Redsoxchickie: Just This Side of Stalking

Ever go see a historic monument that you’ve seen on TV hundreds of times, get there and say “SO, this is it huh?” That’s pretty much Camden Yards in a nutshell. It’s not bad, but its not great either.

The outside of Camden Yards is great, lots of brick with vintage looking sings all round. They have their own version of Yawkey Way called Eutaw Street with lots of room to move around. I highly recommend the pulled pork from the Jack Daniel’s stand and the roast beef from Boog’s. The walkways under the stadium are really open and wide so if there’s a rain delay or such you won’t feel like you’re getting to know 15 strangers in the biblical sense when 36,000 people wedge themselves under Fenway.

We went to two different games, one in swanky seats, and the others in left field. The actual seats were spacious, which in 90 degree heat and 99% humidity, you didn’t have to worry that if you got up from your seat that you and your neighbor’s thighs would stick together. The swanky seats were the equivalent of Pavilion seats on the first base side. The amenities were good, access to an air conditioned walkway, full bars, more food choices and fewer lines. The only drawback was that you were so far away from the action you felt like you were watching it on TV. I’m used to feeling like I can touch the grass from my Fenway seats, I think this was the farthest away from the field I’ve ever been. The left field seats were much closer to the field but still spacious. The rows were clearly marked so we didn’t have to tell people every five minutes what row we were in.

Overall the park was nice and you can definitely tell how the owners of Fenway took cues from Camden Yards when they revamped Fenway, but the entire time I was inside the park it felt like something was missing. The most visually interesting thing in the park was this big green wall in the hitter’s backdrop that had some ivy, or moss or mold growing halfway up it. I found it fascination and freakishly mesmerizing.

Other than the moldy wall, the scoreboard/clock and the standing room section where you can see Eutaw Street the inside was very bland and uninteresting.
So basically Camden Yards is a nice place, I think it just needs some more points of visual interest and a team with a winning record.