The Mets Police: Does Citi Field Make You Feel Less Connected To The New York Mets?

Does Citi Field Make You Feel Less Connected To The New York Mets?

Shannon Shark, Mets Police Chief

I hope I can explain the feeling I'm having and I hope I'm conveying a different tone here than my usual "David Howard/hang banners" rants. This one isn't coming from anger, it's coming from emptiness.

When I think of the Mets I think of Shea Stadium. That's where the memories are. Even if I thought of the 2009 or think of the 2010 Mets, my mind's tendency is to put them in Shea.

When I think of Citi Field I don't think of the Mets, I think of shopping. There's a baseball game happening in the middle of the shopping mall. I think of stores and tacos and shakes. I can't really focus in on any particular baseball moment.

It's somewhat unfair, comparing all those years at Shea to one year at Citi Field...but I'm wondering if anyone else feels less connected to the team because of the new place.

I never expected to feel this way, and maybe it's a product of the 135 losses I think we had this year. However, visiting the mall is no longer enough to excite me, and I'm not looking to rush out to see anyone on the roster.

Could it somehow be the stadium that's part of the problem? I'm not saying that Shea should have lived forever, but I'm wondering if we have just another cookie cutter park. I'm sure Riverfront and Three Rivers and Philly's Veteran's Stadium seemed nice when they were new. Maybe we're in an era where Citi, Citizens, Petco and the other similar stadiums will all be like whatever. Today that's how I feel, how about you?

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seplotnick said :

November 6, 2009 10:02 AM

A slightly different take. I had season tickets for years at Shea, and I viewed them as something special. I'd ask for an upgrade every year, and once every four years the slightest upgrade (slight shift closer to home plate) would be received. Now, I am no longer surrounded by the same box holders I was with for years. Every section has empty seats. If you are willing to pay, you can drop out for a year, and next year you will be in the same area you started. At Shea, being a season ticket holder was special. No more.

Sux2Lose said :

November 6, 2009 10:26 AM

Its not because of the new place-its the team that fills it. Wait til we have a few positive experiences there and you'll feel better.

paulsrandomstuff said :

November 6, 2009 11:06 AM

I think it's unfair to expect a Shea Stadium-type connection to Citi Field after one season -- particularly a season like 2009.

I have a lot of good memories at Shea Stadium. At Citi Field, I'm remembering losses, injuries and a triple play.

I think in a few years, things will be different. It does take time to break in a new home.

kjs said :

November 6, 2009 12:17 PM

Upon which Wilpon's Folly is based on: Greed, Limited Seating, Overpriced tickets, "Exclusive" Clubs, the Brooklyn Dodgers, a $9.75 thimble of vino, that minor-league park will NEVER be home.
The first time I walked into Shea in 1970 I felt at home. Forty visits to the Big Ad for CitiBank in 2009, and I still shudder with disgust when I enter it.
As for the rest (the aesthetics, the sightlines, the insipid OF), I give up. Good luck, future generations. Maybe you'll have a real owner and a great ballpark when I'm twenty years under the ground.

jerezrid said :

November 6, 2009 1:40 PM

Its a new stadium for the team, I had the same feeling, like this is where the Mets play, I had to remember that lol Shea was around for years, you sort of get accustomed to everything there, like if you lived in a house for years then you move to a new house, its gonna feel different,

DyHrdMET said :

November 6, 2009 11:44 PM

I do not feel connected to the Mets at Citi Field. Maybe it's because I have something hanging in my bedroom that we've been asking to have hanging inside the Mets new stadium, but I just don't feel that connection. Maybe it will come over time, but the memories were at Shea, and even coming to see Shea's chalk outline in the parking lot, I don't feel that connection anymore. You know what felt like home to me at Shea? The area outside Gate C waiting to get in early for BP with the brick base of Shea and the fading blue siding. That felt like home in a way. I don't feel that in the infinite abyss outside the Rotunda.

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