Takes some balls to name your ballpark "The Great American Ballpark." I'm not a connoisseur, but the place is damn nice.
I bought 3 seats in the "you might want to bring supplemental oxygen for the kids" seats on Friday. Oh, and the boys were half price. $44, plus another $20 in "convenience charges."
Pardon the rant diversion... Apparently they haven't visited their website lately. There is nothing convenient about it. Each step along the way... seat selection, order information, credit card... comes with a time limit. An unrealistically short time limit.
The whole transaction is a multi-round game of beat-the-clock. And I lost 3, times in a row. Yet every time through, after yanking my seats away and scolding me for taking too long, on the next lap, there they were, the same seats.
I've had relationships less functional. Some shorter. But none of those would have claimed to have been anything near "convenient."
Cleansing breath.
The park is sparkling clean. The worker bees in their Reds golf shirts are polite. And they smile. And every single one... every one... I was paying strict attention... every one said "enjoy the game."
Apparently there's a stand with $1 hotdogs, $1 peanuts, and $1 sodas. Never saw it, but just knowing it exists made me feel better about the place.
I did find the place that sells teeny tiny bottles of sunscreen for $5.25.
Our bargain seats were actually great. Just to the left of home plate and up about 700 stories... on the aisle.
Seriously though, the seats were perfect... we could see the game unfold, the river and Kentucky in the background, and we were steps from clean restrooms and concessions with short lines. (Ahem... Regal movie theaters.)
The mascot situation was a little confusing. There were a shootload of mascots. Seems a little counter to the concept. It's "Team mascot" not "Team mascots."
Mr. Redlegs
(True to the brand, reds.com doesn't black out the kids' faces.)
There's also Rosie Red and a younger version of Mr. Red.
Yeah, I know! Kinda creepy.
And there's this guy...
Gapper
... who is NOT a ripoff of the Philly Fanatic dyed red.
Other than the mascot chaos, and the unattended 14 yr old with the filthy and non-stop mouth behind us, it was a fantastic day. Sure, we had to leave just minutes before the Reds broke the 1-1 tie in the bottom of the 8th so I could get the boys home on time. Bummed me out, but they took it well.
Next time we'll go on a Saturday.
Good running,
Doug
Numbers: 1.3 miles on weary legs after a fantastic Spring Break.
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