US Cellular

I admit that I am not a baseball stadium expert. I’ve only been to three aside from Fenway: Yankee Stadium, PacBell (formerly) in San Francisco, and most recently US Cellular Field in Chicago.

Having primarily seen live games in Boston any stadium seems like a palatial land of opulence. The seats face the field? Oh dear lord! The fat guy next to you doesn’t have his love handles in your popcorn? Three Cheers for that! You can get seats for less than double face value? What a concept! Beer vendors that come to the seats? Hooray!

That being said my visit to the White Sox new home on the south side of Chicago was (in some analytical ways) a disappointing experience. US Cellular is a beautiful facility in every sense of a functional baseball stadium. It’s easy to get to using public transportation, the seats are cheap ($60 on stubhub.com for lower level 12 rows back from 1st base, $34 face value), there are roaming beer guys, and there is no such thing as an obstructed view.

However, for some reason the atmosphere can only be described as vanilla. First the surrounding area is essentially vacant. I wandered around about half of the exterior of the stadium and literally did not see one bar or souvenir shop. How do these things not just spring up all over the place next to stadiums? Maybe it’s because you’re allowed to tailgate outside of the park which is an odd phenomenon, in my mind, for baseball.

Once you get inside their seating “caste system” as we called it only contributes to the grayish atmosphere. Our seats were in the 100 section, which is the lowest level of the stadium. In order to get into the 100’s you have to show a ticket (even before the game) which means that if your seats are in the upper deck there is no opportunity for you to take your kids down to the field level to watch batting practice or try to get autographs which for a family is just about the only reason to arrive at the park before game time. It also keeps the “real fans” (i.e. the one’s who can’ afford season tickets or who just buy the cheapest seats available) far away from the action while the older more stodgy spectators watch the game with a Milwaukee Brewer’s like intensity.

For example, the couple that sat next to us was a season ticket holder and his absolutely ancient mother. This woman was so small and withered that when everyone stood up for the national anthem she had a proctologist’s view. As the game went on they talked and talked and talked about everything but baseball. At one point my dad whispered to me, “She’s putting on makeup.” I thought he was kidding. When I glanced to my left a few moments later I saw with horror that he wasn’t. She was smearing blood red lipstick over half of her face while holding a compact mirror approximately ¼ of an inch from her nose. This was certainly not an enraptured fan.

On the whole the place just lacks character. Maybe I’m too used to Fenway but to me it seemed like big building that can’t decide what it wants to be. They play their introductory music WAY too loud especially in the early part of the game when the stadium is half empty and throughout the game they inundate you with various sensory overloads. There is hardly a moment between innings when something isn’t flashing or singing or racing across the big screen accompanied by ear drum shattering sound. My dad summed it up best, “It’s like they’re trying to be WWF baseball.” It seemed to me that a lot of what they were doing was a desperate attempt to make attending the games an experience worth repeating. The White Sox have never drawn enormously well, and now that they are it almost feels like they’re forcing it a little.

You could say that I’m just a baseball elitist and that I only have eyes for Fenway Park, but that would be untrue. I loved PacBell Park and if you gave me the option of trading it for the old monstrosity we have here I would have to seriously think about it. PacBell manages to combine the old with the new in an effective way while US Cellular beats you down with the new and suggests that the old is built in because the team itself has tradition. And even saying that is debatable. They have tradition from last year, but prior to that (and into the future) they are the second team in the second city and sadly the feel of their stadium reflects that.

All that being said attending a game at US Cellular is an enjoyable time with one giant exception.

I thought the Red Sox were obnoxious about their World Series victory last season with the hour long opening day ceremony and the marching out of every elderly man who had ever worked for the team in any capacity. I was wrong. The White Sox beat it into your head with the fury of a team that his lived in the shadows in its own city forever. Everything in the stadium says 2005 World Series Champion Chicago White Sox on it. EVERYTHING. They announced their team twice, once before the national anthem and then again individually as the team took the field.

The first time they pounded your skull with, “Now the starting lineup for YOUR 2005 WORLD SERIES CHAMPION CHICAGO WHITE SOX!”

The second time the PA announcer was flat out offensive. “Stand up White Sox fans and welcome YOUR 2005 WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS. At first base your 2005 World Series Champion first baseman Paul Konerko…” and on and on and on until the entire starting nine took the field to, like my father said, a WWF style introduction.

First of all, you don’t need to introduce your team twice; everyone in the stadium should know your players. Secondly, we know you won the World Series last year; you don’t need to remind us as a precursor to every sentence. Finally, don’t tell me to stand up. You are presuming that your fans are very lame if you need to instruct them on how to cheer for their team? Come on.

I think that if the White Sox have another good season and earn equal ink with the Cubs that most of these things will work themselves out. They have a great team and should walk away with the central and could challenge for another World Series. With another winning year under their belt hopefully a lot of these little nagging annoyances will disappear as they learn how to be winners not only on the field but to their fans and in their city.