MLB Summer Tour: Turner Field

Name: Demetrius
Team: Atlanta Braves
Stadium:Turner Field

How many times a year do you make it to a game?:At least 10, and it's mostly the Sunday games. Nothing like day baseball, no matter where you are.

What is your favorite part of the ballpark?:
Probably the Hank Aaron statue that is just inside of the park. Having a statue of the Home Run King not only in the ballpark but prominently featured is a shining beacon for the club & just knowing that it's there & I can go look at it for every visit gives me a sense of pride as a Braves fan.

What makes the games special?:
Two words: Tomahawk Chop. Some may think it's racist, some may think it's monotonous, some may think it's lame and a direct rip-off of the FSU warchant...but when 50,000 people are standing in unison & doing it (without a PA system prompting them to do so), it's an unbeatable experience for a baseball fan in this town.

Favorite memory at the stadium?:
Definitely when I got to go to Bobby Cox's final regular season series against the Phillies. Every game I had standing room only tickets, which basically meant that I had to hang from any rafter you could think of just to get a good view of the game. I almost ended up in the Phillies' bullpen for one of the games. But all of the craziness of trying to find some sort of suitable viewing place was well worth it. The Braves won the Sunday game to clinch their first playoff spot in 5 years, and Bobby Cox received one of the loudest ovations I've ever heard. Crazy times.

Picture of you:
(Got none that's relatively current, nor of me at the stadium. I'm lame.)

Instead, here is a picture of Me at Turner Field!


Off to St. Louis!

Soccer Specific stadiums

A Soccer-specific stadium is a term used mainly in the United States, Canada and Australia, coined by Lamar Hunt, to refer to a sports stadium either purpose built or fundamentally redesigned for soccer and whose primary function is to host soccer matches, as opposed to an all purpose stadium which is primarily used for soccer. These mostly refer to soccer stadiums in the USA. In the early history of the MLS, a lot of teams used NFL stadiums. Eventually, they got chased out. Some went to smaller stadiums, other football stadiums, or baseball stadiums. Some had the money and built their own park. With the opening of Livestrong Sporting Park, there's 11 soccer specific stadiums(for 12 teams). The first was in Columbus, then in 8 years 10 new stadiums were built. Here's a gallery.

Columbus Crew Stadium
Columbus Crew
Columbus, OH
22,685 seats
1999


The Home Depot Center
Los Angeles Galaxy, C.D. Chivas USA
Carson, CA
27,000 Seats
2003


Pizza Hut Park
FC Dallas
Frisco, TX
21,193 Seats
2005


Toyota Park
Chicago Fire
Bridgeview, IL
20,000 Seats
2006


Dick's Sporting Goods Park
Colorado Rapids
Commerce City, CO
19,680 Seats
2007


BMO Field
Toronto FC
Toronto, ON
23,000 Seats
2007


Rio Tinto Stadium
Real Salt Lake
Sandy, UT
20,008 Seats
2008


Red Bull Arena
New York Red Bulls
Harrison, NJ
25,189 Seats
2010


PPL Park
Philadelphia Union
Chester, PA
18,500 Seats
2010


Jeld-Wen Field
Portland Timbers
Portland, OR
18,627 Seats
2011


Livestrong Sporting Park
Sporting Kansas City
Kansas City, KS
18,500
2011


Those are the current ones above, but there are two still coming. Houston spent their history in the Houston Cougars' football stadium. The Earthquakes spent their recent return in the San Jose State Spartans' football stadium.

Dynamo Stadium
Houston Dynamo
Houston, TX
~21,600 Seats
2012*


New Earthquakes Stadium
San Jose Earthquakes
San Jose, CA
~15,000 Seats
2013*


The teams sharing stadiums are(not counting the Dynamo, and Earthquakes)
New England Revolution(Gillette Stadium, New England Patriots)
DC United(RFK Stadium, built for baseball)
Seattle Sounders(Qwest Field, Seattle Seahawks)
Vancouver Whitecaps(Empire Fields/BC Place, BC Lions)

In 2012, the Montreal Impact will be playing in a Soccer Specific Stadium of their own. They aren't in the league yet, and they built it in 2008, so it goes down here!

MLB Summer Tour: Tropicana Field

Name: Kaity Lathbury
Team: Tampa Bay Rays
Stadium: Tropicana Field

How many times a year do you make it to a game?:
Once a month!

What is your favorite part of the ballpark?:
Besides the field itself, it would definitely have to be the Ted Williams museum. I get this nostalgic feeling where I get goosebumps when I go up the stairs and see all the jerseys and memorabilia of players from the past. While I wasn't there to watch all of them play, it's all preserved and put on display, but still tucked away so not many people are up there. It's not a secret so much as an under-appreciated part of the ballpark.

What makes the games special?:
The noise level, by far. The roof, combined with the cowbells and vuvuzelas, make games crazy loud. It really gets you pumped up when the guys are winning, and I haven't left a game yet without a raspy voice from cheering at the top of my lungs with a bunch of die-hard Rays fans.

Favorite memory at the stadium?:
My first game on April 9, 2000. I was 6, it was my first pro baseball game, and they got slaughtered by the Indians. While the outcome was horrible, and I cried because I fully expected them to win, I had the time of my life. I was able to attend my first game with my family, and it's a tradition that we've been carrying on for the last 11 years. I actually still have the thunder sticks they were handing out that night and they're proudly on display in my room!

Picture of you:


2 down, and now up to Atlanta for the Braves.

Livestrong Sporting Park

Tonight, against the Chicago Fire, Sporting Kansas City(Formerly Kansas City Wizards) opened their new stadium. The 18,500 seat stadium is the first soccer specific one in team's history. KC played in the Chiefs' Arrowhead Stadium from 1996-2007, then played at the KC T-Bones' CommunityAmerica Ballpark for 3 seasons. Originally going to be built on the Southeast side of KC, Missouri, but ultimately decided to build it in Kansas. They pretty much gave the stadium name to Livestrong, and donated 7 million to the foundation

The new 160 million dollar stadium opens to a lot of games. Still working on it, Sporting KC played 12 strait road games. Following this one, 13 of 15 will be at home.

Oh, and Chad Ochocinco didn't make the team, so in case you were wondering what he's up to. The team actually renamed their team "Sporting" to, yes, be more European. But they wanted to do something more. Over there, they have whole clubs. FC Barcelona is under a club that has a basketball team, here's David Villa, and Ricky Rubio for examples. The MLS announcer said "looking for a possible Rugby, or Lacrosse team"

Ballpark Pictures

stadium-love-.tumblr.com

Hey guys, on tumblr, I came across this site. It has people send in pictures of different stadiums. It's really neat if you're into this kind of stuff. I went through pages and I got to about page 30 before I realized it.

Stadium Report Cards: Shea Stadium

The last of Nick's 3 reviews. This is the Mets' old dump.

Team: Shea Stadium
Location: Queens, New York, NY
League: Major League Baseball(NL East)
Built: 1964
Capacity: 57,333
My event: Regular Season game, New York Yankees

1. Outdoor Design

An old and crappy look for an old and crappy stadium. It had a nice touch of blue going around it but it always looked like the paint was wearing and chipping. You could see in the supports as well how old Shea really was. It is not good looking on the outside.
4/10

2. Indoor Design

The stadium had a nice color scheme with the seats but it is one of the very few qualities I found to be enjoyable. Otherwise the inside is as crappy as the outside. The team store was in a tent and the seats had bars going around the top of them making me feel trapped and uncomfortable in my own seat. Not a feeling I want to have at a ball game. If you sat in the upper rows you could feel the stadium rock anytime a plane flew over and I thought to myself that the stadium could give way and collapse at any time.
4/10

3. Prices
Prices were fair for an MLB game. Good seats at an affordable price .
6/10

4. Food
Overly priced average ballpark food that some Met fans deemed un-edible. One guy sitting next to me had a burger and after taking one bite he said it tasted like “regurgitated ass”. Even the beer was not worth the price. My dad and I had only two each and we both left Shea that night sick to our stomach’s and we did not chug them or anything. Just two.
2/10

5. Staff
Staff was friendly and somewhat welcoming. Did smile once in a while but not often. They were at least very helpful.
5/10

6. Cleanliness
Shea was never clean. It was an old stadium but it seemed to me like no one even tried to take care of it. The bathrooms smelled so bad I couldn’t even go in there to take a leak. A fellow Met fan said “If you get past the smell the floors are another challenge. There is so much piss and vomit on the floors that you need a rowboat to get through it all. Trash and spills everywhere you went; It was disgusting.
1/10

7. Parking
Not bad but most fans took the train in because it was easier and cheap too. Caused long lines at the gates.
7/10

8. Atmosphere
It was a Subway Series game so fans were into it. The Yankee fans did get quiet after the Mets went up big early and didn’t make much noise at all in a 11-2 Mets win. The Mets fans were electrified and excited the whole night. The win led to the teams first ever sweep of their pin striped rivals and would be the highlight of their underachieving season so Mets fans enjoyed it.
8/10

9. Playing Surface
Shea used Kentucky blue grass and had a nice design of the cap logo in the outfield.
7/10

10. Scoreboard

Good quality on a nice scoreboard that stood out. Had the Manhattan skyline on it with a ribbon on the twin towers, that now sits on the Shake Shack at Citi Field, and I felt it represents the team well for Mets is short for Metropolitans so it represents the city like the team.
8/10

A harsh 50/100. That is 4 worse than the Metrodome. I never thought it was any good, but this was kind of surprising. I predicted 63, but that's still 13 more than what it was. I'll try and get another part of the stadium tour done tonight. My sister better do this for me, if not I can have someone I know to fill in.

Stadium Report Cards: Citi Field

The second of Nick's 3 reviews. This is the Mets' new stadium.

Team: Citi Field
Location: Queens, New York, NY
League: Major League Baseball(NL Eaast)
Built: 2009
Capacity: 41,000
My event: Regular Season game, San Diego Padres

1. Outdoor Design

The stadium itself is a tribute to Ebbets Field so the exterior looks like Ebbets. The brick design with the arch windows and entrances are very beautiful. The old home run apple from Shea is located right out front by the home plate gate and the exact spots of where the home plate, pitching rubber, and bases from Shea are marked as a tribute.
8/10

2. Indoor Design

The Jackie Robinson rotunda at the home plate entrance was very well done. Again I love the brick layout and how the words Excellence, Commitment, etc circle around the rotunda. You will also find the Hall of Fame and Museum where the best moments in Met history are honored from the greatest players in franchise history to the two World Series titles, rings, and even the infamous ball from game 6 are enshrined. Yes the ball that went through Buckner’s legs is there. The ballpark itself has a nice look. The classic orange foul poles were brought over but the red and orange seats were not. Also the fence is very tall and oddly shaped. It looks kind of like a broken glass bottle. The look of the interior does not scream Mets like Shea did but you have more leg room with the seats and guests with disabilities can be better accommodated. There is a new Home Run Apple in dead center field that looks nice too. Some seats though are best to be avoided. The infield seats are excellent but the outfield seats aren’t. Particularly if you sit in the upper left field section or in the lower right and center field sections. The levels above are so sharply angled that your view becomes obstructed. In the left field upper level, the view is obstructed by the out of town scoreboards. They put TV’s in all of the obstructed view areas but if I’m going to have to pay to watch the game on TV I’ll stay home and do it for free. Overall though the park is beautiful.
7/10

3. Prices
The prices were better than I expected. Our seats in the promenade club on the 3rd base line were only 28 dollars a ticket and the view was nice.
7/10

4. Food
The food variety is amazing. Taste of the City, located behind the center field scoreboard, has so many choices. The most popular choice is the Shake Shack. Best burger, fries, and shake I have ever had. Worth the long wait, which is common at Shake Shack. Want Tacos, Belgian fries, Italian, Seafood, Barbecue, Sushi, you can have it. There is also many different beers you can try, Subway also has stands, Sausage and Peppers, and of course Carvel for desert. Prices are average for a ball game but it’s worth it. Many choices available on all levels.
10/10

5. Staff
Staff was very helpful in guiding fans to their seats. A very happy and welcoming staff. Very stiff in making sure you were in the section your ticket assigns you but that is expected; You had to show your ticket in order to advance but they were nice about it. I couldn’t find mine when we came back from getting food but they let me through anyway.
8/10

6. Cleanliness
Extremely clean compared to Shea. The bathrooms were clean, did not smell of piss and vomit, and even had a unique floor design consisting of the team colors. So nice to actually go into the bathroom and use it when I needed to. The Mets take care of this park. Little trash could be found on the floors.
9/10

7. Parking
Parking was okay. A bit of a walk from our spot to the park but no difficulty getting out. Getting in was a pain but we were arriving close to the first pitch.
7/10

8. Atmosphere
It was a pitcher’s duel between Clayton Richard for the Padres and Mike Pelfrey for the Mets. Although the game did not sell out the stadium was ¾ full and the fans were really into the game. In the bottom of inning 7 Jose Reyes hit a ball that was ruled a double and the fans went crazy cause it left the park even though it barely cleared the fence. It was reviewed and then ruled a home run and the crowd was excited. I’m sure it depends on the opponent and how the team is doing but when I went it was a very electrified atmosphere.
8/10

9. Playing Surface
The grass surface looks great and the players didn’t seem to have an issue with it.
8/10

10. Scoreboard

The main scoreboard in center field is nice. Below the Citi Field logo it says the famous “Let’s go Mets” with Mets written just like it is on the team Jerseys. It is smaller than the one at Shea but the screen, made by Sharp, is of better quality and it adds uniqueness to the park.
8/10


Another one down, that's 80/100. I never noticed how awesome the interior of the stadium really is.