Red’s Game

While Cincinnati is currently 4 games out of second place in the National League Central Division, it wasn’t but a month and ½ ago when they were consider unstoppable and in first place. During this time I got the chance to attend a game in their new and gorgeous home stadium over looking the river that separates Ohio and Kentucky. This stadium put the wonder-blunder that is the Metrodome to shame. I think after going to see a game in an open stadium of the caliber of Cincinnati’s, Twins baseball would be much improved. The drive to Cincinnati from our normal location was only about an hour and ten minutes and we stayed in Cincinnati at the Hilton, a converted 4 star from years before. All in all it was a great game.

The design of the stadium seems to take inspiration from many different places and has a lot of different elements that really keep it from having an overall theme. Though compared to the dome, it actually has personality. The colors were typically the team colors all of the seats and appointments were red or white. The general architecture was very open and though there were a lot of people it did not seem crowded. As you enter the park there are several nostalgic appointments statues, plaques, and displays. There are the general baseball decorations as well, large concrete baseballs along with the shapes of balls and bats all over. Inside the stadium was typical and really nothing special. In the outfield there was a mock paddle wheel boat that launched fireworks whenever a Red’s player hit a homerun. Other than that the stadium is just a very open setting with high angled roofs that allow for the best outdoor experience.

There were several different seating options from the expensive lower level seats to the club level (where we had seats) to the several different types of sky boxes, to the upper deck nose bleeders. Much like the Excel center in St. Paul the stadium was designed for the best possible view experience and there really isn’t a bad seat in the house. I especially liked the fact that the seats faced the field instead of strait out. That means that our seats were turned toward home plate instead of facing the outfield. The seats themselves were larger than most stadiums (at least on the club level) and spaced out so you didn’t feel like you were sitting on top of the people to either side of you. Another great part of the club level is a large glassed in Bar/Restaurant area; it is filled with comfortable seating and large TVs that are displaying both the game in the stadium as well as other sporting events going on around the world.

The game it self was pretty uneventful. The score was less than five runs between both teams. There were a couple of double plays and a few homeruns – pretty typical stuff. My Project Manager was the real entertainment. He had been a season ticket holder in the past but quit buying them when the rates were doubled so the Reds could acquire Ken Griffey Jr. Since that point he has been jaded about the Reds and tends to heckle a lot more then he is willing to chair. Many times over we heard him shout out to Ken Wiffey Jr about this or that. It was more fun to listen to him yell about what was going on in the game than to watch the game itself. Especially considering that he is normally the most professional – though not reserved – person you may ever meet. It is always interesting to see your boss acting in new and crazy ways.

One of the coolest things about the stadium was the beer guys. And not because I love the beer guys at all sporting events or because I wasn’t the one who had to pay the guy! No, it was cool because they used a different method than I have seen at any other park. Instead of a guy (or gal) walking up and down the stairs yelling cold beer, cold beer here, GET YOUR BEER HERE!! There were actually people more like waiters (now again this was the club level so I am sure you get extra special treatment) who came around an took your orders. In fact that is all these people did, they had handheld wireless systems that they entered the order on and recorded payment with. Then the order is zapped through the air to some centralized location where it was put together and handoff to a food runner. After a few minutes you got you whole order beer, dogs, candy, chips, whatever. This was nice because you didn’t have to go anywhere and you didn’t have to wait for different people to come by. Plus it was cool because I love technology and the wire handhelds are something I have never seen used at a sporting event.

The other interesting part of the game was actually the trip to the park and lodging. The only reason I say this is because the hotel was built in the twenties and recently modernized so it had all the amenities and comforts with great art deco features. The rooms were a little small but very comfortable. It was at least as nice as the Grand Hotel in Minneapolis. Now it is pretty much a strait shoot down I75 from Dayton to Cincinnati and to be honest it was pretty uneventful. There was however a very large church just a few minutes out of Cincinnati. This may sound pretty common but this is the first church I have ever seen with a statue of Jesus in front of it. And not just any statue, this one was two stories tall in the middle of a big pond! It was one of the craziest things I have seen. Now I personally don’t really think that is appropriate, but then I don’t live in that area or go to that church. So I guess live and let live. But it was still a crazy site.

Oh BTW the Reds lost that night. Bummer