Tropicana Field, part one

I thought the Tropicana Field ticket-taker was kidding when he avoided my eyes. But it was no joke; he wasn’t going to give me a cowbell, the promotional item of the night. True, I wasn’t dressed in Devil Rays gear. True, I was wearing a Yankees cap and shirt. But I’ve never been discriminated against in at an opposing team’s ballpark…at least not when it comes to freebies. It made me reconsider the parking lot attendant’s motive for sending us to Gate 1 when he should have sent us to Gate 4. Later it made me wonder why my scoreboard birthday message was not displayed, and why our section’s waitress was MIA. Most importantly, it made me question the guidance of the phone ticket salesman who’d assured me the Home Plate Club (aka Kane’s Club) seats were absolutely worth the astronomical price. Honestly I’d expected to recoup about 50% of cost in food and seat value, writing off the other half as ‘everything’s more expensive on vacation and it’s my birthday.” The sad news is: I took a much bigger loss than anticipated. Sadder: I dragged two people down with me. My advice: if you want to sit in Club seats, try to get into Rays Club (sold out when we went)…you have access to the same buffet as the folks at home plate and it’s closer. From where we were sitting we had a great view of the butts of the On-Deck Yankees, but we also had to take an elevator (!) to our all-you-can-eat. Hated that. You could carry food/drink down with you; not ideal. There was a smaller, much more limited buffet closer to our seats, but it was more of a service bar for the few times the waitress made an appearance. And the big buffet? Pretty bad. Roasted tomato and goat cheese ravioli in saffron cream sauce tasted like a flipper (the snorkeling kind) microwaved in sea water and chicken stock. Polish sausage was decent while hot dogs were flavorless. I could go on, knocking down each food item, but you get my point. Guinness, the only non-Bud/Miller offering, could be had for $8. Yikes. Seats in the row directly behind ours, by the way, cost $150 (no food and no leather cushion). We paid $270. I know I did not eat $120 of peanuts, especially since our waitress, um, did not remember to bring more to me when I asked. In case you think I'm just a paranoid Yankees fan (everyone hates us, etc) maybe this bit will convince you: at least three times during the game, one of the scoreboards encourgaged "Rays Fans Show the Yankees Fans This is Your House." Hmm..I'm pretty sure in our house we're a little more open to guests. **the dark leather seats behind home plate are the Home Plate Club. This view is from the buffet. It's not possible to walk from one to the other (we tried). Rays club is just below the buffet.