"Take Me out to the Ball Game" is still a great song, but if you're heading to a ballpark in 2011 you can do a hell of a lot better than peanuts and Cracker Jacks. This Friday, Opening Day of the Major league Baseball season, Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, FL, will feature a line-up that looks a lot different than what it had on opening day a year ago. The ballpark has seen some major changes in our few months away from baseball as well. Everything from new astro turf, to great new food and beer selections. Rays fans won't just get new selections when it comes to their pallets, but the memorabilia in the pro shops will get a boost with the arrival of game used items.
Wednesday the Rays invited the local media to the Trop to try some of the new concessions that fans will be stuffing their baseball-loving faces with starting Friday night when the Baltimore Orioles come to town on opening day. I went out because I thought that Rays fans deserved to know exactly what they'll be spending their hard-earned money on when attending a ball game, not at all because they were serving free lunch. For the record, I'm not a food critic. I am, however, a fat guy, and that after all should hold some damn weight when it comes to talking about ways to stuff your face at a ballpark. Don't you think? Fat guy, weight… Get it?
This article appears in Mar 31 – Apr 6, 2011.