Three Beautiful Things 04/16/16: Yankee Stadium Upper Deck, Wandering in Yankee Stadium, Party Time in the Bronx

1. Adrienne's boyfriend, Alex, and I crossed the Hudson River on the Tappan Zee Bridge and buzzed down to the Woodlawn Station the north Bronx to catch a 4 train to Yankee Stadium where we were immediately besieged by men selling tickets they had already bought.  We turned down an offer to buy 75 dollar tickets and instead bought grandstand tickets for 20 bucks that put us in the upper deck over looking the first base line and right field. It took me about ten minutes to adjust to the perspective from up there.  Once I did, I enjoyed the view and settled into watching King Felix Hernandez square off against CC Sabathia in low scoring matinee tilt.  I didn't feel like fiddling much with a camera, so I just grabbed a couple of quick shots of what things looked like in Section 409, Row 4, Seat 3.

2.  I admit it.  I'm old-fashioned. If I buy a ticket to go to a baseball game, the game is why I'm there. This was not true for thousands of people who were at Yankee Stadium yesterday.  I had to use the men's room around the fifth inning and Alex and I left our seats and ended up wandering around, looking at the many amenities available for fans who want an almost theme park experience at the ballpark. We popped into the sunroof area where fans can have a beer and gaze upon the Manhattan skyline.  Yeah, there are a couple of small television screens, but most of the people in this area were drinking and socializing, oblivious to the game and John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman's call of it. We visited the Yankee Museum, went to one of the Yankee stores (I bought a Yankee pint glass), and I marveled at the number of people not watching the game (including me, I guess!). Eventually, by the seventh inning, Alex and I snuck into some seats in left field.  If you look at the picture above and spot the Canon sign in left field, we sat in the section right behind that sign. The seats were cushioned, very comfortable. It was kind of fun being closer to the action on the field and in such, for me, luxurious seats.


3.  Alex and I wandered around the neighborhood adjacent to Yankee Stadium and dropped into Billy's Sports Bar for a sandwich and a beer. It was the single loudest bar I've ever been to in my entire life. I stuck it out because I've never been in such a place before and decided to have the full experience of being in a place where the house music is so loud I almost had to write out my beer and sandwich order and where scores and scores of people, mostly young, made their way to the cavernous back area with its mammoth tv screens, multiple bars, and spacious dance floor.  They were stoked, dancing, not walking, to the back, drinks in hand, eager to join in with the scores and scores of other NY Ranger fans bellowing in joy as the Rangers defeated the Penguins in a first round Stanley Cup playoff game or to sway in knots of gyrating shouting and laughing partiers.  Alex and I walked through this festive mob to exit Billy's and now I can say I've been in the company of  vigorous young people partying at five thirty in the afternoon in the shadow of Yankee Stadium.