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Photograph by Kathy Willens/AP
So does that mean that the team will loosen up the no re-entry policy that contributed to Monday night's melee? Well, not so much. Spokesman Jason Zillo said, "There may have been a mistake. But in the future there'll be no re-entry." Apparently the team does not support the time-honored tradition of drinking in your car during delays, what some say is the only way to get through Suzyn Waldman anecdotes.
While the re-entry policy doesn't appear to be going anywhere, local sports scribes are calling for the team to at the very least offer up more consistent updates to spectators on the state of the delay and possibly even weather forecasts on the Jumbotron. The team says that they held staff meetings yesterday to assure just that. But those announcements didn't come before the game last night, as storm clouds and misty rain threatened another delay. Filip Bondy of the News writes, "Any one of these games may turn into a miserable viewing experience that might well be promoted as Pneumonia Night."
It sounds like the team's infrastructure at their new facility has more than a few kinks to work out. One fan told the Times that security wouldn't even let her go and visit a friend sitting in a different section during the two hour-plus delay Monday night. And recently security even kicked legend Paul O'Neill out of the cages before a game. Perhaps they thought he was sharing secrets on how Yankee teams of years past were able to defeat the Red Sox.
The Times also points out that when the Mets had a rain delay in 2007 that pushed back the start of a game until after 10 p.m., the team offered fans in attendance tickets to a game later in the season. The Yankees have no plans to do the same after Monday night's debacle. Good luck filling up all those empty seats.
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I know the Yankees are a big organization that people will flock to no matter what, but it really feels like they need a major PR effort to remind loyal and even fair-weather fans that they count.
But...they don't.
This city is filled with dead spots that used to be the hottest places in town and treated people like dirt, until the party ended. As a long-time Yankee fan I don't see a bright future for any business destroying it's current fan base and any future fans by treating us like crap.
two hours and no news? That's disgusting. The fans need to be treated as though they matter. because even if they don't, when they rise up and decide to boo en masse or walk out or act up, they sure will matter then. Luckily for brass, right now no one could embarrass the Yankees more than themselves.
There is also a new rule now where fans aren't able to be in the lower levels during battery practice if you don't have a ticket to those seats.
Yankees are a good example of greed in America. The rich people wonder why the average hates them. It's not because we'll jealous of you, it's because rich they're GOD and need to rule the world.
Fuck the Yankees. I hope they finish close to last place. This is coming from a long time Yankee fan. BTW.
That should be batting practice.
Gothamist, when are you guys going to allow the users to edit their posts???
While I understand the anger here, people have to understand that we're talking about the weather. It can't be 100% predicted and it can't be controlled.
Putting weather forecasts on the jumbotron will just lead to people complaining about the accuracy of the forecast.
IMO the only thing they can really do here is make sure that accurate information about the status of the game is communicated to fans. Fans need to know that it's not canceled until an announcement is made, and until then it's a crapshoot as to whether the game will go on.
(I am registered, you dummy)
The Yankees do NOT give a shit about the fans.
And yet, they exist. Conundrum!
Flip Bondy of the News writes, "Any one of these games may turn into a miserable viewing experience that might well be promoted as Pneumonia Night."
You do know it's Filip, right?
Flip Bondy does have a better ring, though it'd be a better name for a baseball player than for a reporter.
the article linked to in the sentence about Paul O'Neill is a good one - i just flipped through to it, and while it's nothing earth shattering, it's interesting. the yankees aren't just alienating fans, they're alienating everyone - former yankee heroes, announcers, media.
the fee for a network truck to be outside of the stadium rose 400% this season (that's four hundred percent)! media have their walkie-talkie signals jammed because it interferes with "wireless food service". paul o'neill(!) was treated like a security risk. angels' announcers that were not currently on the air (as with most teams, there are multiple announcers, some of whom are not on the air at a given time) were kicked out of an empty broadcast booth. a woman who was at the rain-delayed game was prevented by security from visiting a friend sitting in another section in the middle of the rain delay.
i was never a yankees fan, but on behalf of their fans, i'm horrified by this. and really - you're going to be an ass to paul o'neill! like i said, never a yankees fan, but he is exactly who you want representing your organization, a class act who gave the team everything he could. and besides that, he works now for the YES network: he still works for your f-ing organization.
All those fair-weather (figurative) fans should say, "fuck you" to the Yankees, because they clearly don't care about the fans. They just want your blind love and money.
I think both local teams are out to make $$$, but the Mets (so far, anyway), seem to be nicer to their fans at least.
This fair weather fan is sick of the Yanks and will now be switching teams.
Of course, they're not going to let you drink in your car.
They're concerned about your safety and don't want you getting too drunk before driving home.
Unless of course, you want to drink at The Mohegan Sun Sports bar, The hard Rock Cafe, Tommy Bahama bar, NYY Steak, the Audi club, Legends Club, delta Sky360 Suite, Jim Beam Suite Lounge, Martini Bar or any other place where they can gouge you for a $9 beer.
This is economics. The Yankees are not turning any chance to rape their loyal fans of their last dollars.
I have been a lifelong, diehard Yankee fan until this stadium. I still watch them, casually root for them...but they will never get another dollar from me as long as Hank Steinbrenner and randy Levine are associated in any manner.
Wow - between you, Steven, and me, that's three longtime fans who've had it.
The team's becoming a fuckin embarrassment
There's ARod, who they never should've signed. And there's the Stadium, which took city money so they could accommodate the rich and gouge everyone else.
The empty seats, the poor performance, having to lower prices after admitting they were too high, and now this incident. This is all karma.
you guys aren't the only ones. it's pretty sad. the new stadium is a raw deal for fans whose budget for tickets is $30 or less (especially considering that a couple of beers and a burger will tack an extra $30 on to that). Rich individuals and corporations aren't splashing out on seats, so the lower stands are empty- a depressing and insulting sight. Despite the big-name imported talent, the team can't get above .500. And all the tone-deaf boosterism on the Yes network has become tedious. Michael Kay and the rest of them are the orchestra on the deck of the titanic.
I used to think that despite everything, i'd still just watch the yanks on TV and root for them, even if i couldn't get out to a game. but the more i watch them, the more disgusted i become at everything about this franchise.
I want to like them- they've been part of my life for the past 16 years. but i feel like the parent of a drug addict- i want them to fail so miserably, to crash and burn, to hit the bottom, so that they can really begin the recovery process. Cashman, levine, steinbrenner, trost- the four horsemen of the yankeepocalypse- they need to go. Besides new management, they also need a HUGE PR/marketing/everything push to remind the vast majority of yankee fans, those who can't afford the bullshit prices for the Park Avenue seats, that they're still wanted at games too (and i'm counting as part of that that the Yanks will field a team worth watching- a team that wins).
Until i see some movement in that direction, i'm directing my interest elsewhere, and keeping my entertainment money in my wallet.
actually, that's not true. My girlfriend is a big mets fan. I'll probably taker her out to a few games at Citi. Heard there are still some pretty nice seats available there.
Add me as a long-time fan who's just about had it (is there a list for that?). As I said here before, it's no fun rooting for them any more. When they win they're supposed to win and when they lose it sucks, and who the heck cares about all these free agents anyway? For me they jumped the shark when they signed Randy Johnson and it's been all downhill from there.
I grew up in the Bronx in the 1940s & 50s and never was a Yankee fan, it was too easy, they always won or were in contention. I rooted for the NY Giants, they stunk and rarely won. The one thing I associated the Yankees with was a sense of entitlement that they thought they had. They still do, but the times they are a changin'. I still root for the underdog, for a while I was a rabid Met's fan, but with their payroll they still fold. Lets go Nats!
They REALLY need to change the new policy restricting us poors from checking out batting practice on the lower level. It is the worst aspect of the new stadium.
Just FYI, you can buy $5 Yankees tickets on StubHub. A friend of mine paid $20 total for 2 tickets to tonight's game, which brings down the price of the evening a little bit, at least. I'm not a fan of the management, but there are ways to get around the price increases.