Yankee Stadium

Look Closer: Images from the House that Jay-Z built

Esoteric 4 Comments

Press Box

I never used to understood why Jay-Z was always in “best rapper alive” conversations, since I didn’t think his skills were on that level. I thought that maybe it was like Lil’ Wayne, where he said it so much himself over the years that people eventually just assumed it was true.

Then on Monday, after all these years, I saw him live for the first time at Yankee Stadium, the show he co-headlined with Eminem, which I had the opportunity to write about for my day job.

To paraphrase Yuri Foreman two days before he fought there, Yankee Stadium is really big.

But Jay-Z has made himself even bigger.

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At big-money Yankee Stadium, satisfaction hardly guaranteed

Esoteric Leave a Comment

Opulence on full display

After being impressed with Yankee Stadium during the Cotto-Foreman fight last week, I wanted to see it for its designed purpose: a baseball game. So I made my way to the Bronx for my first Yankees game at the new Stadium in a World Series rematch against the Phillies on Wednesday.

Unsurprisingly, my opinion was much the same as it was for Citi Field, which I found to have none of the soul of Shea but 10 times the commerce, and therein lies the flaw in the “event” culture they’ve created:

You can sell the experience, but you can’t control the outcome of the game.

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Fight night in the Bronx – some words from the experts

Esoteric Leave a Comment

I haven’t been around here as much I’d like to be lately, though that will change – my day job has taken up a slight bit more of my time given that I’ve been covering the events leading up to tonight’s Yuri Foreman-Miguel Cotto fight at Yankee Stadium, which has been great.

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Ode to access: An unbiased Stadium review from Row 13

Ron Epstein Leave a Comment

Editor’s note: The same week RjE went to the Stadium and shared his thoughts, the Yankees planned to host the folks from Camp Sundown for a wonderful sleepover event. SportsAngle is a huge advocate of the cause and the event – for more info on Camp Sundown, check out their site and feel free to make a donation.

Monday Night, 7/20/09, The Bronx.

I’ve spent the last year hearing about how amazing the new Yankee Stadium is, and how I had to get out there to experience the difference. On this site, our resident commentator, Esoteric, referred to it in a tongue-in-cheek fashion as an “Ode to Excess.” (Author’s Note I: I refuse to believe the words of someone who bills themselves as “Esoteric”). Being that the Orioles were in town, I decided that there wasn’t a better time than right now to sit through nine innings of torture (Author’s Note II: I am a long-time suffering O’s fan).

• Thanks to a family friend, my fiancé (Kelly) was able to score incredible seats 13 rows behind home plate, down in Kate Hudson territory. The face value on my ticket was $hudson325. I only need to ask one question… What recession?
• We parked at one of the River Street garage lots. $19 for Event Parking. In this horribly dank, musty lot, three fans were pounding down cheap beer and listening to Metallica. Yep, sounds about right.
• We walked around the exterior of the stadium, noticing how out-of-place the stadium felt right in the middle of the Bronx. Walking by a sea of cheap-o-marts and dollar stores into this posh, billion-dollar facility was surreal.
• Kelly decided to wear her Mariano Rivera jersey to the game, while I decided to sport an Orange-and-Black O’s jersey with no name or jersey number on the back (Author’s Note III: There is no point in getting an Orioles player’s jersey, as they will be gone from the team once their rookie deal expires).
• Yankee fans are heckling me. I’ve been told to “Go back to Baltimore!”
• We meet up with some friends and enter the Stadium. We are not patted down, and security is more relaxed than I expected.
• We walk around the interior, and right away, it felt like a cross between Citizens Bank Park and the old Stadium. It also felt smaller, and cleaner.

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