The drive from Pittsburgh to Cincinnati was an easy one. There were some light showers along the way, and one severe thunderstorm forced me to pull off the road and wait for the nasty weather to pass, but otherwise it was a simple drive. I have never driven in the midwest and the wide open terrain was a new and welcome sight to me. I'm sure I will get tired of it after a while, but for the first day it was pretty exciting to see farms and real live truck stops.
When I arrived in Cincinnati, I learned that the Reds were not going to let me onto the field or into the stadium prior to game time (see management section), so I decided to look for my hotel. By the time I found it, some three miles from the stadium, I checked in, only to realize the phone line wouldn't allow me to log onto my computer (a necessity on this trip). I checked out (at no cost) and found a hotel closer to the stadium.
When you drive up I-71 and look out at the stadium, it seems to be a little bit nicer than most of the cookie cutter stadiums in the nation. When you get inside you have the shocking realization that you are WRONG. Cinergy field is boring, unattractive, and offers little (on or off the field) to keep the fans interested.
The complex very large, with an upper and lower level both offering entrance to the stadium. When I first arrived, I had walked from my hotel and ended up under the complex in the parking structure. I jogged around the complex figuring I would find the entrance I was looking for, I was wrong. After asking for help, I ran to the top level of the stadium, took another lap, and was still out of luck. I stopped another usher and he showed me the way to the gate, once again back down the ramps to the parking area and around to the other side of the stadium.
Since I was in a hurry to get to the stadium (because I was supposed to meet someone) I didn't realize that there were covered walkways offering fans a link between the stadium complex and downtown. When I used the walkways to get back afte the game, they were filled with music and activity and thousands of fans hung around to listen and enjoy. It was the highlight of the complex -- and it is only a walkway.
When I got into the stadium, I walked around and around the main level trying to find out what made the stadium special -- perhaps a nice restaurant, specialty food area, activity center, or something. There was nothing. Every sixty yards there are food stands, souveneir stands and bathrooms, and in between each of those are ramps and escalators to the upper levels. That is about all this stadium offers.
As for the seating bowl, the seats are faded and wrap all the way around the field and high up into the sky (capacity is 53,000) making the stadium seem very immense (and very empty on this night). The astroturf on the field is plain but shows the footsteps from the players taking batting practice as dirt is tracked from the batters box to the various positions. The grounds crew proved unable to clean up the footprints so they were an eye-sore for the entire game. Finally, the diamondivision is quite small and out of focus and the sound system is so weak you can't hear who is coming to bat or the songs that are played between innings.
Wow, I thought the New York Yankees were unpleasant to deal with. . .
I first contacted the Cincinnati Reds organization a few months ago (via mail) to arrange a meeting with General Manager Jim Bowden. Despite being one of the few organizations who did not respond to my letters, when I called to set up a meeting, they were quite unpleasant. I called a few days prior to the game, spoke the same person I had spoken with the first time, but she claimed to not remember my letter, our phone call or anything, and said Mr. Bowden would have no time to meet with me. I shrugged it off.
Like I have done with every other team, I then faxed a request to the media relations department requesting media credentials so I could visit the press box and upload my online column. First, I received a call from Rob Butcher, the Director of Media Relations requesting evidence from the Westport News (the local paper from Connecticut that I am writing a weekly column about the trip for) that I was indeed submitting columns. The Westport News faxed a copy of the article announcing my trip. Mr. Butcher called me back a few days later and said that this was not sufficient.
A few days later, I faxed him an advance copy of the article I had submitted to the Westport News (since the paper would not come out in time to send a copy of the actual article) and explained very clearly that the paper was not available until after the game. He called me back, this time raising his voice, and said he had asked multiple times for a copy of an article I had written or he would not grant credentials. Finally, I asked the SportsFan Radio Network (specifically their America Online representative) to fax over articles I had written for their online service along with an explanation of my responsibilities to them.
As I drove into Cincinnati, Mr. Butcher again left a message on my pager, this time sounding apologetic as he once again denied me access to the field and press box. His message stated two things, first that he would not credential me because I was working with an online organization so I would be in conflict with Reds web page. Then his tone got nastier on the message as he explained that he would not credential me because he read my column and learned that I was only 19 years old.
So ended my attempts to get onto the field. Eventually, I was (thanks to Brook Lawer at National Media Group) escorted onto the field so I could give a few interviews. After I ran down to the stadium and met Mr. Butcher, he sternly "suggested" that I not "mislead" the media representatives from each team by not letting them know my age. He let me onto the field, watched me as I gave the interview to the local CBS affiliate, and then whisked me out the door of the stadium to get my tickets from Will Call. Altogether, I am gad I won't have to deal with the Reds organization ever again.
THE FOODCinergy Field offers the regular fare of hot dogs, pizza, nachos, cotton candy, and very little else. I walked around each level of the stadium before the game looking for a specialty food stand or a restaurant and was unable to find anything. Apparently there is a restaurant on the field level of the stadium (indicated by some cute signs with forks and knives on them directing you to that area) but unless you have a ticket on the field level you are not allowed down there. The regular food didn't look very good, but fans weren't shy about eating it in mass quanitities, so I guess it couldn't have been that bad.
As for the pretzel, it was the only nice thing that happened (off the field) on this evening. The pretzels, sold at the regular food stand, are some type of Double Dutch Twist (don't get your hopes up, it is just a pretzel) and are larger than most pretzels (although not as big as Philadelphia. It had a little bit of the plastic taste that comes from sitting under the hot lights, but the addition of a little spicy mustard and everything was fine. It was warm, soft, and very filling.
I was watching Sportscenter on ESPN before I left Pittsburgh this morning in hopes of finding any information about the two teams I was going to watch. When the highlight finally came on, very late in the show, the anchor referred to the game as "the reason why people oppose inter-league play." There is no historical precedent for this match-up, and neither team has been very impressive in the first half of the season.
But, the Reds broke out of their playing woes and gave the fans a very exciting game. After a rocky start, Dave Burba pitched the visiting Brewers into a box and the Reds bats got hot. By the time it was all over, the Reds had spanked the Brewers 9-1 led by a Grand Slam homerun by Terry Pendleton in the seventh inning and a two run dinger by Joe Oliver (remember, he gave me bat selection tips in Montreal) -- also in the seventh.
There were only 21,000 fans in the stadium on this night, actually below the regular season average for the Reds. But, the ones that were there were very involved in the contest. For the most part, sitting around me there were families with children, all interested in the game, and most of them keeping the official score (which you don't see that often anymore). It was the large group of what appeared to be teenagers to our right that kept things interesting as they yelled and chanted throughout the game in hopes of being heard on the field. I don't know if their sounds carried all the way down to the field, but it certainly excited the fans in our section.
I walked around the city for a little while after the game trying to let the frustration of the day melt away before returning to my hotel. I had a lot of energy when I finally got back to my room (probably because I slept through the second inning of the game) and stayed up late to watch television. I saw myself on the 11 O'clock news and was very excited. At least the day ended well.
