosting millions of Fed-Ex packages, not some of the best baseball in all the land. Behold a brief inventory of the Tampa Bay Rays’ stadium’s odd quirks that make it one of the most inhospitable stadiums in all of sports: Catwalks? Check. Poor sight lines? Check. Rude service staff? Check. Mile walk from where your car is parked to the stadium? Check. The feeling you’re trapped in a giant pinball machine populated by whizzing baseballs ready to plop into your $8 Bud Light? Check. It’s especially insulting to the few Rays fans who have logged long hours taking in mostly losing baseball since the franchise’s inception. The reason? The Rays play their spring training games at Al Lang Stadium, one of the more spectacular minor league facilities in the U.S.Nobody is going to call the Trop a "Top-10" stadium, but how seriously can you take a guy who thinks the Rays still play spring training games at Al Lang Stadium. (They haven't since 2008).
How seriously can you take a guy who thinks that there's "rude service staff" at The Trop? (The AARP-eligible ushers and ticket-takers are as cordial as you will find in any MLB park.)
And how seriously can you take a guy who thinks fans have to endure a "mile walk from where your car is parked to the stadium?" (Obviously, the smallish-crowds and lack of Downtown location make parking a breeze at Tropicana Field...not to mention cheap.)
Shame on you, Jason Seher - that's just bush-league writing.
UPDATE: After this entry was posted, the Tampa Bay Times reported Seher issued a correction, but hardly an apology.
"I think the Trop is one of the more solidly crappy stadiums on the list," Seher, a Boston Red Sox fan, told the Times. "As far as the rankings, it's purely our staff's opinion."
How can you write an article in 2012 about a game you attended in 2008! There are two parking lots on the site and six across the street. Hardly a mile away as you stated. In what stadium do fowl balls not go into the stands. I invite you back in August for two days. One stand outside for four hours in the 95 degree heat and humidity along with the thunder showers and than one watching the game from the comfort of the 72 degree "trop" and see which you like better.
ReplyDelete