In the end the game was a total bust, but it was still somewhat fun being at the game on Friday. I had carefully plotted my visit to one of my friends for the same weekend that the Mets would be in town and it worked out well this year. (Not so well last year, but so it goes.)
Prior to the game, we went to a local watering hole called The Flying Saucer. The placed was packed with a mix of people heading to the game (including some people with Mets jerseys on, yay!) and people out after work. If you like beer, this is definitely the place for you. There are more beer options than food options. The beer menu is a tri-fold menu and had to be in 8pt or less font. After partaking in some food & drink, we were off to the stadium.
Altogether there was 7 of us plus one 2 year old. We had gotten the Coke Value pack seats which sets you up with 4 tickets in the mezzanine in RF, 4 hot dogs (the vegetarian of the group was able to get a pretzel), 4 sodas (bottles no less, I was expecting fountain sodas), and 2 hats all for the price of $75. Not too shabby. The hats were of good quality too, better than the giveaway hats that are usually at Shea. Our seats ended up being in the last section practically in CF in row 4. Of course when we got there, people were sitting in our seats (grrrr) so we took the available seats in rows 2 & 3. No one moved us out so that is where we stayed. It was a good view back into the field with no obstructions or corners not visible. Overall I liked these seats.
The inside of the stadium is super nice. The main entrance is marble (?) or at least marble-like. The lower level concourse is spacious with all kinds of food choices. Choice is good. I even spotted a sangria kiosk. Mmmmm, sangria. Out in RF by our seats was a big party room with tons of flat screens and stuff. I don’t know if it is always used as a party room, but a fraternity was having some sort of reunion gathering in there during this game. While they do sell standing room tickets, it doesn’t appear that there is all that much room for standing around, especially once you get the Little Pumas and Los Caballeros (or whatever they are called) out there.
Before the game we ran into a friend of my friend who is in the military and was one of the people holding the flags on the field before the game. That would be way cool, but he must’ve done this before because he was way too nonchalant about the whole thing. I also spent about half the game with the 2 year old on my lap because I had a better view of the orange train from my seat than his. At times I would cheer & clap for good Mets plays and he’d look to the train and point at it waiting for it to go. I guess he associated the cheering with it moving the first time, so he was ready for it to go again…only it wasn’t. Oh well.
Every Friday night is Fireworks night at the park. They open up the roof and shoot them off just beyond the LF/CF wall. There is always some brief entertainment in between the end of the game and the fireworks starting. We were entertained by a Guitar Hero battle between a Little Puma and a Caballero. Except the Caballero failed after like 3 notes. (Rhetorical question: Who fails on Guitar Hero after 3 notes?) The fireworks were pretty awesome for ballpark fireworks. There were some going up that were such a pretty shade of purple. They were about 10 minutes long too which was unexpected.
One of my friend’s friends tried to convince me to go with him to Sunday’s game. I think he was pleased that a girl would willingly want to go see baseball games. However, we already had BBQ plans for Sunday (that he was invited to as well) so I had to decline even though it was especially tempting. However, (1) the BBQ was at my friend’s place so it would not be polite to bail, (2) I did need a ride to the airport early on Monday and would not want to get her mad, (3) I wouldn’t have gotten a chance to play Rock Band had we gone to the game, and (4) the Mets lost anyway so I would’ve been more annoyed. At least at the BBQ we had fun playing cards and Rock Band. 🙂
Photos soon, once I get them onto my computer!
Baseball Shell 