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Monday - February 18, 2008

Disch-Falk renovation photos, part 16

I made my way to the Fan Appreciation event yesterday afternoon at about 12:45. The Orange-White scrimmage was scheduled to start at 1:00. Guess what time it started? If you guessed before 1:00, you've been to a Fall World Series game or have been reading this page and were paying attention. Sigh... I really don't understand why the coaches keep doing this sort of thing.

Based on my experience with the current staff and its propensity for starting "un-official" events early, I'd decided beforehand that I was just going to soak in the atmosphere and take photos without making any attempt at keeping score. So, that's what I did. I took a ton of photos. Here are some of the photos of the stadium. I'll try to post photos of the players soon. This week promises to be very busy so I'm not sure I'll have time. I'll try, though.

'Looks like they're mostly done with the renovations. They're still working on a few things but, for the most part, everything is looking good.

First, a shot from outside the fence at the lf corner:

'Not sure if they'll actually use these gates as "regular" exits or not. They did not use them today. But, it didn't look like they really had a full complement of ushers (or whatever they call themselves) on hand today so that's not too surprising.

I was standing on the north side of the grandstand looking south for this photo (so this is a shot of the concourse area behind the stands on the 3b side of the stadium):

It feels a lot more open under the stands now. Of course, since they built outward so far to add the luxury boxes, there actually is a lot more room under the stands. Heh.

Looking up the stairs between Sections 108 and 109:

You can see that they've added hand-rails all the way up to the top. And, they did put in a row of seats along the top row (which was open during construction last year). I'm not sure what I think about those two seats at the very top of the aisle. Hmmmm...

I went up to the top of the stands on the 3b corner and took a photo of the area in front of the luxury boxes:

So, two rows of cushioned seats in front of the boxes. 'Seemed nice. By the way, I have no idea if they gave tours of the boxes or not. I did not try to get into that area.

They've installed a new net behind home plate:

That means folks (like me) who've gotten used to sitting behind the screen and not having to worry about foul balls will have to pay a little more attention. The screen will still stop line drive foul balls but lots of pop-ups and some liners that clear the net will end up in the stands. At least two or three ended up in the luxury box area today.

The new bullpen in the rf corner:

A view of the concourse area stretching behind the seats and berm that run down the lf line:

It's hard to see in this photo but those folks sitting over the berm are actually sitting at picnic tables.

A shot of the new seating area that runs down the rf line:

Note that the tarp, once again, has a home outside the field of play.

The view back toward the grandstand from the far corner of the concourse that runs down the rf line:

Under the grandstand on the south (1b) side of the stadium:

The new Dugout Store (run by Longhorns, Ltd.):

It still seemed a bit too crowded. But, it does have two doors so traffic flow should be a bit better when there are a lot of people shopping. I broke down and bought a 2008 team shirt. It's got a full roster printed on the back. I don't recall seeing shirts like these in years past.

The new Women's bathroom on the 3b side:

I count about 25 stalls. This is a very big improvement, eh? Alas, no photos of the Men's room. Heh heh.

And, finally...a shot of the new ticket office:

I took quite a few more photos but think 13 should suffice for this last (I think) post of renovation photos.

Hook 'em!

Posted by Joanna at 1:07 AM