Yankee Stadium impressions


So yeah, we're playing hooky and checking the new ball field out. First impressions:

The bat remains, ensconced in the bridge from Metro-North and the Degan parking lots. It probably won't be the best place to meet any more, though - a bit too far from the new Stadium. And it looks less like a bat and more like a monument surrounded by a steel staircase.

The parking lot configuration & traffic flow make even less sense than before. Obviously - most of the lots were set up for the old Stadium. Tough to judge anything yet, though, especially on day games. The distance to the far lots could work out, if the close-in lots empty quickly. Then again, the 'I don't know where I'm going but I'm going there anyway' and tourist factors will be increased exponentially this year.

Things you never saw outside the old stadium: A maintenance guy sweeping up cigarettes (and cigars) from the sidewalk.

They check your car for bombs at the "preferred customer" parking lots. The other ones - hey, we can afford to lose some of the rabble, no?

There are a lot more food places scattered around, not to mention the restaurants. This will take considerably more research, but preliminary recce showed that most stands are duplicates. Haven't found the sushi place yet. The Italian deli place may or may not have been replaced by a place selling Boar's Head sandwiches. (OK as far as they go, but ham and Swiss is no replacement for prosciutto and coppacolla*, w/provolone.

The good - there are a few more places to get bass ale. The bad - they still don't have it on draft.

The garlic fries are extremely greasy, as they should be.

But they ran out of vanilla soft-serve ice cream Friday.

Contrary to rumor, none of the thousands of flat screens added to the Stadium are in the restrooms. At least not in the men's. And there are still lines. The men's doesn't smell like twenty-year-old beer, but we'll give that time.

The center video screen is massive - but figuring out where balls and strikes are tracked is tricky. (On smaller boards by the foul poles.)

More research is needed here as well, but getting out of the Stadium is not easy at all. There were massive jams Friday, when the game wasn't decided until the ninth. We'll have to see how this goes, because it could be a major design flaw.

The place looks nice, open and modern. Does it have New York character . . . ??? But there are definitely characters - guitar man was in the stands. Didn't see Stan and his signs, though. Maybe he got sidetracked in the preferred customer parking lot.

Finding the perfect spot for cigar smoking will take quite a bit more work, but the low wall along 161st shows promise.

And finally:

The view from the cheap seats is a hell of a lot better when the Yankees win.

* Or as it is pronounced in NY, 'pro-shoot n gab-a-goal.'

And let me say this about the parade


Without a doubt, this year's Santa was the most animated ever . . .

And one of these days I'm going to remember to stay on the side of the street I want to be on after the parade . . .

Resist the Terror

Trouble in (the workers) paradise . . .

The North Korean nuke soap opera continues . . .

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea's threat to restart its plant that makes arms-grade plutonium is feasible, although the task would be a daunting one, analysts said on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, the communist state said that because the United States had not kept to its side of a disarmament-for-aid deal it would stop disabling a Soviet-era Yongbyon nuclear complex and was considering getting back into the plutonium business. . . .

Kind of makes it sound like the kids' lemonade stand down the street, doesn't it? 'If we're bored tomorrow, we'll open up that stand and make a dollar so we can buy ice cream . . .'

Contrary to what most of the commentators talking to the news media say, North Korea's leverage decreases as time goes on. And as the world economy continues to tank, there'll be less to extort - er, negotiate - from other countries.

Then what do they do?

If ya ain't rich . . .

Stay out of New York.

City Council Approves Fee to Drive Below 60th

By DIANE CARDWELL The controversial proposal to charge drivers in the busiest parts of Manhattan took a major step forward on Monday, with Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Speaker Christine C. Quinn wrenching approval from the City Council by an unusually slim margin. Under intense pressure from the mayor, Ms. Quinn and their allies that continued almost until the voting began, council members approved the plan to charge most drivers $8 to enter a zone below 60th Street by a vote of 30 to 20, with no abstentions and one absence.

Or at least Manhattan.

More and more, New York is a city divided - you're welcome if you're wealthy and-or a tourist; all others, tough shit.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/01/nyregion/01congestion.html?ex=1364788800&en=27b5ea0fd539404a&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

With the Rogue . . .


I was in New York last week to meet the Rogue Warrior - aka Richard Marcinko - aka Demo Dick - and talk about what's going on with the next installment and get some new ideas on how to best blow things up. We met with the publisher and had a great time, talking promo campaigns and book signings and media launches. Of course, I only hung around for the beer.

At the moment, I'm not supposed to say anything about where the book takes place or what happens, because not everybody is back.

That's the cover story, anyway. Rogue Warrior: Dictator's Ransom should be out next fall.

One of the great things about traveling with Dick is the fact that restaurants magically open up tables when he shows up, no matter how many people are with him and what time of night it is. But I guess maitre d's respect someone who knows 143 ways to kill a man with his bare hands.