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Sunday - March 23, 2008

UFCU Disch-Falk ruminations

Time for some thoughts on the new and improved UFCU Disch-Falk Field. Now that we have a few games under our collective belt.

First and foremost (before I mention any negatives) I have to say that, overall, I'm very pleased with how the renovation turned out. There don't appear to be any bad seats in the house. You can pretty much see the entire field of play from any seat you pick. I'm glad that they didn't build the seats down the right and left field lines in such a fashion that the corners are blocked off from view. Like they are at Dell Diamond and lots of other places. Yeah, there's still a corner down the lf line that I can't see from my seats, but it's in foul territory and it just affects my ability to see a ball that's rolling around on the ground. If a fielder goes after a fly ball in the corner, I can see if he catches it. At parks like Dell Diamond, the left fielder disappears into a black hole for folks on the 3b side if a ball is hit into the corner. You have to wait for the folks on the 1b side of the stands to cheer or groan to let you know what happened.

The seats are quite comfortable. I'd still like a seat that doesn't spring up...so I can set my scoresheet or camera (or whatever) on the empty seat next to me (when it's empty). But, that's not a big deal. I would love to have a drink holder. Why didn't they put drink holders at every seat? It's such a pain when someone behind you spills their drink. The only way you get a drink holder at your seat is if you're in a luxury box or one of the new seats in the first three rows at field level. It's just weird to have such a nice park and no drink holders. What's up with that? Are the folks in charge really using drink holders as some sort of incentive to get people to pay for luxury boxes and field-level seats? Frankly, I always buy a drink with a screw-top lid so my concern isn't for my drink...it's for the drink behind me. And, guess what?...the spilled drinks from higher rows still find their way down onto the purses and bags on the ground around those field-level seats.

Here's a huge improvement: they added handrails up and down all of the stairways. That's something they've needed at Disch-Falk for years and years and I was delighted to see them.

On to the atmosphere during games...

The story going around is that UT "stole" the game announcer away from Dell Diamond. I like some of the things he brought with him. But severely dislike others. And, I know that all of these things aren't directly attributable to him but they seem to be part of a concerted effort to make games at Disch-Falk more like games at Minor League parks everywhere. The kids running the basepads on Sundays is cute. The fireworks shooting out over the scoreboard are entertaining. The giveaway gift cards and pizza boxes designed to...what? What's the purpose of getting people to jump up and down and holler between innings? Oh yeah...those bring in advertising bucks. That's fine. If only those advertising bucks would go toward bringing down the price of a 20-ounce bottle of soda. Four dollars? Ouch. The constant little musical ditties and sound effects are annoying. "Everybody clap your hands!" Ugh. The video movie clips. Eh.

One thing I really resent: all of a sudden we're getting an a cappella boys band version of the National Anthem if we don't have a live singer (or harmonica player). Where is the Longhorn band? This is the University of Texas. Dammit. I want my band playing the National Anthem if we're not having a live singer. I want more Longhorn band music, period. Play the fight song after "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" during the 7th inning stretch. Get rid of some of that other nonsense. Please. There's plenty of fine tradition right here for those people up in the booth to be drawing from. If they've only been on campus for a month or two, can't they talk to Bill Little? Or someone else? Talk to someone who's been associated with the the band for a few years. Work up some "hey, people, perk up" musical clips that are based on UT band music. Don't forget that this is The University of Texas at Austin. It's not a generic Minor League baseball park.

And, I know I'm gonna get mail about this. "What's with all the whining?" they'll ask. I guarantee it. No matter how much I post about how much I like Texas baseball (and certainly, you can tell that if you read this page, can't you?), every time I open up and complain about something on this page, people I've never heard of pop out of the woodwork telling me to shut up. It's amazing. I tell you what, though: if nobody speaks up, things won't change. Or, they will change. Each one of these little changes don't mean much on their own. But, each one of them takes a little more away from the tradition and history of Texas baseball. Speaking of which: I love the Longhorn Legends thing they started doing, the thing where they highlight a player from the past and tell us about their time as a player at UT and what they went on to do when they left. More of that. Please.

Posted by Joanna at 9:46 PM