Nouché! Or: What The Hell Is Wrong With These People?

Nouché is pronounced New Shea.  Because I refuse to call it Citi Field, or whatever people would tell you the name is.  Too much bitterness about banks like Citi almost destroying the world and everything we hold dear.  If that's not too extreme.

I love New Shea.  Great place to watch a baseball game.  Much nicer than New Yankee Stadium, which has an alarming visual similarity to the stadium in which they held the 1932 Olympics.  And we all know how that turned out.

So when Thrillist (a New York-centric click-bait kind of a site, but a good one) sent me a note saying they'd ranked the major league stadiums, I clicked on it immediately.  And before I start carping about what I found, let me say that I appreciate the fact that Thrillist lists the contents of its listicles (articles that are basically lists) all on one page.  So instead of clicking to the next one, which even if you have a fast computer is frustratingly slow, you can just scroll down.

And speaking of which, imagine my anxiety when I scrolled down to find New Shea ranked 28th.  Out of 30!  What the fuck?

Yes, it’s an upgrade from Shea, sure. But that’s like saying Michael Cuddyer is an upgrade over 97-year-old Bobby Abreau; just replacing something that's worn out doesn’t make it great on its own. Which is definitely the case with Citi, where even a center field Shake Shack hasn’t done much to help the Mets -- who’ve got a losing record at home -- draw more than 64% of capacity.

Okay, the Cuddyer bit is amusing, but their basic premise holds no water.  Attendance doesn't make a stadium better or worse, it makes it fuller or emptier.  Fundamentally.

Yankee Stadium came in 27th, which is both a comfort and annoying.

Perhaps no ballpark better represents its city than the new-ish Yankee Stadium. Big, impressive, and talked about in the national media ad nauseum. Once you get there, though, you realize it's way too big, overpriced, and, well, not that much fun. While the Yanks have an impressive home winning percentage in their new park, unimpressive food options and a cavernous feel make this a... sorryboutthis... Bronx Bomb.

Read the full article here.