FanPost

Trip to Wrigley....

Sorry this is late in coming forth, but its finally nice here in the Badger state so any time outside of work has been used up working on the house and watching the first couple weeks of the season.  Being in a split household, means double duty in front of the television.  Getting the MLB Extra Innings package has been like selling my soul to the gods of lazy, but I am not complaining.  
    The wife and I took my parents to the second game of the Cards series at Wrigley.  I just wanted to post some thoughts on the experience, not the game.  Since my last visit a couple years ago, there have been major changes.
    First, the additions to the bleachers are very nice.  They expanded the bleachers section out adding about 1500 net seats.  It seems pretty seamless and fits very nicely into the feel of the park.  The section actually juts out over the sidewalk onto Waveland so there is tunnel like feeling as you filter into the game.  The walls are brick, which someone told is the way they were many years ago, but I do not know about that.
    Inside is even better.  The concourse ramps winding up to the sections have been expanded and are less steep.  They are more vendors and everything seems fresher, but not necessarily brand spanking new.  The park feels like its been thoroughly cleaned, not tinkered with.  (Talking to my dad I compared it to power washing our deck after we bought our house.  I thought the deck was painted green when in fact it just had that much crap built up on it.  That feeling.)  Overall, I was very impressed and the money was well worth it.
    Ok here's the bad part, and I don't know whether to blame my increasing age, the cold weather, or change in atmosphere, but the bleachers were a horrible place to WATCH a baseball game.  It was the second game of the season, which also could contribute to the problem, but it seemed like the pre 1998 years, when the only reason Cubs fans went to games was to get drunk.  I watched people down 6-8 overpriced, crappy Old Styles, talk on cell phones and discuss their latest sexual exploits.  AND half of these people were women!  80% of the people in the stands had no idea what was going on, we had to sit shoulder to shoulder with them while they spilled their beers on each other and us, and it was 40 degrees out.  
    Here are my suggestions for enjoying a game at Wrigley.  One, do not go on Cards vs. Cubs.  First, it jacks up ticket prices.  Second, it seems to draw out only the people who want to party.  Two, do not sit in the bleachers if you have an interest in watching the game.  Buy a ticket in another section; they are probably cheaper anyway because the demand seems to be greatest for bleacher seats. If you want to meet to your future ex wife or ex husband or something along those lines, by all means sit in the bleachers.  
    Overall, we were treated very well by the Cubs fans sitting around us.  They were there to have a good time, drink some beers and watch the game.  In that order.  I cannot say that went for all of them, but those seem the priority for the majority of the fans around us.