Slippery Slope

One of the refreshing things about Wrigley Field, at least when I first arrived in Chicago in the summer of 2002, was the near total absence of advertisements inside the ballpark. I spent much of the 90's attending games in Baltimore's Camden Yards, where one of the trademark features of the new stadium was the "Hit It Here" Maryland Lotto advertisement on the rightfield wall...the one with the finger pointing at the bullseye. Obviously, the keepers of the Yard were not averse to advertising, even on the field of play. From the JumboTron in centerfield, around the lower fascade of the upper deck, to the blaring PA announcer, an evening in Oriole Park was part baseball, part gratuitous plugging of this product or that.

Wrigley Field was different. Not only was there almost no adversting visible from the seats, the PA system was non-intrusive. When a tag was made at second, an improbable diving catch gloved in the outfield, or a home run blasted onto Waveland, fans made a lot of noise on their own without the assistance of a hockey-style, bass-heavy soundtrack. Not choo choo train sounds. No pulsating techno beats. No scoreboard urging the crowd to get LOUD. Just a pure baseball experience.

But that's all changing now, as even the geriatric stadiums try to compete in the 2000s with the noisier, brattier, trendier baby ballparks. Old timers will point to the day the turned on the lights at Wrigley as the day modernity stuck its foot in the door and started a quickening decline into the typical MTV version of a day at the park. I remember my disappointment when in 2004, the Cubs added small video scoreboards to the upper deck fascades, and the trademark hand-operated scoreboard. These scoreboards showed names of players and stats, scores, and the ball/strike count. More nefariously, however, the scoreboard also showed...gulp...advertisements between innings...and even digital John Deere lawn mower races. I was appalled. What I loved most about the Wrigley experience was already disappearing only two years after I moved to the Windy City.

Now this.

The Cubs announced today that the newly renovated Wrigley Field bleachers will be officially named the "Bud Light bleachers."

"The Cubs are one of the most storied teams in baseball, with a tremendously loyal fan base and one of the greatest venues in all of sports. We're excited to offer this new feature – the Bud Light Bleachers – to Cubs fans," said Tony Ponturo, vice president, Global Media and Sports Marketing, Anheuser-Busch Inc. in a statement.

Excuse my while I spit out my Old Style! This renovation gets worse every day. First they banned standing room seats in the bleachers as they added new rows and handicapped accessibility. And now, in addition to adding a trendy OF restaurant (I hope the old concession stands that once faithfully sold me beers through a four hour rain delay still survive), they are selling out everything Wrigley Field stands for in modern baseball (i.e. the anti-modern) by giving the bleachers a corporate name! (And before you point out to me that Wrigley Field is named after a flipping chewing gum company, chew on this: the Wrigley company doesn't get a dime from the stadium name.) And they'd better leave the stadium name alone. At this point, changing the stadium name would be as shocking as renaming Chicago "Bubble Yum City."

Yeah, I'm a purist and an old school type. I don't like change all that much. I should just accept that time marches on, and in 2006, the Cubs might need a "Bud Light Bleachers" to make sure they still have enough money to overpay a team that won't make the playoffs. But it's still depressing. Sigh.

In the new bleachers, I guess it only would makes sense to push ahead with more corporate sponsorships. What better way to relieve oneself after a few Bud Lights in the Bud Light Bleachers, than to head to one of the Old Style Troughs in the men's room.

It's only appropriate considering what many say Old Style tastes like.