The View from Section 203

First off, the phrase "Section 203" has so little panache compared to "Section 39" that the new Stadium may as well be on the moon. But it's still the Yankees and when you're watching the game you forget you're in a new place. So after 2 exhibitions here are my thoughts (with help from Joe, Nanny and Pat) on the new Yankee Stadium.

What Michael will like:
Additional leg room in bleachers
Manual scoreboards
View into the bullpen
Derek Jeter

What Michael will hate:
The railing in front of seats 1 & 2
Location of our seats (height, setback, etc.)
Direction our seats face (3rd base instead of home plate)
Ring of video boards around the upper deck
Excessively loud speakers directly behind our seats
A-Rod

Still up for debate:
Plants between the bleachers and box seats
Mega-Jumbotron
New Monument Park
A.J. Burnett

Winners:
The physically impaired (LOTS of wheelchair seating and closed-captioning)
Standing room only patrons (great views from every concourse)
Yankee ownership balance sheet
Brett Gardner

Losers:
Fans with banners in the first row of the upper deck (due to video boards)
Autograph seekers (due to fencing off of uber-luxury seats)
South Bronx children (due to reduced park space)
Shelley “Unknown” Duncan

Nice Additions:
The Great Hall
Yankee Museum
Pavilion above Bleacher Cafe
Wall of MVPs (which change from silhouette to b&w images)
Sabathia and Teixeira

Regretful Omissions:
Bat on top of flag pole
Flags of AL teams in division standings (hopefully added when season starts)
Bernie Williams

Poor Engineering Award (tie):
Massive pillars on either side of the bleachers (causing bottleneck in/out)
Fencing on the side of upper deck and mezzanine (where blowing trash gets stuck inside)

Bob Shepherd Retires

God, the new stadium sucks more and more every day. His replacement will not be that sound-alike backup Jim Hall, though the NYTimes doesn't cite a source for this. Maybe I still have a shot at it.

UPDATE: Or not. Shepherd got very annoyed. He's not retiring, says the 98 year old. But he won't be doing Opening Day and he doesnt know when he'll be well enough to do a game again. If he's not well enough to do Opening Day, he's not well enough to do any days. There's no reason to expect he'll improve because he's not facing any particular illness but the ravages of age. So he's not retiring; he just isn't doing any games and can't say if or when he will do any ever again. By the way, the initial article said he drove his car to pick his son up at the train station. That is crazy. NO ONE who is 98 years old should be driving a car.