trailerkid wrote:
At least they're wearing something in the right color spectrum.
"Let me get out my puke-mustard, MU hoodie (that looks like a 19 year-old should be wearing it) and sit behind home plate even though I'm a grown man in my forties with a beer belly."
Leave it to those hick, college sports fans from Missouri.
Are you going to hide on this issue, Grid?
I saw that guy. Pretty embarrassing on TV too. I have always said that all people that wear college gear to Royals games look stupid. But there is far more KU gear there and people can look pretty bad in KU sweatshirts too.
But I would take a classy “blue” KU shirt over that guy any day.
Get a Royals jersey or something. Leave the College crap at home.
GRID wrote:
I saw that guy. Pretty embarrassing on TV too. I have always said that all people that wear college gear to Royals games look stupid. But there is far more KU gear there and people can look pretty bad in KU sweatshirts too.
But I would take a classy “blue” KU shirt over that guy any day.
Get a Royals jersey or something. Leave the College crap at home.
The whole argument about what people should where to a royals game is so asinine that it makes me long for a Chef/MD flame off.
I had high hopes for my first new Kauffman experience, but pretty much I just ended up feeling regret again, after I'd sort of gotten over the entire stadium debacle.
The bus being gone was the first step in my disappointment, and driving into the place is still basically as numbing and soul crushing as it ever was, only with increased parking costs. The ticketing and gating experience was improved for utility, and very noticeable. The food options and quality from the standard stadium vendors of yesteryear was just night and day, no question. The prices were just about in line with what you'd see at any MLB park, lower than most in fact, and at least the food looked and tasted the part. Then, of course, I did the concourse walk, and I saw a lot of new plasticky pavilion stuff that looks like it was directly copied from every other park in the country trying in vain to blend in with worn concrete. The actual whole effect was at times a little sad, like a new 60 year old divorcee breaking out her best makeup and heels and trying to recapture a long gone youth, one not nearly as exciting or dynamic as she is convincing herself to remember.
It wasn't all bad, of course. Part of my let down was that the high definition scoreboard was in place last year, and far and away remains my favorite feature. Whatever other complaints I have or feelings of disappointment, none of them are tied to that big beautiful bastard. It took my breath away when I first saw it and I still love it now. And the restoration of some of the park's symmetry using those boards around the park was put to great effect both before and during the game. Other than that, I fully understand why people in danger of losing their jobs and retirements aren't in a rush to do this - it's just not that much of an experience. In fact, I even missed some aspects of the old Kauffman of my youth - no mindnumbingly stupid Bud Light / Pepsi Party Deck / Porch. I understand the need for these things and the place of modern advertising and amenities, but couldn't we show a bit more creativity in the process? If anyone asks me to ever meet them at the Pepsi Party Porch, I'm going to kick them in the knee. I also was impressed by the quality of the indoor areas like the Diamond Club and the Sports Bar, but I don't go to baseball games to hang out at Chili's while I'm there, and I don't have money to buy tickets to the former.
Oh, and I did get half price on my tickets for being a Jackson County resident. That was a plus.
All in all, and probably my bias speaking, the place just doesn't have much magic to it, and I can't see that changing. When the vote passed, I tried to convince myself (as did others try to convince me) that the changes would just be lightning in a bottle - that it would be so invigorating to see them give new and exciting life to a place that's such a big part of my childhood. And what I saw was a waste of money, one that combined the worst aspects of new parks with the worst aspects of ours, with little redemption. The fountains now almost completely obscured, the grass and seating symmetry gone, corporate sports bars, and still the worst real life to stadium and back transition in the country. And it's not just familiarity - I've been downtown so many times in my life, and when I walk across the street to Sprint Center from the P&L district, I can feel the buzz in the air, even if I'm watching terrible exhibition hockey.
But Kauffman, hosting my favorite sport, with one of my favorite teams playing (mildly) competitive baseball in it, still just feels completely irrelevant.
Putting aside your ridiculous insult to 60 year old divorced women (I'll make sure to tell my Mom not to bother anymore), you were never going to be happy with a $250 million renovation. What exactly is so "mindnumbingly stupid" about being able to stand on the outfield wall (nearly on the field) with a beer and see that action from that standpoint? The fountains are obscured? Really?
I don't care if someone doesn't like the stadium, but your gripes are more about not having a new stadium - and that was never the plan. If someone is going to sit and wax poetic about views of semis rolling by on I-70 and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes - there's nothing to say. Your soul was already crushed when you drove in, so the place didn't stand much of a chance.
If it doesn't have street-level retail, it's an abortion.
WSPanic wrote:
If someone is going to sit and wax poetic about views of semis rolling by on I-70 and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes - there's nothing to say. Your soul was already crushed when you drove in, so the place didn't stand much of a chance.
Yeah - but that's still the stadiums #1 problem - and will continue to be for the next 25 years. Yeah, many of the changes are quite nice, but we can't just pretend that it isn't located in the shittiest environment possible.
KCPowercat wrote:
Come on now, its not in detroit.
Comerica's location in DT Detroit may be sketchy as hell - but it is still 100x better than Kauffman's. At least the area around Comerica has potential for improvement. The area around TSC will still be a worthless pile of shit 25 years from now.
LenexatoKCMO wrote:
Yeah - but that's still the stadiums #1 problem - and will continue to be for the next 25 years. Yeah, many of the changes are quite nice, but we can't just pretend that it isn't located in the shittiest environment possible.
I could not agree more. I hate that we did this - I was dying for a downtown stadium. I'm Just saying - let's evaluate it for what it is. Are the fountains really obscured, or is the stadium in a bad location? Is the party deck really "mindnumbingly stupid" or is the stadium in a bad location? Is the elimination of grass and seating symmetry destroying the ambience at the K - or is the stadium in a bad location?
If it doesn't have street-level retail, it's an abortion.
I can't wait to rehash 'its not downtown' for the next decade(s). We all wanted it downtown, its over, can we let that part die and just enjoy what we have and try to make the best of the location. Dang.
I took a cab saturday, man I wish those buses or a bar shuttle was available. $30 cab fyi.
WSPanic wrote:
I could not agree more. I hate that we did this - I was dying for a downtown stadium. I'm Just saying - let's evaluate it for what it is. Are the fountains really obscured, or is the stadium in a bad location? Is the party deck really "mindnumbingly stupid" or is the stadium in a bad location? Is the elimination of grass and seating symmetry destroying the ambience at the K - or is the stadium in a bad location?
I agree. The improvements are quite nice - perhaps Boog would disagree. But at the end of the day no matter how much nicer the concessions are- you are still sitting out looking at an interstate highway and a hill covered with trailer parks and at the end of the game you are still going to have to walk out through miles of parking to find your car and than fight traffic so you can drive accross the city to find something to do after the game. And for those reason, no matter how cool the scoreboard is, the experience will continue to be half-ass.
KCPowercat wrote:
I can't wait to rehash 'its not downtown' for the next decade(s). We all wanted it downtown, its over, can we let that part die and just enjoy what we have and try to make the best of the location. Dang.
The location will continue to suck that entire time - I am not going to just sing kumbayah and pretend it doesn't suck. You can't discuss these renovations without acknowledging the fact that the stadium's biggest shortcomings continue to exist as bad as ever.
KCPowercat wrote:
We all get it. The horse is dead. Preaching to the choir. Any other catch phrases needed?
Just don't think we have to bring it up for every discussion. We all get it.
People have been providing their reviews and critiques of the renovations all week long. No critique would be complete if it ignored that aspect. Some fans may be content to look at the shiny new features and think it makes up for it all. Others may spend 40 minutes trying to get out of the parking lot so they can drive to westport and come to the conclusion that this still sucks more than some fancy scoreboards can make up for. Is the second fan's experience somehow invalid and shouldn't be discussed? Are we just supposed to ignore the elephant in the corner?
We knew the renovations didn't include a new location so to me complaints about location are worthless.
If you ask somebody if they like the color of your house and they say the neighborhood sucks do that make any sense? (ex. only works if either of us had a house obviously)
KCPowercat wrote:
If you ask somebody if they like the color of your house and they say the neighborhood sucks do that make any sense? (ex. only works if either of us had a house obviously)
If I have just spent a fortune improving my house in its shitty neighborhood to the point where its ten times nicer and bigger than any other house around - I would think it is entirely reasonable for my friends and family to look at it and say "nice house, but what in the hell were you thinking? - that makes no sense here".
KCPowercat wrote:
They would tell you before you started...which kc residents tried to do with the royals and glass. Bitching now is just to hear youself bitch.
Feel free to continue though, it is likely to change anything.
We have threads on here discussing whether or not Crown Center was a planning mistake nigh on 40 years after it was buil,t but discussion of the TSC planning mistakes are verboten one week after it opens? This decision isn't just going to go away; this will impact not only the fan experience at the TSC, but also the development of this city for the next 25+ years. While some people may be uncomfortable or sick of the the topic and wish it could just be swept under the rug, this blunder will still be having a major impact a year from now, ten years from now, thirty years from now, etc.; and it will continue to be a part of our development debate for the forseeable future. This topic will impact downtown development, transit planning and routing, team success, you name it. It won't just go away as long as it continues having an impact.
