Growing up in New York City I was exposed to a wide variety of professional sports from an early age. My father is an avid New York Mets fan, a diehard New York Rangers fan, an unconsolable New York Jets fan, and I fully expect him to take on the Brooklyn Nets as his NBA favorite at the start of next season. He is also a supporter of the New York Yankees, New York Islanders, New York Giants, and occasionally when their players don’t have the King Kong egos, he’ll even support the New York Knicks.
As my brother likes to say, “He’s a fan of New York.”
Anyone who knows me understands that I am not really a big sports nut. The only two sports I’ll watch while at home are an Indy car race and wrestling. By that logic I’m only a fan of Indy car racing and wrestling. It’s not that I’m anti-professional sports, I’m just not into it from a fan perspective. My work however usually brings me close to all of the other sports in their home venues. For that matter, there are only two sport venues I haven’t worked in and one of them is under construction.
The other one, Citi Field, I visited yesterday. I went to the old Shea Stadium often enough with my father and even worked the 2000 Subway Series, but hadn’t been to the new stadium yet.
The one thing that I wanted to be sure to experience was the Citifield Shake Shack. Located behind the left outfield, this bastion of New York goodness that originated in Madison Square Park has brought their shakes and burgers to the fans of Major League Baseball. Luckily we got there early enough that the wait wasn’t horrendous, and both the Double Shack Burger and the Black and White Shake lived up to expectations.
Having seats on the Promenade, I was also able to enjoy the Promenade Club. This is a nice air conditioned galley with a field view and table service. I was also able to avail myself of the Caesar’s Club which, although there is no field view, is filled with comfortable leather couches and television screens to see the game as it progresses.
As far as new stadiums go, I have to admit that Citi Field is really pretty nice. It’s a stadium that pays tribute to the past while at the same time has it’s own fun personality with amenities that are reasonably priced when compared to some other venues out there.
