la.foodblogging

Have you gone to it yet? Will any LAFB writer or reader admit to going? Well, I figured it was time one of us risked our stomach to be able to blog about the experience! Perhaps some of our more well-heeled readers or writers could share about the food in the luxury boxes or field level seats?

Yes, it is a marketing ploy. It is working so well such that the media is talking about it and they say other sports venues are looking into it. Excerpt: Greenspun (the Dodger’s COO) said a handful of other professional sports teams have contacted the Dodgers about copying the idea, including the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers. The Milwaukee Brewers sent their stadium operations chief to check it out.

The menu is simple: hot dogs, nachos, peanuts, popcorn, sodas and water. All you can eat for a ticket price that can range from $25 to $40 depending on when you buy it and what day the game is. The food service starts 1 1/2 hours before game time and ends 2 hours into the game. Other items can be purchased at their usual outrageous sports venue prices.

My first visit to the line yielded this …

At the risk of being insufferable with some baseball as life metaphors, I have to say it isn’t so much about the food but about sharing the ballpark experience with these fans in a place that is so LA …

I attend about 6 games a year in various sections of the stadium. I heard about this new feature and felt it was time to check it out. The fans who attend games in this section are probably not like fans in the other parts of the stadium. They are probably more hard core!

During the game, I wondered aloud about some aspect of baseball to my friends next to me and the fan in front of me who overheard happily answered. The fans in this section start-up the wave. They heckle the opposing teams right fielder. And a few brave fans in this section defend that right fielder too! Total strangers high five each other when the Dodgers do something good.

My second and final visit to the line in the bottom of the fifth yielded this …

Other fans take far greater advantage of the menu than me. I saw one well prepared fan chug straight from a bottle of Pepto! I’m happy to report that I didn’t suffer any ill effects unlike this Slate.com writer.

The Dodger brain trust must be very happy as this section which would probably be hardly full on a typical Tuesday night had barely an empty seat. And these fans add to the buzz of the Dodgers being the hot ticket in town because the bulk of us stayed all the way to the bottom of the ninth!

In the end, the joy of being there isn’t really about the food (you’ve just seen the pictures and you have probably eaten it yourself) but about sharing a love of the game. And the good feelings isn’t so much about the love of the game but about seeing the cultural array of a city come together to cheer for a Taiwanese pitcher (Hong-Chih Kuo), rooting for hard working guys in the twilight of their careers (Garciaparra and Kent), admiring make it against the odds youngsters (Russell Martin) and going crazy about a 6′4″ 290 pound 22-year-old white kid (Broxton) who could throw a ball through a brick wall in the 8th inning and then admiring the way a wily 36-year-old Japanese closer (Saito) finishes off the game in the 9th.

In case you were wondering, the Dodgers won that night 4-1.

By Rene (see more of his posts). You can find more of Rene's writing at his own website Rene's Ramblings