It was an intimate gathering at the new place. I came away with a smile on my face. The food coupon was a nice touch and the food was fine. I went for the Kobe beef burger and the missus went for the sushi. Saving the chip butty for Saturday.
I think the view facing the city's skyline is the better view, just hope that staring off at the great view does not become a habit -looking away from the product on the field. The sight lines seem superb, I felt that I was looking down nicely on the south net. I don't expect to be a fan of Field Turf, but I give it marks for being a solid shade of green.
Worried about the sound system. I fear that it will be used to dominate every spare second a'la Raptors. Trust the fans to make the noise, I say and save the music for when the game is not being played.
The west side of BMO stadium seems odd. No entry gates, only the VIP entrance which is not marked in anyway.
Everyone seemed cheerful and friendly. Having staff(Security? Food? Plumbing?) walking around with bluetooth earpluggers gave the place a slick MLSE feel. If I stumble across one guy talking to himself I think I have witnessed something important. If I see a dozen I just think they're showing off. But that could just be me.
Bring on Saturday !
3 comments:
I was disheartend by the stadium. Yes, it looks good when you are sitting in the stands, and I really like the "terrace" type feel of the northend patio (although after reading Buford's book, thanks, I'm slightly concerned about the beer being there). The inside of the stadium comes off as bare bones at the best and shoddy at the worst. It makes the much maligned skydome (sorry, won't call it the ****rs centre) look like a palace. Ok, so it's our "National soccer stadium", what will people from, say, France or Germany or England, or even Wales think of that? They all have fantastic "national" stadia! Maybe we were too afraid of another skydome spending fiasco.
Oh well, guess it doesn't matter as long as the onfield play and atmosphere is good, right?!
Sad to read that disheartened is how you felt. I guess I am thrilled that even a bare bones stadium exists, what would we have been saying to our French /German /English guests when we had nothing at all ?!
Your observation about the northend terrace / beergarden is one I echo. It had me wondering about controlling capacity back there and at least it is a small fence at the front.
Ok, other stadium faults:
Don't feel free to have a beer, as you'll never get into the washroom during the half, unless you're willing to miss 20 minutes of the second period! Interesting because it's usually the ladies that have to wait. Here it's the reverse. I wonder if they just changed the signs on two of the ladies washrooms to mens if that would solve the problem.
On a related note, the entrances to the seating sections seemed woefully thin, just enough for two people shoulder to shoulder. Hard to accomodate all the leaving and entering fans.
On the wednesday night the concourse seemed open and airy, with all the halftime/end of game fans it seems down right claustraphobic. Hopefully no one will trip down the north/south end stairs during the mass exodus, scary!
Don't drive your car! We had an hour in the green show waiting for the crowd to disperse. I guess we felt guilty idling our car for that long. Really, there seemed to be no thought about the thousands of cars leaving exhibition place at the same time. Oh well, downsview or woodbine would have been better, but that's all way in the past now. It does have one ray of sunshine, the possibility of tailgaiting! There were a few who brought out their chairs and footballs to pass the time. Lets start this before a game too! Just don't drink too much, you won't be able to get into the washroom!
As for the maple leaf forever, I think I'm going to put it to the red patch boys to get it started. It doesn't take much to find out the lyrics (google) and they have the moxy to do it. They were great over there in 113, they just need to be aware that they can drive the crowd noise, especially when we all go to sleep. They need to wake us up when we fall into a lull!
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