I agree on the lines at some of the concession stands, especially later on. How about this. Separate people who want a burger or a cheese steak at the grill from those who only want a pretzel and coke.

Friends-

The long, baseball-less winter is over. Tomorrow we stand firm against the hecklers, a growing Major League fan base against a doubting national horde of skeptics.

We have a first-rate ballpark. We have a MAJOR market. We have a chip on our shoulders cut in Canada, and imported to be knocked off at the rest of the franchises' peril.

The Nationals are finally, permanently in DC. The countdown to a championship starts now.

Why do we have to sign for our CC charges? I shop all over town without signing in VA for amounts fewer than $25 or even $50. I waited about 5 mins while my nice and otherwise efficient server could find a pen.

Metro for me coming from VA was about 45 mins longer than what RFK took me. Trains coming into where I transferred to Green line were already completely full; we had to wait for 3 trains to pass before we could push on a train (thanks for the advice Stan). I am going to start looking for Alt Metro routes because changing trains is really going to be bad with a full crowd.

Team store line moved very slow...each purchase was taking about 4-5 mins for a cashier to process......ended up walking out without giving Stan any of my money (maybe next time Stan).

Other than that I loved the park.....Team needs to get some more hits going or could be some very quite crowds and Paul L. has a very poor arm.....opposition is going to have a track meet this year it seems.

Overall, the place is GREAT!! Scoredboard is Amazing, best I have ever seen. I could name hundreds of things I liked about the place, including the RFK shuttle which worked very well for me, although a longer walk than I thought it would be. The long line at Ben's Chili created a lot of foot traffic, they need to bend the line to the side. A few small problems: the radar gun was not working, not enough TVs, and the TVs they have are way to small.

Love the new park, but still iffy about the Metro connections. Going to the game (admittedly a bit early), we just missed a Green Line train at L'Enfant station and had to wait 16 long (especially for my nine-year-old daughter) minutes for the next one. Return trip was a bit better, but probably because we left in the middle of the 8th inning. We'll be experimenting with other options (e.g., RFK parking/shuttle, walking down from the Capitol South station to avoid a transfer) as the season progresses, but I'm hopeful Metro will turn out to be at least adequate. I just wish they could come up with an RFK-type parking/shuttle option on the western side of town.

The buses from RFK worked great. Almost no waiting. They dropped the riders off about four blocks from the Stadium, just down the street from the Navy Yard Metro.

My daughter and I just got back from the game. Kasten is right. The stadium is spectacular! When we came off the Metro stop on Half Street and made that left turn toward the stadium, even my typically nonchalant teenager said, "Wow."

The Ben's Chili Bowl line was long. So was the sausage stand line.

The ushers were very friendly. We got there early -- much more interested in touring the stadium than seeing the exhibition game -- and they were very accomodating in letting us go down by the field to look around and take pictures.

Maybe it was me, but the stuff on the scoreboard was in the wrong proportion. Hometown and birthday were big (who cares about that stuff), while previous at bats was small. Are my eyes just getting weak with age?? Maybe less stuff on the board but in larger type would help. But the video on the board is breathtaking.

A wonderful night overall. Congrats to all who worked so hard to make it possible.

repost

============

I just got home from the park. WOW. They did it right. 2 most popular vendors, 1) Ben's Chile Bowl, and 2) The coffee place. Both lines were lllloooonnnng and constant. The field played fair although I don't know if there's going to be an improvement over the footage at RFK. Belliard crushed one that everyone thought was gone and it died before the warning track. Nice nice vistas from the viewing platforms. The buzz on the train, and in the park was palpable. I think the only F on the night was Metro. Delays on the way in to the tune of 1 and a half hours to get there from Glenmont. Only an hour to get home but the Navy Yard platform was jam packed and they had no trains in the station waiting for the crowd after the game. They better improve on this or people are going to drive. Period.

1. Metro seemed about the same as RFK, however at the end of the game, all the trains going north were yellow line terminating at mt. vernon sq. which led to a mass of people waiting around at mt. vernon sq. for 15-20 mins waiting to go further north. perhaps the trains need to go at least to ft. totten if not be green line trains that go all the way to greenbelt.

2. the videos with the players like the jokes about looking good for the great sight-lines and the interview with zimmerman were really hard to hear. You couldn't even make out wat zim was saying.

3. get rid of the canadian flag!

Here's my stadium review:

First, the park is absolutely stunning visually. The webcam just does not do it justice. Everything that people (including Boz) have been saying about the architecture is absolutely true. I didn't sample the sightlines from too many places, but people I talked to were impressed from the seats they had. My seats were amazing.

When you hop off of Metro and walk down Half Street, it is a sight that you won't soon forget. Very impressive.

The surprise of the night had to be Metro. I normally come from Forest Glen, and I would estimate that even with the crowd tonight, my ride from stadium to Forest Glen was a full 20 minutes shorter than from RFK. The Navy Yard station doesn't look all that spectacular, but it is at least adequate for a crowd of 30k, and probably fine for 40k. I was prepared for disappointment, and I got a fast, efficient ride home.

The food service was slow... but I noticed a recurring theme... the problem was in getting the food in the customer's hands, and not in actually making the purchase. Once you had the food, you paid and were on your way right away. I suspect that with training and familiarity, that part of the process will get a lot faster. As an aside, in most of the food lines, you have direct sightlines to the field... so you can actually watch the game while in line.

One thing that is a little strange about the stadium is that the "action" seems to be along the baselines and in the outfield - meaning, most of the concessions, facilities and other non-game attractions are not behind the plate. It is a little different than you would expect, but it makes sense, given that the main entrance is in the outfield.

I was a little concerned that the non-baseball activities would be a distraction, but I was able to resist... but I don't have kids.

They don't have the heat working yet...

Overall the park was nice, but the lines for almost all the vendors were ridiculous, all game long. Metro could use a little help too. I'm glad I went tonight, and not tomorrow, Metro is going to suck tomorrow.

Nationals Park is magnificent. Washington baseball finally has a home of its own -- and what a home it is! I have season parking and I got home to Montgomery County faster than I ever did from RFK. Of course, it may be a different story when there's a full house. My only complaint: I waited in a long line for a lukewarm sausage in a cold roll. It was RFK quality, but this was the first game. On the other hand, the Curly W pretzel at Noah's Pretzels was terrific. I look forward to spending many summer evenings rooting on the Nats in this gorgeous park.

The New Ball Park a Fans Perspective

First the top moment of the game was in the bottom of the 2nd or 3rd inning when Zim was at his second at bat. One of the pitchers in the bullpen decided to christen the stadium in his own way by pissing in the far left corner of the bull pen. There was a lot of noise from the fans in my section when it happened and one guy said it was Chad Cordero, but as the player was wearing his wind breaker I could not see a jersey number.

Well its a nice looking park overall, I don't see it becoming the next Camden Yards or Fenway, and as a Washingtonian I will miss RFK for the history. Nothing great, and nothing stands out as truly Washingtonian. Once inside it does not look that different from any other new stadium by HOK. It does seem that everyone gets a great view of the game. I kinda wish we could burn down the garages and get a better view of the city.

I have one big architecture complaint, as I wandered around the stadium taking it all in I learned that you cant walk from end to end on the second tier because they let the luxury boxes take up the entire catwalk, and you have to go back to the first floor to get around to the other side, can you say bourgeois?

There is a huge step up in terms of food and other vendors, you can get a Ben's chili dog at many of the vendors. BTW if you want a chili dog go for the Ben's dogs I also tried one from Hard Times, lame.

I would imagine that the kids area is a big plus for the 4-12 crowd, though when I went to stadiums as a kid I went for the game. Though if I were that age I would want to get to the stadium 1-2 hours early to play around.

The servers seemed overwhelmed but hey this was the first game.

The wind in the stadium seemed to swirl in a counter clockwise motion through the stadium and I think thats gonna drop a lot of homers into pop fly range if it's like that regularly. And being that I live in SW, the wind here is constant and can get crazy.

Alex:
You went to the that park today and it made you MISS RFK????? I didn't think anyone would say that

Oh and I think the score board is cool as hell, though almost overkill.

Alex:
You went to the that park today and it made you MISS RFK????? I didn't think anyone would say that

Posted by: SwiftIt | March 29, 2008 09:59 PM

When I walked into RFK I would remember all the great moments that stadium had, I admit though thats more a football memory, I am sure the new park will get that too once the Nats start wining though.

OK, I get it, you missed the memories, not really the stadium. The only time I even thought about RFK today was when I parked there.

The park is far more attractive than I expected, but the concessions were far worse: stale hot dog buns (they crunched), cold dogs, no hot chocolate by the fifth inning at the places that advertised hot chocolate.

While the shuttle buses were fast and clean, with very friendly drivers, the walk to the park from the drop-off point was burdensome for folks who have trouble walking (I'm hobbled by a torn ACL at the moment). When asked our opinion of the shuttle, we told a staffer from the team that the buses should drop people off closer to the park -- like on the street behind right field. He replied that it was impossible because the buses couldn't navigate the street. As COL Sherman Potter said on M*A*S*H, "Horse hockey!" There's no logical reason why they can't. So we won't be parking at RFK in the future. Next attempt will be using Metro's Green Line. Who knows what will follow if that option is as bad as some of the posters have indicated.

Did anyone else notice how almost nobody used the Home Plate entrance? They spent millions on that walkway with all the historic years etc and NOBODY was there.

OK, I get it, you missed the memories, not really the stadium. The only time I even thought about RFK today was when I parked there.

Posted by: SwiftIt | March 29, 2008 10:06 PM

Exactly, though since I can walk to the new stadium in less then 10 minutes I am not too mad. All in all I would rate the new stadium a 7.5 out of 10. Like I said I am not a fan of the HOK architectural style that we see in all the new stadiums.

I guess no one else noticed the pitcher taking the piss?

I was in the right field on the second row, and NOBODY in our Section had a clue what Inning we were in!

The infield scoreboards were messed up! The category that said inning really was the score. That needs to be fixed!

Other than that, the park is AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thought, perhaps one day use the same stone used on the backstop and place them on concrete deviders between the stadium decks?

I saw a few foul balls slam into the limestone backstop and rocket back towards the field. I could see an ump getting hit in the back of the head

Quick more serious question. Where were people sitting and how was their view?
I was at section 225, great view I could see 98% of the playing field except a small section of the far corner on the 1st base line.

Disappointed in the scoreboard compared to other MLB parks. Lineup on the left of the screen gave only the name, not the uniform # or the position. Also, many of the newest parks have both lineups up there all of the time.

The park is wonderful. Driving in and parking (with a pass on a Saturday night) was a breeze. I do not believe it would have been possible without a pass.

Any criticism is a bit nitpicky, but here are things I would like improved: We walked two levels of the park completely around. There are not enough quality food places on the gallery level. All the best places are in the outfield. From the Gallery Level its a minimum 2 inning trip to the outfield to get a burger, chilli (Hard Times or Ben's), or BBQ. Not nearly enough premium beer locations in the 200's, 300's or 400's. I finally gave up and had an MGD. Long food lines, I gave up completely on Ben's after 10 minutes and the line not moving at all. (It looked great though). My son waited it out at the 5 Guys, but that took more than an inning. We too gave up on the gift store. More signs directing you to the elevators and escalators would be useful.

This next bit is ironic: the sound system was not loud enough. Remember how obnoxiously loud RFK was at the beginning of 2005. I could not hear all the announcements and the music was quiet in Section 226. We did move around later in the game just to shop different perspectives and it was better, but still a little soft in other locations as well.

Loved the scoreboard. Loved the view. Buy the $5 seats and be proud. I will sit there at least once this year not to save money but to enjoy the view.

One baseball note: Saw the good and the bad with the Schneider for Lo Duca trade. Schneider would have thrown out at least one of the baserunners attempting to steal, probably both if they had attempted the second one. But Schneider would have likely grounded into an inning ending double play when Lo Duca drew a bases loaded walk. Bergmann looked great.

Thank you Anthony Williams, Ted Lerner, and Construction Workers!

Our "sources" tell us Da Meathook was listed at least 100 lbs. lighter than he should've been on the jubmotron.

www dot nationals enquirer dot com

I could see everything, i was in right on the very corner against the wall, second row

I forgot to mention that one fan asked the Bullpen what inning we were in, he actually got a response..fix those damn infield scoreboards!

Other than that, Im just thrilled that we have a real Baseball Stadium in DC...its a surreal feeling

Stadium is beautiful. We were definitely wow-ed.

Our major gripe was the concessions. Lines were very long in the upper sections for just about anything. Best thing I ate tonight was the curly W pretzel. They need to create a second Ben's chili bowl on the 1st base side of the stadium, and get rid of some of the Pizza concessions, which were under-utilized.

I also found that micro-brews were pretty hard to find. Most of the stands on the upper deck that advertised microbrews didn't actually have microbrews - just the standard Lite/MGD on tap. Would love to see a better beer selection.

The wind was blowing in hard, and we felt it in section 419. But the breeze will be most appreciated on those muggy August nights!

We took Metro, had no problems there.

Yes Young was listed at 220 lbs. LMAO at that.

A great evening.

I drove and parked by Capitol South Metro. The walk to the stadium was less than 15 minutes and I never felt uncomfortable with my surroundings. They have done a nice job of adding lights to South Capitol Street. Folks coming in on the Orange or Blue line should give Capitol South a try.

My experience at the stadium was great. The sightlines are as good as you would expect. I was surprised by the long lines for food...I think they will learn to be more efficient after a few games. Hook and Ladder is a good beer (it better be for $7.50)

I get the sense that the Red Porch could become a pretty rough area...time will tell, though.

Biggest surprise: the tiered standing section to the right of the batter's eye is a great place to watch the game. I envision paying $5 for a ticket and watching many games from there.

I can't wait for tomorrow night. The whole place is going to be electric.

As of right now, tickets are still available through the Nationals website.

Jacked about the new park, i'll be there tomorrow to see in person. I had to enjoy the game on masn. the park looks great as far as i can tell. Can't comment on anything but the t.v. coverage. Is it me or did anyone on here feel like the camera that shows the outfield and vista was located on a blimp? when a ball went to the outfield or infield, for that matter, the players looked like dots. Similar to the view you get when you see highlights from a spring training game. Man, i hope that's not a permanant thing.

Did anyone else notice that early on (either in the first or second inning), they were displaying the live MASN feed on the scoreboard for several minutes. The home plate umpire actually got up and pointed out towards right-center field, and a few seconds later, the scoreboard went back to displaying the hitter's info. I know MLB has really strict rules about what can be played on the video screen (they don't allow any potentially controversial plays to be replayed, such as close plays at first for example), and I'm sure live feed is not permitted. Oops.

As for Metro, I came from Vienna - when we got to L'Enfant, an empty Green Line train to Anacostia was put into service and we were told by the staff on the platform to go ahead and board the train for the ballpark. The train appeared to be an express train, as it breezed through the Waterfront station without stopping. I was commenting to my friends about how smooth everything was going, but I spoke too soon, as the train also went through the Navy Yard station without stopping! I was furious, like many others on the train. When we pulled into the Anacostia station, the operator announced that the train would hold there, then be turned back to service the Navy Yard station. Fortunately, there was a northbound Green Line train arriving at that time on the opposite platform, so everyone switched over to that train. Not a huge deal, but the train operator really screwed up. After the game, everything went fine - we went into the second entrance to the Navy Yard station (New Jersey & M), walked right down to the platform, boarded a waiting train, and were able to quickly switch to an Orange Line tain at L'Enfant. All in all, aside for the one glitch, Metro did a decent job in my opinion.

I vote for straws with the sodas!

I vote for straws with the sodas!

Posted by: Hillgal | March 29, 2008 10:32 PM

Are you referring to the fact that they were serving beer's with straws in them? Thats something they need to stop doing. Its just dumb.

My husband and I didn't have any major complaints. The pluses: it's of course a wonderful ballpark; all of the staff, from gate staff to vendors to Nationals staff available for questions were pleasant and cheerful'; Metro wasn't bad but I do think it will be terrible tomorrow (Opening Night). Our 'negatives': my husband got a Ben's chili dog from one of the regular ballpark vendors near our section (319) and said the chili was cold -- as in just-out-of-the refrigerator cold; the audio from the PA announcer in the booth was fine, but the audio played during recorded video clips isn't clear (example: during the video clip of Milledge & Kearns in the locker room, only a few words could be made out) -- at RFK it was unintelligible but this isn't yet much better. Final observation: what's with the Nats Pack guy who does the quizzes and contests that are broacast onto the scoreboard?! He talks so fast -- and sometimes not even into the microphone -- that he can barely be understood. Slow him down or replace him. I had hoped that someone else would be doing those bits this season ...

@AO, how do you mean? Please elaborate.

++++++++++++++++++++
I get the sense that the Red Porch could become a pretty rough area...time will tell, though.
Posted by: AO | March 29, 2008 10:29 PM

Silly thing, but no mirrors in the upper concourse bathrooms? That just struck me as silly when they spent all that money.

Biggest complaint? How come there wasn't an opportunity to see some of those behind the scenes areas -- lounges, press box, etc. Perhaps it's just because it was so new and cutting it close to deadline, but this is something I would hope they would do for season ticket holders. They did it when Verizon opened, and it was a nice touch.

Liked the park, but wasn't wowed. It looks an awful lot like Citizens Bank in Philadelphia to me. Not that that's a bad thing.

I thought my sight lines in 219 were pretty similar to my seats at 310 at RFK. But the club level felt far from the field and the action in other respects of the stadium experience -- I suppose that's good or bad, depending on your point of view.

The food lines were amazingly slow and some of the people behind the counters seemed incapable of handling their jobs. One Nat Dog stand took my money, but it took me about three tries to explain to them that I didn't give them that money for nothing, I wanted my drink and hot dogs to be given to me.

Anyone coming in from Virginia who is in at least as good shape as Dmitri Young should be using the Capitol South station and avoiding the Navy Yard station entirely. The walk is not bad at all, and by no means dangerous or scary as some would lead you to believe. From the Cap South station, you simply walk south on First Street for a few blocks through a nice Capitol Hill neighborhood until you reach the steps heading up to New Jersey Avenue. Go up the stairs, walk under the freeway on New Jersey, annd then on the other side turn right at your first opportunity, walk a block down that street, turn left and you're back on First Street with only a couple more blocks to go til you're there. 10-15 minute walk at most if you're brisk about it.

The only problem arose when I got to the Cap South station after the game. A Blue Line train arrived right away, but I need Orange. About 5 minutes later the next train came, it was six or maybe eight cars long, but it was NO PASSENGERS, not Orange. Had to wait about 7-8 more minutes for an Orange Line train to arrive. I hope Metro was not using that No Passngers train as a staging train to pick up a load of ballpark passengers at L'Enfant Plaza, just two stops down, without stopping to get us ballpark folks who were waiting for a train at Capitol South. Doing stuff like that defeats the whole purpose of promoting Capitol South as an alternative. Wise up, Metro!

I simply get the sense that this will be an area where lots of 20/30 somethings will be knocking back a lot of beer (and I think the bar also serves liquor).
_________________

@AO, how do you mean? Please elaborate.

++++++++++++++++++++
I get the sense that the Red Porch could become a pretty rough area...time will tell, though.

I noticed that the red seats in the "Red Porch" area were barely filled at all. Are these seats owned by the restaurant? I did not see any ushers leading people to regularly owned seats. An idea like this could probably go both ways... Anyone know about this?

Top 3 things I don't believe in:

1. The Easter Bunny
2. The Tooth Fairy
3. D. Young weighs 220

Correction: I was talking about the "Red Loft" not the "Porch"
_________________

@AO, how do you mean? Please elaborate.

++++++++++++++++++++
I get the sense that the Red Porch could become a pretty rough area...time will tell, though.

Sat in section 420 tonight, right under the scoreboard. Board is impressive in size, but you can't see anything on it in those 400 sections directly under. Am very glad that our season tickets are in 305; we'll have a great view of it from there.

PA system seemed uneven, some things loud, some quiet with no rhyme or reason as to why. I'm guessing they were doing a lot of testing to find the right level. I have no doubt they'll get it right soon.

Noticed a little slowness at the concession counters. Lots of staff, very friendly, they just don't seem to have it down to a good system yet. That should come over the next couple games of working together, but tomorrow night could be interesting with a sold out crowd.

Would love to have a line or two just to get a soda. Lots of beer carts and lines, even vendors in the aisles, but we didn't see one vendor walking the aisle selling Cokes tonight.

Love the park!! Agree that the view turning on Half St from the Metro was awesome. Lerners, Kasten, and the Construction crew did an amazing job!!

I think nobody bought the red seats b/c they are way over priced. $40 to $60 to sit in dead center is nuts, even if they are "club seats". I bet those seats are cheaper next year

Okay, so I do have some minor complaints:

1. Sweet Caroline. Enough said.

2. Clint. They should have left him at RFK.

3. Concessions: lines were long tonight, but the crowded concourses were probably at least partially due to people exploring the new stadium. Once the novelty wears off and the staff get more proficient, things should probaly improve. The concourses were pretty crowded though, and some stanchions to organize the lines wouldn't hurt. Also, the "food court" in left center field (Hard Times and RH&B) is designed pretty poorly and feels really crammed.

someone earlier suggested that the Canadian flag be removed -- I may be wrong, but with MLB having a team in Canada (the Blue Jays) I believe all MLB ballparks fly the Canadian flag.

My favorite moment tonight: The first time Clint showed up on the big screen, the twentysomething woman sitting behind me says "That douchebag is back this year?"

My least favorite moment: Despite my pleas in the comments portion of the "Pick the Songs" promotion (and I know I'm not the only oe who did this), Sweet Caroline is back - and so is the douchebag usher who does his little dance on top of the dugout during the song. Grrrr. It's a Red Sox thing. Why can't we develop our own things?

I think you can only use "douche bag" once per post

M. Carroll is correct.
And Dave-O is an Orioles-loving hoser, eh.

You can re-use it, but you should spell it consistently. "Douchebag." One word.
************
I think you can only use "douche bag" once per post

Posted by: | March 29, 2008 10:56 PM

Loved the park...walked all over and there are lots of good nooks and crannies.

My beef tonight was with the concessions. My wife and I waited in line for 45 minutes at one of the hotdog stands on the main level, which was crazy. The delay seemed to be with the layout of the food stand...necessary items were spread out and still wrapped up, so stand workers were crawling all over one another trying to find buns for hotdogs, cups for beer, etc.

Also workers seemed to be running out of change quite a bit. Both of my trips to food stands involved me walking away without my change so I could avoid having to stand in line a minute longer.

Hopefully they'll get through some of these issues.

"Our "sources" tell us Da Meathook was listed at least 100 lbs. lighter than he should've been on the jubmotron."

Hey, everyone knows that being on TV makes you look 10 pounds heavier. It naturally follows that being on a Jumbotron would make you look 100 pounds heavier.

Did anyone try the $15 turkey sandwich on the club level??

Nice Ballpark -- I agree with Boz that it is in the very nice second tier of ballparks in the country. A few observations:

Positives: Great sightlines -- especially when compared to RFK. *The walk from the metro exit builds the excitement -- if they do it right with vendors and development it could resemble the walk to Safeco in Seattle where there is a lot of activity that gets you in the mood for the game. *The architecture on the outside is impressive but lost since most will not enter the stadium through the home plate entrance. *I love the Red Porch -- the bar is great and watching the game while standing and drinking on one of the ledges that look over Center Field is a fantastic experience.

Negatives: Concessions -- Definitely needs work in terms of efficiency -- there will be twice as many people there tomorrow. In our line at one point some manager type opened the 2 registers and did a money count that the line had to wait for her to complete -- very annoying. Even more annoying is that if we wanted fries with our hot dog we were told we had to wait in the line just one booth over after we waited and got and paid for the dog -- to not be able to get fries in the same line when there is NO barrier between the two sections is inexcusable. *There need to be signs on the handrails behind each section to signify the section numbers -- the hanging signs on the main walkway are not enough. *While I love the Red Porch bar, there needs to be a way to have a walkway through there as people gather around the bar making it difficult to transverse. *Definitely hard to make out what is being said through the loudspeakers in the 300s -- less about volume than clarity. I had no iea what people were saying when interviewed on cam.

All in all a great experience, and I am excited that I am in a season ticket plan with people and plan on going to many a game.

So who used the Nats Express from RFK, and how long were your waits to and from?

My seatmate and I are thinking of doing that tomorrow night.

I vote for straws with the sodas!

Posted by: Hillgal | March 29, 2008 10:32 PM

Are you referring to the fact that they were serving beer's with straws in them? Thats something they need to stop doing. Its just dumb.

Posted by: alex35332 | March 29, 2008 10:35 PM

When we got a coke from one of the places in the upper deck, there wasn't a straw. We asked for one, and they said they don't give them out. We were like what?? I know it's a personal preference, but I like my straws.

Sat in 117. Friend of mine is 6' 6" so of course not quite enough leg room, but I'm 6' 2" and had clearance. Good views of the park, but that would be expected down there. Not a huge fan of the stadium bowl, but in fairness, I did walk over from by Fort McNair so missed the grand vista.

The concessions - G*d bless 'em, I think they'll get quicker with practice. But, I've got a hunch the stands up the 3d base line are not as big as Camden Yards not are they optimized to split the crowd up. It looked like there were fewer of the type of stand where you pick up a pre-wrapped dog and poured drink off a tray drink from a bin and go. While that is not a culinary delight, it is quicker than the set up the Nats have. Maybe in the urge to sell the premium Chili-topped half smoke they forgot that some of us just want to grab something and ge back to our seats. Do any of the others here who have in the past gone to Camden Yards agree that there the crowds seem to spread out more (BTW - I go there when the Sox are in, so I've seen that place when people actually are there).

I did not wait in any of the concession lines under the stadium (too long), so can't really assess the view from underneath while waiting. Having been to Coors Field, which has that sort of set up, I think it is more of value when you are in line at one of the carts than when you are going to vendors on the outer side of the passageway.

Finally, regarding the music - Gee, thanks for the Sweet Caroline. Made me think of my home town. Just don't add any Dropkick Murphys tunes? If you are going for a song to inspire a crowd, how about "Victory" by Patty Smith? No one else uses it, and between the "oh-oh-oh" and "til victory," there are some good parts to yell.

Asides from the brisk temperature, visit to the park was very positive:

- Left King street at 4:30, was in the park at 5:00
- Food lines are crazy. Nats need to learn about Furbling. Complete lack of furbling, blocking traffic on all concourses.
- The places folks wanted to eat had the longest lines - Bens, 5 Guys were very long waits, Hard Times, Red Hot were long waits. Nats Dogs were no wait.
- My seats, section 311 Row A (Gallery) - much better then RFK 312 - absolutely no comparison. Glass rails worked out tonight, as they reduced the wind in the A row. Fantastic view to left field including capitol dome - something not mentioned by Boz & crew that the lower gallery (in spots) has great views as well, on the left field side, no less
- Agree with the previous poster regarding gallery level - not enough "good" concessions up there, this requires a long trek down to main concourse. Beer taps were not working up on Gallery tonight for Blue Moon
- Elevators are programmed to favor the Club level - don't bother trying to take them from Gallery to go down - only one ends up servicing Gallery level - the rest shuttle between the club and the concourse - and the indicators on the gallery level don't show that.. (I sat on concourse level for a bit and watched that elevators 1 & 2 were running smooth, but only going to club level then back).
- Stairs down from gallery is a good option compared to the ramps.
- Escalators from concourse to gallery stop going up around 5th inning. Get your food shopping done by then if you want to get back to your seat with hot food.
- Scoreboard = Amazing visual quality. Stats were weak - no strike/ball count for pitchers... could be so much more. May make sense to pipe that info to the ribbon board right below the big screen. In some ways (shocking), it was easier to get this information at RFK - surely that's not intentional.

The Nats Express worked great. The bus ride takes 5 minutes, we did not have to wait for a bus coming or going, getting in and out of RFK lot 8 was a breeze. All this and it's free!

The Red Porch seats, and the Batter's Eye Box seats in front of the Red Loft as well, have until now only been available as part of a full season package, and apparently they haven't sold all that many of them. Eventually they'll have to open those seats up for single game sales, rather than leave them empty. I walked by there tonight, and actually they are very nice seats. Right on top of the field. The $60 Red Porch seats include $20 in food credit, so really they aren't overpriced at all considering how good the view is from there. That area may end up being the big undiscovered surprise in the stadium.

Concession Complaints:
1) Beer stand that had Pilsner Urquell and some lite beer on tap and a bunch of bottles. One lonely woman working there made for a slow line since she had to pour the beers in glass bottles (about six different beers including Yuengling and both Hook & Ladder beers) into plastic cups for each customer.
2) Middle of the fifth inning I went to the "traditional ballpark food" station across from section 314/315.
I asked, "What's in the Nats Value Pack?"
Cashier: We don't have that.
Me: Okay, I'll take Ben's Chili Dog all the way.
Cashier: You have to go over there [indicating counter next door] to order that - we don't have that here.
Me: Okay, I'll have a hot dog - Hebrew National.
Response: Sorry, those aren't ready, they just went on [to be heated up]. Me: Okay, I'll have a Nats Dog.
Me: Do you have hot chocolate? [It is on the menu].
Answer: No, we don't.
Me: Did you run out?
Cashier: No, we never had it here.
To top it off, the Nats Dog that I got had a thick black burned crust on one side!
2) One of the Wine & Beer & Import places only had two beer domestic bottles on display. We asked what they had on tap - the response was that they were waiting on the kegs. [No imports available.]
3) One of the people in my section said that her Ben's chili dog was cold in the middle.

Concession Compliments:
1) The use of corn-based compostable cups for the beer
2) The availability of Ben's half-smokes and chili dogs at the regular concession stands, not just at their branded booth.
3) The roaming vendors selling beer & peanuts on the walk-up ramp at the beginning of the game.

Lesson: I'm bringing my own food in on Sunday.

Forgive me for re-posting, but I didn't have time to read everybody's comments. BUT how can anybody (the people behind me for the next 81 games, oh joy) b**ch about this place - structurally and baseball-wise, it's fantastic. A couple of points

1. I think the concession guys were overcompensating from Aramark - so worried about being nice (which was great) that it made production suffer.

2. In places like the back rows of sections are especially in the Red Porch/Red Loft area, there needs to be some type of buffer or barrier....I mean there were people (families even) trying to watch the game with drunk people behind them causing ruckus and spilling stuff.

3. A few techincal issues but Stan seems to be on top of that

Other than that.....FANTASTIC - I mean I guess I can't complain about all the potty mouthed drunks, huh - I mean with all due respect, and I love having a good time with some beers too but when it's obvious kids are around just kinda be aware.

Enjoy tomorrow :-)

Park was definitely beautiful and my wife and I are on board with the Curly W Noah's pretzels being awesome. On the other hand, going into to the actual Red Porch restaurant was the worst part of our visit - there was no organization once you sat down and we never did get our food so we left. Strange no one else has mentioned that. Of course then we left and went to that Nat Dog line that someone else must have visited because we had the same bad service and cold food problem.

Overall..great stadium -- concessions still a nightmare. We will stick to Red Hot and Blue 2 hours before game time methinks for now on.

Forgive me for re-posting, but I didn't have time to read everybody's comments. BUT how can anybody (the people behind me for the next 81 games, oh joy) b**ch about this place - structurally and baseball-wise, it's fantastic. A couple of points

1. I think the concession guys were overcompensating from Aramark - so worried about being nice (which was great) that it made production suffer.

2. In places like the back rows of sections are especially in the Red Porch/Red Loft area, there needs to be some type of buffer or barrier....I mean there were people (families even) trying to watch the game with drunk people behind them causing ruckus and spilling stuff.

3. A few techincal issues but Stan seems to be on top of that

Other than that.....FANTASTIC - I mean I guess I can't complain about all the potty mouthed drunks, huh - I mean with all due respect, and I love having a good time with some beers too but when it's obvious kids are around just kinda be aware.

Enjoy tomorrow :-)

Just a thought for Stan and DDOT to consider. Could the RFK express busses cross the Anacostia, travel down 295 and cross the Anacostia again on South Capitol? That way they could drop people off right in front of the stadium. It might be slightly longer drive, but less walking. Maybe they couls set up "bus only" lanes.

Cross the river, then 295, then re-cross the river?? You think that is a "slightly" longer drive for the bus???

Just wanted to share my experience. First, what a park...glad to see it. I enjoyed the things to do and see around the park before the game. Even played a little PS3 since I got there so early. It really was a family atmosphere. Also, even when I had to go get food...I was able to stand above the center field stands and watch the game.

Metro was perfect for me on this end. I took green to red and all the way to shady grove. I never had a delay and the lines always seemed to be moving. Kudos to metro.

Food took a little long but I talked to one of the order takers and they said this was really there first time trying a lot of equipment so give them some time...that's what you get with a time-crunched stadium.

And yes, I agree with the scoreboard..they need to tweak what they show. Show the correct positions and their previous at bats and such. Aside from that, good job.

And to my delight, the stadium was friendly, I got to see the Presidents up close, and the parking garages actually didn't look that bad.

Go Nats!

I have to confess that I was happy to hear Sweet Caroline. I enjoy the ritual. And I was delighted that the RFK usher who led the song last year was back. He's a nice guy and it made me feel good to hear and participate.

They could drop off right at the stadium now. They might need to use slighly smaller busses, but they can do that.
How do they get ambulances and firetrucks in, otherwise?

Metro Experience:
We took Metro from Clarendon around 5:35 took a special Orange line train that said "Stadium" on the announcement board; transferred at L'Enfant to Green line to Navy Yard no problem. For some reason Metro police were yelling at everyone to be single-file only on the escalators. All three escalators were working and going up. Strange that the faregates are after the escalators.
Walked in the stadium gate right at 6:00 - very nice and short walk compared to RFK!

Leaving Nationals Park, there was a crowd in front of the Metro entrance, not moving. We were just debating walking to Capitol South when the crowd started flowing - no issue getting down to the platform except for a couple people with paper farecards trying to use the SmartCard ExpressLane gates. No wait for a train back to L'Enfant, and it wasn't as crowded as I remember past Nats games.
Also no wait at L'Enfant for an Orange line train - amazing!

From what I hear the RFK lots were looking very full at 4:15 and the N22 buses were plentiful and easy.

The park is spectacular. Kudos to all involved, especially the workers who made it happen. A few comments:

1. We were told by ushers when we first arrived that until batting practice was over, you could walk anywhere, check out the field level views etc. All ushers should be informed of that policy (if, in fact, it is the policy, and it certainly should be) so you don't have to constantly explain and plead with each new set of ushers.

2. Why is pizza cheaper in the Stars and Stripes Club than outside?

3. Better signs to escalaters and elevators would be nice. Those ramps are long!

4. PA sound was inconsistent. Clint, slow down when you talk!

5. We saw the reliever (definitely not Chad) taking a whiz in the bullpen too! (Or perhaps he was pretending...)

6. Those Presidents Club seats behind home plate look awfully nice. I assume we'll be looking at the empty seats all season long. Hah!

My two cents,

Terribly long lines at quite a few concessions. People had to walk through at least three or four lines to move through just four sections.

Someone asked earlier, so I'll respond. Yes, people behind the Nationals bullpen will not be able to track fly balls all the way.

Yuengling on tap? LOVE it.

Police were blocking the entrance to Navy Yard Metro. There were too many people on the platform, apparently. We walked to Capital South (took ten minutes) and got a seat. Transferring to the red line took us two trains, however.

The bullpen LOVES interacting with fans. At some point shirts were shot out of slingshots to fans. One found its way into the bullpen. Luis Ayala tried to throw it to the fans twice, but came up short. Chad Cordero grabbed it, and Ayala grabbed a bat. Cordero "pitched" it to him twice, but he came up short both times. The third pitch, Cordero beaned Ayala in the head with the shirt. This produced a Keystone Cops routine with the entire bullpen chasing Chad. Good times.
That's it for now. More in the WaPo blog I was chosen to write for!

That's it for now. More in the WaPo blog I was chosen to write for!
--

Which blog would that be?

There was a listing for people interested in blogging for the post about the new stadium about a week or two back.
I submitted an email response, got a request to attend a meeting at the WaPo headquarters (they even supplied food an drink!)and was chosen.
No idea when it will be shown, or where. I think I got in because of my rare vantage point(bullpen).
--------------------------

That's it for now. More in the WaPo blog I was chosen to write for!
--

Which blog would that be?

Posted by: hb | March 29, 2008 11:49 PM

Re: Amateur Scoreboard

Thanks for pointing this out, Barry. Even RFK had the proper positions and uniform numbers in the batting order, and a pitch counter that counted both balls and strikes.

Also, *both* lineups need to be up there for double switches, etc. It was impossible to tell what the lineup was in time to properly get it in your scorecard after the mass substitutions.

I didn't read all the posts above, but here's my take....

With 30,000 (or tomorrow, 40,000) people in a park, there are going to be lines, of course.

Having said that, a couple of the waits that I had were pretty unnecessarily long. Around 4 today, I worked my way up to a "Nats Dogs" stand behind the scoreboard. I was the ONLY person in line. I left 10 or 15 minutes later with my chili dogs and in search of a straw for my soda.

The problem wasn't (IMO) the number of people wanting concessions, it was the speed/efficience of the staff.

Based on Stan's comments, it sounds like they are aware of the problem. Not a huge deal right now, but if the concessionaires move at those same speeds on sell-out nights, it's gonna be rough.

I'm sure it takes a little while to learn all the tricks of the trade; don't wan't to seem overly critical of the staff.

All in all, LOVED the experience today.

My two cents,

Terribly long lines at quite a few concessions. People had to walk through at least three or four lines to move through just four sections.

Someone asked earlier, so I'll respond. Yes, people behind the Nationals bullpen will not be able to track fly balls all the way.

Yuengling on tap? LOVE it.

Police were blocking the entrance to Navy Yard Metro. There were too many people on the platform, apparently. We walked to Capital South (took ten minutes) and got a seat. Transferring to the red line took us two trains, however.

The bullpen LOVES interacting with fans. At some point shirts were shot out of slingshots to fans. One found its way into the bullpen. Luis Ayala tried to throw it to the fans twice, but came up short. Chad Cordero grabbed it, and Ayala grabbed a bat. Cordero "pitched" it to him twice, but he came up short both times. The third pitch, Cordero beaned Ayala in the head with the shirt. This produced a Keystone Cops routine with the entire bullpen chasing Chad. Good times.
That's it for now. More in the WaPo blog I was chosen to write for!

I Tried to respod to an above post, and it reposted my first response. Gremlinsm I guess?
Anyway...
--------------------
That's it for now. More in the WaPo blog I was chosen to write for!
--

Which blog would that be?

Posted by: hb | March 29, 2008 11:49 PM
----------------------
I applied for the stadium blog that Barry advertised. Apparently, my view from the Nations bullpen was appealing, as they asked me to attend a meeting in Alexandria, where they supplied food and drink.
More to come later?

Loved the park. Flat out Unbelievable.
The Red Loft bar and the area underneath the scoreboard are incredible. Concession lines were to long but, I expect that to change with practice for the knuckleheads...oops...workers. Metro was a tad bit to slow for my taste. To many "no passenger" trains and not coming frequently enough. Tomorrow night could be ugly. But, I expect that from Metro. Stan the Plan should ride the train tomorrow night at like 7:00 instead of 1:30 in the afternoon during the week. He may not be so quick with the "Go Metro" crap.

That's OK. We have a great heath plan.
-------------------
I saw a few foul balls slam into the limestone backstop and rocket back towards the field. I could see an ump getting hit in the back of the head

Posted by: SwiftIt | March 29, 2008 10:13 PM

Managed to get to the game tonight. First, the stadium is magnificent. Just breath-taking. Love the area to stand and watch just inside CF fate, great idea and hope that stays open.

I sat in 137, row J, right on the RF line and view was great.

Agree concession lines in CF/RF were awful. Steak sandwich one and hot dog one, neither moved in like 3-4 mins so I gave up. Never got a hot dog guy in our section but I didn't get there until the 4th. Tons of beer guys.

Also, scoreboard needs uniform numbers and stats displayed better and of course the inning needs to be right and radar gun needs to work.

But, that's just to give them feedback because I absolutely trust Kasten and the Lerners to fix all those things.

Overall, just absolutely amazing. Can't wait for my first game the 23rd!

The Nats pitcher--Joel Hanrahan--wasn't relieving himself in the bullpen. He was put on "time out" by the veterans in the bullpen...kinda like a Kangaroo Court thing. I told him after the game he looked like he was going to the bathroom out there, and he told me what happened. Hilarious.

Yes yes, it's beautiful. Great sightliness, friendly staff. Now I'll complain...

1) A lot of food wasn't there when the menu said it was. Some examples are coffee, hot chocolate, garlic fries, curly pretzels, and micro brews to just name what was out at the two stands I went to. A simple fix to this would be someone walking around with red tape and covering those signs that advertise the fact that those items are sold there.

2) longggggg lines at the concessions. I waited two innings just for a nat dog and fries. It seemed that there was plenty of cashiers and people behind the counter. The issue seemed to be that there wasn't enough grill space. There were people just waiting for burgers to cook. It didn't seem that any systems were in place. For instance, the cheesesteaks. The lady who was cooking them would take someones order, take the frozen meat out, and then put it on the grill and cook it. When it was done, she would take the next persons order, take the frozen meat out, put it on the grill, and wait for it to cook. It took some frustrated fans to finally pipe up from the line to tell her to put 4 or 5 servings of the meat on at once to make the process go faster.

3) I agree with some of the other fans. There was enough clarity to me, but not nearly loud enough. This was especially true between innings and with songs. We don't need FedEx volume level, but something audible would be nice.

4) It will take time to get use to having a full bottom level to the stadium and 3 'broken' upper levels. I've never been in a ballpark with so many half and third levels in a stadium.

Ballpark is stunning. I agree with everyone who says the cameras did not do it justice at all. It feels way smaller and more cozy than it looked in photos.

I'm about to gripe below but it doesn't mean I'm not THRILLED.

I could not believe my ears when they played Sweet Caroline again. I was disgusted and pouted with my arms crossed for a full inning.

I also could not believe my ears when I didn't understand anything from the speakers in my section (202). Sigh. Just like RFK.

I'd like to see anything on previous at-bats. Couldn't find the information all night.

I wanted to see a better tribute to the construction workers. None of us were seated yet (we were in the long concession lines still). They deserve the standing ovation of all 41,000+ of us.

Thanks for a great night, Stan, everyone.

Please tell people at the Nationals and Centerplace to try to cut down on the lines! It was great food, but maybe a sacrifice is needed so we don't need to wait 20 minutes for a half smoke on the upper level!

Overall, having grown up in DC and attended Senators games as a child, the stadium tonight was spectacular. However would make these suggestions to Mr Kasten as a season tickets holder to enhance the experience for me sitting in the outfield: 1) lines at some of the concession stands, Ex Major League (?) grill and Ben's were rediculous; took me nearly 20 minutes to get a Brat and cheessteak; need more than one cook 2) sitting in the outfield I miss not having the big screen to see; if some smaller screens could be placed somewhere so people sitting under the score could share the experience it would be great 3) better score and game graphics again for people sitting in the outfield and not able to see the scoreboard; the "border" screens did not give the innings, score did not clearly delineate for the Nationals versus the visiting team and the balls and strikes were not always timely or accurate.

Nonetheless i look forward to attending many games at the park for years to come!

My wife and I were pretty disappointed in the food selection. Granted, you don't go to a ball game and expect to get a tofu and bean sprout salad, but what we saw was basically the same selection of unhealthy, garbage food. This is fine, and expected - it's a ballpark, for goodness sakes.

But we searched all three levels, and found only three stands selling a grilled chicken sandwich (FYI, a grilled chicken sandwich is a small piece of chicken and a bun - you can put ketchup, mustard, onions or relish on it, but if you want tomato, lettuce or maybe mayo, you are out of luck).

That was probably the healthiest thing there. We did see crab and fish items, the deli, and some Gumbo (the Cajun fans thank you), but really nothing else that can be considered even remotely healthy. If you are a vegetarian, you get the obligatory vege-burger or vege-dog.

Also, what's the deal with the Red Porch? You can sit down and get the same stuff as the concessions, so what's the point? Oh, I did see a chicken caesar on the menu. Healthy-ish...

I guess what we were most disappointed about was with so many vending locations, there were very few options - it was all basically the same items as you walked around. A previous poster was able to ask for three different types of hot dogs at one stand. It seemed that from the hype from the front office, there would be something more - I don't know - interesting. Hell, Giants fans get chowder and sushi, among other things (my wife is Googling other ballpark food selections as I write this).

And about the guy pissing in the bullpen. If this is indeed true, he should be removed from the team. I don't care who you are, you can't get any more disrespectful. I expect that from my dog.

Oh, it was Hanrahan, and he wasn't pissing? Good, I really like that guy. ;-)

Well, the stadium is nice... not great, but nice... I was expecting more.. I realize the main idea was to get it built and open. I'm hoping Half Street adds a lot, and as time goes by the stadium becomes more. As far as the concessions, really disappointed. Again understand that with large crowds you need food that can be made fast, but can't they try to get something besides sodium filled, greasy or fried selections? How about a stand that has something like Wegmans subs? or wraps? or something like a Cosi or a Chipotle. They need more variety. Anything besides hot dogs, sausage, burgers, fries, etc.. you walk around the whole place and that's all you see. The few stands that are different or local are all the same type of food, just different names. Also have a question. Will the fresh squeezed lemonade we had at RFK show up at some point? We have season tickets, and we'll be bringing our food in from now on.

Great night. Couple quick comments:

Concessions: Snake the lines so they don't block so much of the concourse (use those "tensabrator" things). The open concourses weren't very open tonight.

Scoreboard: In subsequent at-bats, mix up the info displayed for the batter. Showing the same height weight and age info each at-bat is boring and waste of space, which is probably why no other stadium does it that way. Plus, I didn't see anywhere on the main scoreboard what the batter had done in his previous at-bats. That needs to be there.

Sorry, I wrote earlier and should have mentioned that everyone who worked on the stadium deserves a tremendous amount of credit. They did a great job. I'm sure the concession stand workers will get in the swing of things as time goes by. No matter what my complaints were before we'll still be right there cheering the team on.

In from Kansas City to for opening weekend. I was left speachless by the park... simply amazing. Lines for food were terrible but I expect that will get better with time. What a difference from RFK!

Also nice to finally see a victory in the home exibition game. Now lets beat the Braves tomorrow on national TV.

to babajean:

How can you expect them to make subs, wraps, or any other customizable food items that require a huge amount of time to assemble when they clearly can't deal with the basics like burgers and fries?

95 comments and no one mentions the product ON the field!

On the whole, the park looked fabulous! I took a walk around the main concourse, after the 7th inning, and the history stuff was great fun. Also, from there, the scoreboard looked great.

But since we can pass on critiques here, I'll add my 2 cents. Sorry if they're long winded...

Tongue in cheek -- if it's this cold, they should play "Frosty the Snowman" at the 7th inning stretch. Less tongue in cheek -- why "Sweet Caroline"? That's a Boston thing. How about "Send in the Clowns" for opposing pitcher changes?

Things to improve

1) From under the scoreboard, all we could see on the ribbon was the current batters' average and spring training record, the balls and strikes, and the outs. Please add inning and score, batters's results from previous at bats, pitch counts and radar gun. Also, I didn't see any sign of flat screens or future flat screens so we could see the feeds or replays. If those things aren't added, I'd tell people to avoid any seat where they can't see the scoreboard.

2) Women's rest room late in game -- paper towel dispensers didn't work, even though there were paper towels in them. I found a custodian to open one up. Hard to explain, but on the right side, could see that earlier on, the paper towel wasn't completely torn off. The roll eventually couldn't turn at all because of it.

3) N22 bus. Good news -- will probably use it tonight. It came very promptly at NJ Ave exit for Metro. I saw one leave, but didn't wait long for one to come.

However, I wasn't sure where the stop was -- not enough room for it to get to the curb, and the bus overran the shelter, because of the media truck and Metro police cars, so I ended up knocking on the door. How about moving those folks to the other side of the street?

Also, saw a passenger complaining he got on the bus because he couldn't find a taxi. Were there signs at the gates for the taxi stand? If not, please add.

But on the whole -- enjoyed the "Welcome Home". Very much looking forward to seeing baseball in a REAL BASEBALL PARK!

"95 comments and no one mentions the product ON the field!

Posted by: 1st Base Coach | March 30, 2008 06:39 AM"

Lo Duca needs to get some more speed and accuracy when the O's had players steeling 2nd. I heard some say that had to do with Redding too, but I noticed him getting up slow practicing before the game.

Dukes needs to calm down when at the plate. Am I the only one here who felt like he lets 2 bases loaded situations get to him?

I mentioned Lo Duca too.....someone forgot to scout this arm and his movement behind the plate. He does not move inside well and just sticks his glove out on stuff outside and low. Nats will lead the league in Past Balls, Wild Pitches and Stolen Bases against if he is behind the plate for more than 100 games.

I had forgotten about the whole NO straws response I got and a lid would be nice too.....it that for real Stan?

I like the idea of Stan riding Metro tonight about 7 PM.....based on how many times I have seen and spoken to him at RFK.....he might just do it one day.

Get rid of the Canadian flag?

Any sports league with teams in two countries flies both flags. Check an NHL game out. All Canadian teams will have the US flag and sing the national anthem out of respect for the US teams and the players born there.

By the way, I'm not an embittered Expos fan who wishes they stayed. I'm glad that the team finally got moved and have some decent owners. Their move was way overdue. I'm just transferring my allegiance to the city of Washington and am glad that they have a solid fan base.

I like the plan. Check out the '94 Expos as they had a lot of young home grown talent and were leading (with a .649 win %) the league before the strike. Montreal fans actually came out to watch their games and then the strike came.

Montreal fans are notoriously tough and with the long running success of the Canadiens weren't supporting anyone less than a contender.

Enjoy the Nats but to me they'll always be part Expos.

My wife and I took the Nats Express as well and believe it is the way to go as it only took an average of 15-20 minutes door to door from our car to the Centerfield Gate, a free ride to boot! A couple of observations: The park is beautiful with lots of interesting things to do and see. Our favorite was getting a cocktail at the "Red Loft" bar and then standing at the Miller Lite "Beerpen" in straight-away centerfield watching batting practice. Awesome! Only negative: The concessions were jammed, with Ben's Chili Bowl being the cause of quite a logjam. Other than the rude female server at Ben's who insisted on screaming at people "Next in Line!", we found virtually everyone to be friendly and helpful. I'm sure things will improve as adjustments are made throughout the first few games. Overall, DC and the Nats get an "A Plus" for creation of a great venue that will only get better. A word to the wise for this evening - dress warmly! Most in the stands froze once the sun went down and it was just 50 degrees. Forecast for tonite is in the 40's at game time, so bring those gloves and blankets!

A fine experience, and will be great once the neighborhood is built out with restaurants, etc.

What's with the glare from the lights? We sat in 114 row E. I never noticed such glare in other stadiums. Maybe the lights just need to be pointed onto the field more?

Had to wait (blocked by police) to get onto the crowded platform and then wait 15 minutes more at Navy Yard, and then caught a train going wrong way. (It was the only thing moving.) And we left after the sixth inning to avoid all this. Why not run a steady stream of trains on game nights?

Why wait a couple innings for mediocre food with thousand percent profit margins? Nats need to upgrade concession quality (Cajund is right: healthy, pretty good food can be provided, as is done in some other stadiums) and increase the number or size of concession stands. Note to Corey: The stand employees were friendly, but that didn't cost any extra time.

Most of my experience has already been covered, but here's my review:

1) Park is visually stunning and all the buzz about "sight lines" is justified
2) My seats are better than I expected - club level past first base but still feels close, unlike similar seats at Camden Yards which feel super far away once you get down the line.
3) Nats' Ushers (those with no job to do but greet and/or seat people) were extraordinarily friendly and helpful
4) My club level seat is cushioned and oh-so-comfy.
5) Transportation: The N22 gets an A+ for timeliness & convenience - not crowded immediately after the game. (The only downside was I couldn't find the stop on the way home so ended up walking 2 extra blocks to a bus stop that said N22 on it.)
6) Transportation: I was on the same "ballpark special" metro train from L'Enfant mentioned above... the driver "forgot" to stop at the Navy Yard stop we ended up at Anacostia station. That was a real bummer; cost us about 20 minutes of ballpark time. This after the L'Enfant Plaza transfer was super-crowded and not-so-smooth.
7) Concession lines were an issue as noted above, and need for stanchions is apparent. That's pretty easily solved, though maybe not in time for tonight.
8) The lady who was checking tickets for admission to club level on the 1B/RF side was completely overwhelmed and she got frustrated several times. Why does she need to mark tickets with a sharpie? Need a much better system there to avoid backups and rude treatment by overwhelmed employees. She was rude, but I could understand why she was so frustrated. The system is not a good one there.
9) The bartenders in the stars and stripes club were completely unprepared. There's room for 5 bartenders in each bar but they had only 2. Please add more and train them for speed.
10) The biggest issue, at least for me: The club level needs, in addition to the bars, several "beer stands" where there's an orderly line rather than a mob at the bar. It's nice to have a place to "hang out" at the bar, but mostly what I want is to leave my seat between innings, grab a beer, and be back in my seat before the next inning starts. I had that at RFK but I missed a minimum of 4 outs to get a beer last night (and, on one occasion, an inning and a half). Please make it easier to quickly grab a coke or a beer and get back to the seats to watch the game! Thanks very much - the new park is fantastic!

1. The Navy Yard station simply doesn't have adequate capacity at peak. The trainings were running only every ten minutes, but upon arrival at Navy Yard a half hour before starting time the platform was jammed and barely moving.
2. The lines were too long at all the concessions stands. Kasten is going to have to figure out a way to sell things that does not involve missing an inning of the game.

Here is my suggestion to fix the way too slow concession lines: hire half the people at twice the wage and maybe you'll get some efficency in there. There were 10 people behind the counter at the Nats Dog stand at 4 p.m., I was the only customer, and they all stood there and looked at me like I was a space alien because I was expecting my hot dog and soda to be brought to me after I gave them money.

I watched the game on TV. It definately looks like Lo Duca will be turning all singles into doubles this year. Wow, what a dead arm he has! I hope he hits a lot of home runs to make up for the runs he will cost the Nats.

So, something interesting just happened... tell me if I'm wrong to think this is insane...

We went to the game last night, and weren't very stoked about our seat location. We decided we'd rather pay a couple hundred dollars to upgrade our package.

I called the ticket sales number a few minutes ago... and no one answered. According to the message, they are only open 8-5, M-F. Seriously? Not today, the biggest/most important day of the year? You don't think maybe there are people who are finally going to give in and buy a season ticket package at the last minute? You say you've been holding seats for the remaining poeple who want to buy Season Tickets... well?

When I went to a spring training game, they told me no straws and no tops on drinks was now the policy (possibly league wide). Maybe someone thinks they could be thrown at people? If nothing else, it may cut down on litter.

We get a $611 gem of a stadium, and people are complaining b/c there are no straws or health food stands!! We are the worst sports town in the USA

Great stadium..very, very open!!! Your correct, they need more TV monitors.

Spent some time in THE RED PORCH section (Centerfield)..they had 6 TV's inside with only 2 showing the game and 4 others showing other things!!! WHY ??

The RED LOFT on top of the RED PORCH with its outdoor bar is going to be a very, very popluar place for college kids and the Georgetown crowd. It was packed 100-150 even with the cold weather!!!!

BUT, while the help was friendly, they do not work quickly under pressure getting the food to the people..the credit card thing slowed our line and the staff still needs to be trained (I was told that they "didn't have Kielbasa but did have Polish Sausage that was not listed on the sign"). Goal: take the order, give the customer the food and take the money, QUICKLY!! like they do at any county fair in America.

Metro for us was okay..busy day with the Circus at MCI, Marathron, Cherry Blossom Festival, DC United game and Nats game. Remember, no matter how many trains they put on the line, a max 8 car train can only move a certain number of people and has to stop every few blocks at the next station; therefore, there are a finite number of trains that can move at one time!

The other members of our group who drove with parking passes made the trip in 20 minutes from Oakton/Vienna area to the outfield entrance!! WOW!! (therefore, $35 divided by 4= $8.75 each is a very workable solution).

As a season ticket holder, I'm very happy and trust that these other minor things will be fixed.

P.S.

Dmitri Young was listed at 6"2'-220 (looked closer to 300) and Elijah Dukes was listed at 6"2"-250 ?????

Dukes is a very athletic looking middle linebacker (picture him breaking up a double play at 2B) and Young looked like a summo wrestler (who would have a hard time making it to 2B).

Nick Johnson looked in great shape and Guzman looks like he's found his hitting stroke.

dmitri probably hasn't been 220 since 10th grade...

P.S. #2

Dukes is a very intense player....Dude- you need to lighten-up..relax...or your're going to have ulcers. The fans know that your trying hard to please them but learn to smile or there will more 10 LOB games in your future.

I was sitting in Section 143 (center field) - right behind the supposedly awesome scoreboard, which I couldn't see. The infield scoreboards were basically worthless. They didn't have a line score. They showed the number of runs, but didn't say which team had what. They didn't say which inning it was. When a batter came up, they didn't say how he did in his previous at-bats. They didn't say who was pitching or what the pitch count was (and, obviously, the pitch speed). I felt completely lost, especially after I came back from getting food and had no idea what inning it was, since it took me 20 minutes to get through the lines. The tv screens by the concession stands weren't showing the action, they were only showing what was on the scoreboard (i.e., the player who was batting). One more complaint and I'm done: the speakers were WAY too loud!! I felt like I was at a bar; I couldn't have a conversation without shouting. Not the kind of ambience I want at a ballpark.

Overall, though, I was very impressed with the stadium. There are just a few things that need fixing.

We encourage users to analyze, comment on and even challenge washingtonpost.com's articles, blogs, reviews and multimedia features.

User reviews and comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions.