Friday, August 1, 2008

Playing Hookie Part 2

Photobucket

In part 1 yesterday we took a tour of the outside of Miller Park and got to see the atmosphere leading up to the game. Today we will take a look at the inside of Miller Park. I didn't take a lot of pictures inside of just the park itself because when I go to a game I normally try to take pictures of players and action going on on the field. If you want better pictures of the general park you will have to wait until the older sister is here. She is much better at that kind of picture than I am.

The first thing we do when we get into the park is grab a beer on our way to our seats. I have to give this park a A+ for beer. Many different kinds so a good choice to be had. I chose my current favorite Linie's Honey Weiss. I'm not sure what a beer cost because I was with a vendor and with you are with a vendor they pay for everything. Now because we entered through the center field gate and had to walk all the way around to the area behind the first base dugout the beer was gone by the time we got there. That is not a problem in this stadium because they sell beer about every ten feet.

By now though it is time to think about food. I decide on a brat because hey when you are in Milwaukee Wisconsin what else is there besides beer and brats? And no I didn't take any pictures of the food. To be honest the food in this stadium is a big disappointment. The only food I saw was frozen style pizza you can buy out of your local grocery store (pretty sad eh?), hot dogs and brats. And the brats weren't anything to write home about. This doesn't even come close to the multiple choices of Pittsburgh's PNC Park with restaurant type food or Camden Yards in Baltimore where the bbq smoke drifts throughout the ballpark from over the right center field bleachers. For a new ball style ball park that Miller Park is this is a huge, huge disappointment.

Photobucket

The ballpark was packed and believe it or not there were a lot of Cub's fans here. Look at the above picture and everybody you see in blue is wearing Cub's apparel. And don't forget about all the Cub's fans not wearing blue, like myself. I heard one estimate today that put the overall attendance of the game 85% Cub's fans. I believe this could be pretty close because whenever the Cubbies did anything the place got pretty loud. Would this every happen at Comerica Park in Detroit? I don't think so, it would never be allowed to happen. If it did I think it might cause a riot. That is the difference between hard core Detroit and hung over Milwaukee.

This is a nice ballpark though with a nice field and great architecture.
Photobucket

I love the green, green grass of a major league ball field and always dream of having a yard just like one.

On the back wall of the stadium is a large scoreboard flanked by to huge windows to let light in whenever the roof is closed.
Photobucket

There are huge banks of windows all the way around the stadium to let natural light in.
Photobucket

The scoreboard gives you all the information you need plus instant replays of the action on the field.
Photobucket

Since I have already mentioned this stadium has a roof it should be noted it is one of the new stadiums with a retractable roof.
Photobucket

You can see the different levels of roofs in this picture. It is a nice feature because here there is never a rainout. Today was overcast but still nice enough to leave the roof open.

Photobucket

Here is a little closer look at the roof system. You can see the rail the roof rides on and the three or four different layers of roof the expand and retract whenever they open and close the roof.

And with this being a newer stadium it is a family friendly ballpark.
Photobucket
There are plenty of activities for the whole family located all around the ballpark.

That about does it for pictures inside the ballpark tomorrow we will get into the action on the field but before I go I have to show you the saddest picture I took all day.
Photobucket

And one last picture for today. Can anybody tell me who this guy is? If you are a true Tiger fan you will know.
Photobucket

5 comments:

Shaelynn said...

Alan Trammell?

jporterGOP said...

that's not fair that shae read this before me, becuase i definitely knew it was alan trammell. props to shaelynn for knowing that though.

i still wish he was with the tigers, not the head manager though...jim leyland is the right guy for that. i just wish they could have kept him around as an assistant, even though that'd be like demoting the guy.

and for dad...two words

RYAN BRAUN. he is Brewers baseball, and i take pride in that because if you remember I told you to remember that name. that was before he was even in the big leagues. now what has he done? hit about 70 homeruns in less than two full major league seasons..pretty impressive

Unknown said...

I think Shae had some help from Scott.

Your boy, Ryan Braun, tried to bunt twice in the game I went to and one ended in a pop up the 3rd baseman caught. Oh I should mention nobody was on base either time. He looks like Manny Ramirez in the outfield right now but I think eventually he will learn to play out there.

I will agree he is the future for the Brewers not the fat man Fielder, he is useless.

carriegel said...

i had no idea who that was.

that looks like a really cool stadium.

Unknown said...

I doesn't touch PNC Park or Camden Yards. I was waiting until I went to Miller Park to do my ball park rankings so here shortly I hope to get it done.