Sloweff First Look: Citi Field

It is with great pleasure and swelling pride that I report to you sloweffers on the brand spanking new home to the New York Metropolitans. Last night was a night of varying emotions: excitement, reluctance, curiosity, yearning, and arousal. From the second I stepped off the subway platform I knew I was in for a totally earth shattering, perception blowing night. This, my friends, was when the most memorable part of the evening occured; when I looked out towards my beloved Flushing Park and saw a gaping hole in the landscape. The giant blue bowl with neon lights on the side was missing. The silence, deafening, the sight, blinding. I took a deep breath and marched on, knowing that tonight was going to be a night of new beginnings, no matter if i was ready for them or not, it was time to move on.

The weather was a bit crisp, but not nearly as bad as predicted. There was definately a buzz in the air. As I entered the Jackie Robinson Rotunda an hour prior to game time my reluctance turned to giddyness. I felt like a kid in a new home, wanting to explore every nook and cranny and get the new lay of land. That's one of the reasons I loved Shea so much, I had it figured out (not that it was hard, it was a giant symmetric circle.) Citi Field has a lot of "unique" characteristics, but many of these characteristics may seem a little forced. The designers of the park travelled to almost every stadium in the league looking for ideas, and what they came up with borrows a little something from all of them. The only problem is, there's nothing that stands out and says "this is Citi Field" apart from the giant effing apple in Center Field. I'm all for the apple, but the new apple is comically big.
I was actually able to sneak down to the center field seats where I got to get a first hand view of the new bullpens. I got to watch Big Pelf warmup and even got the ball he tossed around before the first game at Citi Field. Then the real butterflies started flying when Tom Seaver and Mike Piazza emerged about 10 feet away from me:

Pictured above is Tom Seaver's entire body and Mike Piazzas legs. This location also got me featured in a few pictures and televised game tape.

As me and my pops found our way to the seats we wandered around Citi Fields expansive concourses and were able to survey the food selection as well as beverage options. Beer is only $6.75(i think)! Way down from Shea's prices. The lines for all the trendy places to eat like Shake Shack, Blue Smoke, among others were far too long, so I stuck with a hot dog and was not let down. One more thing to note: Citi Field has liquor, lots and lots of dleicious sweet liquor for sale, this can only be a good thing.



The views were good from all around, nice sightlines, very scenic...unfortunately the Mets continued where they left off by losing the game.

One more critique that a few people noted last night: Where is all of the Mets stuff? Jackie Robinson is a hero and should be commended for everything he did for the sport, which is why I have no problem with the Rotunda. But what about the Miracle Mets? Where is the homage to '69 and '86? Where's the hall of fame with old Mets relics and pieces of Shea? It's great to have such an aesthetically pleasing exterior, but we're not the Dodgers. The walls are green, they should be blue. The seats are green, they should be blue and orange. Im guessing as I go to more and more games it will feel more and more like home, it's just new to me. All in all, I cant wait to go back.