Return of the Dynamic Duo

After its long hiatus, Spicy Minnesota Kisses has returned with a vengeance! Promises were made of a blog entry last week but were ultimately broken. We quickly hit the road the day after returning from NYC for A-Town that a worthy blog entry was not in the cards. Hopefully our faithful readers have stuck with us throughout this dry spell and are ready for loads of great stuff this week. We ate so much good food in NYC that it has to have its own column. Before leaving for NYC we were able to catch The Dark Knight. Truly amazing motion picture. That will get its own column. Baseball is heating up! Expect a column about the two epic showdowns of my favorite teams this week. The wonderful man who scheduled Twins vs. White Sox and Cubs vs. Brewers this week deserves a raise and an ice cold Grain Belt Premium. Job well done sir. It will be sports overload for us this week. Before touching on all these subjects, I feel obligated to write about the reason I wanted to visit NYC. Actually there were two reasons. Reason one was Yankee Stadium. Reason two was Shea Stadium. They did not disappoint.

Last Tuesday night we were fortunate enough to walk through the gates of Yankee Stadium and watch our favorite team take on the Bronx Bombers. We were thrilled to see loads of fans wearing Twins shirts at the game. Many people must of had the same idea we had of seeing Yankee Stadium before its demolished. New Yankee Stadium is next door to the old and looks the same if someone were to polish and buff the old stadium. We attempted to make it early enough to walk through Monument Park but were thwarted as the line was shut down right before we got there. Making our way up to our first row upper deck seats down the third base line, I started noticing how truly old Yankee Stadium is. The concourses are small and cramped. The paint job is drab and peeling. At our seats, there were no cup holders. The view of the field was obstructed. The seats faced the outfield and made my butt go numb. It is not a comfortable place to watch a ballgame. Through all these negatives, I sill had a great time watching the game. The initial walk through the tunnel to our seats was magical. After seeing highlights of games from Yankee Stadium, actually walking through the tunnel and seeing the field, the scoreboard, the white facade, and the short porch in right was a quintessential baseball experience for me. Helping to make the experience even better was the surprisingly friendly Yankee fans. Most likely due to Yankee dominance of the Twins over the years, Yankee fans were courteous and eager to talk baseball. The experience continued to improve when I ate one of the best ballpark foods I have ever had, a hot Italian Sausage. Topped with peppers, onions, and spicy mustard, it helped make the drubbing the Twins received go down a little better. By the end of the game, Laura and I were tipsy off of 9.50 beer, filled with sausage, and satisfied with our Yankee Stadium experience. Although the 9.50 beers were pretty hard to swallow. Yankee Stadium is a great historical ballpark, but an upgrade is certainly needed and Yankee fans should be happy with a more comfortable viewing experience.

The next night we jumped on the 7 train and rode it out to Queens to watch the Mets play the Phillies at Shea Stadium. I had read many unflattering things about Shea before going to the game. It was old, ugly, uncomfortable, and in Queens. When Shea came into sight, I could understand the ugly comments. It is a bright orange and blue stadium with no real character on the outside. Not the prettiest stadium, but not the worst I've seen. At least the colors of the stadium match the team. Walking into the stadium, it immediately had a leg up on Yankee Stadium as the concourses were bigger and easier to walk through. Not having to fight through tons of people in humid, claustrophobic corridors to get to our seats was nice. Another plus over Yankee stadium was the price of beer. Only eight dollars a beer! What a bargain for NYC! How a family can afford going to either ballpark more than once a year is beyond me. At our seats, we had an unobstructed view of the entire field with only fly balls being out of our view as the upper deck hung over and cut off our view of the sky. Another plus over Yankee Stadium. The final plus that made the game more enjoyable than the one at Yankee Stadium was the crowd. Mets fans are loud and wild. They are merciless with opposing team fans and yell from the first pitch to the last. The last time I heard a crowd so loud was at a Twins playoff game. The Mets won, the crowd went home happy, a homerun was hit so I was able to see the Homerun Apple come out of the hat, and the Nathan's Hot Dog was delicious. Shea blew away my expectations and is a ballpark I would visit again. They could certainly use an updated stadium, but I see no reason why Mets fans shouldn't be satisfied with the Shea experience.

Yankee Stadium turned out to be what I expected. A historical ballpark that I needed to visit once for a classic baseball experience. It was uncomfortable, hot, and poor for viewing the game. But it was Yankee Stadium, so it was completely worth it. Shea Stadium blew my expectations out of the water. We had a great view, an energetic crowd, and a comfortable time watching the game. I'll remember both games for a long time, but for all around enjoyment, Shea might stick out more. I'm as amazed as you that I wrote that sentence.