Four hours before Game 1, the main press box resembled the Tokyo subway. Bodies and computers made things impassable. The adjoining work rooms were overflowing too, the precious spots apparently having been claimed at dawn by savvy veteran journalists.
The poor Yankees. How were they know people would be interested in covering a World Series? Having hosted 39 others, there was no way they could possibly have anticipated a crowd.
Beat a hasty retreat for the auxiliary press box, a lofty, outfield perch where Philadelphia sportswriters were assigned seats and sherpas to get them there.
After rappelling up there, it was quickly apparent that more clothing, binoculars and oxygen would be required. The freezing wind howled like a New York cabbie. The puddles of water that two days of rain had left on our chairs and tables were icing over.
We all would have huddled near the TV monitors for warmth had there been any TV monitors. Apparently it was OK for the cream of the nation’s sportswriters to get wet but not for TVs.
Far below, set up atop the right-centerfield wall, we could see a pair of NYPD snipers. Had New Yorkers finally tired of the Yankees uber-obnoxious broadcast team of John Sterling and Susan Waldman?
ooof…imagine if they would have lost.
Repoz
Posted: October 29, 2009 at 03:31 AM |
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1. Hugh Jorgan Posted: October 29, 2009 at 03:52 AM (#3369795)And I speak for all 20 mil Aussies, when I say thank effing christ this arsehole is no longer one of us.
Indeed. With all those empty seats in the Legends section, they could have easily fit the overflow press crowd in there ... and fed them really well too!
Ahh, the poor media. How were they to know other media outlets would be interested in covering a World Series? Having covered ... 108? ... of them before and knowing that for some unfathomable reason the Yankees didn't build their press box to meet the needs of 3-4 World Series games on occasion but rather to regular season capacity, there was no way they could possibly have anticipated a crowd. And with budget cutbacks, newspapers can no longer afford to send a stringer down there at 8 am to hold a spot for Wallace Matthews.
Won't somebody think of the poor media!!
...look, I'm no fan of Sterling and Waldman in any way, but what the hell?
Yes, they deserve it and I hope they burn in hell.
As a sometimes sportswriter/broadcaster, let me say this isn't about being "comped"; we're there to work. You'd think a brand-new gazillion-dollar stadium hosting the flippin' World Series would have better facilities for the working press.
I can picture Sterling doing a live remote from the Charles Whitman Sampler..."He is high! He is far!...'ping'......
I've never lived in NYC and have a (former) upstate NYer's ambivalence about the place, but that seems a bit much.
1.5 million people live in Manhattan.
I thought they said the temperature was in the 50s last night....
Had it been that cold and rainy, I probably wouldn't have enjoyed it as much. But I can't blame the Yankees for the weather.
GET WITH THE PROGRAM, HOWARD.
Jim Murray, I presume.
Most likely from exposure and starvation.
Vile toady.
Better facilities, or simply more capacity? I don't think anyone's complaining about the quality of the facility, but simply a lack of TVs in the auxiliary area, boo hoo.
Oh, and did I mention the section was completely empty?
What's worse, writer's complaining about athletes complaining about conditions, or writers complaining about their own?
nobody lives there anymore, its too crowded.
While attending Nebraska, and working for student radio station, we were also allowed to broadcast the football games, our station signal strength covered most of Lincoln. At any rate, in the 'old press box' our broadcast quarters consisted of a backyard shed type structure on the roof of the press box, (think those little black transformer sheds on the top of Tiger Stadium), every September game was done wearing nothing but boxer shorts staring into the stifling sun, cooking like a fried egg, sweating out about five pounds a game. We didn't complain a bit, knowing they'd likely pull the plug and sell the space to some desparate fans. When I hear about Vin Scully's first football broadcast on Fenway's roof, I think of this.
The new digs in Lincoln are heavenly, basically like a small sky box, with A/C, TVs and lots of space.
Leonard Koppett was similar. The one time I met him, I asked him where was his favorite spot in the stadium to watch a game. He said he liked to move around a lot -- bleachers, upper deck, lower deck, behind the plate... you see different things from different places.
At the old/old Yankee Stadium...I used to walk from foul pole to foul pole on the field level for an inning or two, just to take in the different angles.
Now...even that's been taken away.
Cement shiithole.
Wait, what? I've done that many times at both the field level and up top. What can't you see? The 200 level's blocked out behind home, but the field and terrace?
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