Trip to Petco Park

I just made my first pilgrimage to Petco Park, down in San Diego. The Padres lost to the Blue Jays, 3-2, because their catcher is soft, and plays ole' style defense instead of blocking the plate. The point of this post is not to pound on the catcher. It is infact to comment on the new stadium. 450 million dollars to built the new joint in downtown, next to the Convention Center.

I will have to say that I do not like the new stadium, it is just too much. Oh the field is nice, the scoreboard is sweet, the view is clean, the seats are all comfortable. But looking around the concourse, its just too much. The goal of the stadium, and many of the new stadiums is to capture that rustic feeling of the past stadiums. The outer facade is covered with imported sandstone from India. Looks nice, but not on a baseball stadium. You walk in the gates, and there is an elaborate waterfall. You climb up a lofty flight of stairs, and are in the main plaza. You walk to your seats, going though this area that looks like some upscale mall, like the Forum Shops in Las Vegas. Like I said, it is just too much. It feels like you are going to an Opera House, not a baseball stadium. All in all, I think I like Qualcomm Stadium better, but I guess time will tell.