2009.07.02
New lyrics for an old song -- Salem Red Sox, this is for you!
Aaron McFarling had a great column today about Monday night's Salem Red Sox game. It was an extraordinary cluster you-know-what in every possible way.
It's not all the Red Sox' fault. Much of the parking lot was eaten up by carnival rides for the Salem Fair. The weather Monday night was perfect for baseball: dry air but not-too-cool temps. And, you could buy a general admission ticket for $1 if you had a coupon from The Roanoke Times.
That perfect storm left more than half the crowd still standing outside the park, trying to buy tickets or get in the gate, when the National Anthem started playing.
Meanwhile inside the park, cheap seats were hard to come by because hundreds of them were covered by infernal crowd-packing tarps. AND, they were selling $1 beer and $1 hot dogs, but they rigged it so you had to wait in long lines at separate stands to buy them.
Not. Much. Fun.
After the game, I wrote some new lyrics for an old song. Here they are, sung to the tune "Take Me Out to the Ballgame."
Get me out of the ball game,
Get me out of the park,
Get me away from insanely long lines,
One dollar dogs
Are not worth the long time.
It is wait, wait, wait,
At the beer stand,
My back is turned on the game,
And it's one, two, three runs I missed
At the Red Sox shame!
Were you there, too? Did you experience what I did? If so, post it as a comment below!
Was this your first experience with a $1 night? Its always like that. Part of the fun is the people watching, since $1 night brings the local yokels and hot Roanoke co-eds out.
The other (and larger part of the fun) is $1 beers.
Comment by Rich — July 2, 2009 @ 3:52 pm
I wasn't there last nite but my son and some of his friends were there a couple of weeks ago and they said they couldn't even find cheap seats together because of so many being covered, so they had to upgrade. Is that their plan?
Comment by Roanoke RnR — July 2, 2009 @ 4:44 pm
Yeah, that's pretty much every monday and thursday night at the ballpark... packed with long lines. I don't think I've ever gone there and sat through a full game though, I usually just mill about around the concourse watching the game from behind the field level bleachers. Works for me.... I still think that tarping up the seats is a stupid way to save money on cleanup.
Comment by scott — July 2, 2009 @ 5:16 pm
Rich, I've been there to many $1 beer nights on Thursdays, and on a few Mondays. Never before have I seen so many people still outside the gate when the game began. They were way understaffed in the ticket booths.
Eventually, they just started taking $1 from folks at the gate. But I was in there by then, and I didn't get inside until the game started.
Every other time I've been you could still get a $1 beer and a $1 dog at the same stand -- meaning you stand in line once, rather than twice. That is a total scam. And...there were no tarps. The tarps change the experience. Make you feel like a sardine.
Comment by Dan Casey — July 2, 2009 @ 5:48 pm