Would You Like To Take a Survery?

Upon leaving the arena yesterday, members of the staff were handing out business cards that mentioned an online survey. So having some free time to myself this morning, I sat down and took the aforementioned survey, taking the onus to do what I can to contribute to a better Washington Capitals experience. That may sound cheesy, but I'm the kind of guy that believes every vote matters. You know, a nerd.

The survey was actually about fans' experiences with the concession vendors at Washington Capitals games. I find this odd because Ted Leonsis has said repeatedly that the Capitals have very little control over the concessions in the arena, since those are controlled by Washington Sports and Entertainment (the parents company of the Wizards). The survey got me thinking about the food at Verizon Center nonetheless.

I don't eat at the Phone Booth often. Usually I get a soda and a pretzel. My father usually buys popcorn, and my mom and sister might get a coffee from Dunkin Donuts. If they Caps are playing particularly bad, I'll drink a beer (or 4). But the food inside the stadium is so poor, I rarely, if ever, eat it. One used to be able to bring in food from the outside, but that was something that was done away with last year due to "security reasons." I assure a $5 combo from McDonalds was FAR better food than the Chicken Tender Basket and a large soda inside (which would cost three times as much).

Thinking about how bad the food is, I started thinking about sporting stadiums I have been to in the last five years, be it for a concert or sporting event, and ranked the food.

Oriole Park at Camden Yards (Baltimore): A-. Good selection, including Boog's BBQ, and all kinds of really good food. A little pricey, but the quality of the food is second to none.

Scott Stadium (UVa) B+ Not great, but LOTS of variety scattered throughout. The Second Quarter Cheesburger is a staple of my diet.

Ravens Stadium (or whatever corporate name it has this week. Baltimore). B+. One of the cheaper stadiums, great selection, and the lines weren't too horrific for the few Ravens games I've gone to.

Giant Center (Hershey, PA) B. Not too expensive, the food is good, not great. Not a wide variety of food, but a wide variety of beer and chocolate. Duh.

The Patriot Center (George Mason University) B Not a lot of variety, but not very expensive, and what they do have isn't screwed up that much.

FedEx Field (Redskins, DC United Game).B Surprisingly really good food. Not surprisingly, ridiculously expensive food. Not necessarily a wide variety of food, but this is a football game. Lines weren't too horrible either, which surprised me. Then again, anything good involving the Redskins these days is a bit of a surprise.

RFK Stadium (Washington DC). B- Former home of the Nationals, current home of the DC United. For the most part the food is really lousy, but cheap. Then I tried the Chicken Tenders. AMAZING. Simply Amazing.

Lincoln Field (Philadelphia PA). C+. I didn't get the full experience at the stadium, as I was there for a Temple Football game and there were maybe 20,000 people there and the upper level was closed. That said, the food was decent, moderately cheap, and all around not horrible. Not great either though.

Wallace Wade Stadium (Duke University). Kind of meh. Barely a stadium (does it even seat 15,000?). Food is more like a glorified high school football game than a college setting. Of course, you can also buy a large pizza from Dominos inside the arena for $15 and it tastes just as good as it would outside. An excellent idea if you spent the previous night having too much fun in Chapel Hill.

Nisaan Pavillion, Bristol VA. C- Ok, not a stadium, but a concert venue. Not great food, but not horribly expensive. I guess prices trend downward when people are tailgating outside the arena. Not really much to choose from either, in food or beer. Get there early and go to one of the multitude of fast food establishments in Gainesville.

The Prudential Center (Newark NJ). C. Not particularly good from my experience. Not particularly Cheap. But loads better than it was at the old arena, and not really exceptionally bad.

Verizon Center (Washington DC)D-. The food is simply bad. The Fries taste like cardboard, the chips taste poisonous. The burgers are dry, the tenders are cold, and the "Papa Johns" doesn't even taste like Pizza. The only thing redeeming the place is the Dunkin Donuts inside the arena and the wide selection of beer.

Izod Center (formerly Continental Airlines Arena), East Rutherford NJ. F The Worst Food Ever. I was there for a Pearl Jam concert, and was extremely disappointed in the level of food, especially after having been in the car all day.

A bit of a concern . . .

16:32 Stoppage - Puck in the crowd
16:32 Boyd Gordon won faceoff against Milan Hejduk
16:42 Giveaway by Alexander Semin
16:50 Shaone Morrisonn credited with hit on Milan Hejduk
17:11 Shot blocked by Jordan Leopold
17:11 Penalty to Michael Nylander 2 minutes for Holding Jaroslav Hlinka
17:11 Power play - Paul Stastny won faceoff against Dave Steckel
17:38 Power play - Shot missed by John-Michael Liles(Wide of Net)
17:39 Stoppage - Goalie Stopped
17:39 Power play - Paul Stastny won faceoff against Dave Steckel
17:54 Power play - Shot missed by John-Michael Liles(Hit Goalpost)
18:01 Power play - Giveaway by John-Michael Liles
18:03 Shot on goal by Boyd Gordon (Backhand 12 ft)
18:04 Shot missed by Shaone Morrisonn(Wide of Net)
18:05 Stoppage - Net Off Moorings
18:05 Shorthanded - Brooks Laich won faceoff against Jaroslav Hlinka
18:22 Stoppage - Offside
18:22 Shorthanded - Boyd Gordon won faceoff against Jaroslav Hlinka
19:16 Takeaway by Milan Jurcina
19:22 Shot blocked by Alexander Ovechkin
19:31 Shot missed by Alexander Ovechkin(Wide of Net)
19:37 blocked by Alexander Ovechkin
19:42 Stoppage - Puck in Bench

For those wondering why I'm posting the play-by-play from Wednesday's night win, you had to be there. At 16:32 of the first period, a puck flew into the seats and hit a woman about two sections over from me in section 114. People in her vicinity signaled for the paramedics immediately, and the usher went to go get them. Down in the seats, people began pooling any napkins they had available to stop the bleeding. Meanwhile play went on. A few minutes later there was a penalty on Washington. No paramedics. A couple of fans stepped forward to take charge, presumably people with some medical training, be they EMTs, Doctors, or Nurses. The Caps killed off the penalty. No paramedics. The Avalanche failed to score on the power play, no paramedics. Finally a minute or two after that, the paramedics lacsadaisically sauntered down the aisle to treat the woman. During mites on ice, the woman was escorted out, not returning for the duration of the match.

By my count, there were 4 stoppages in play, and a little over 3 minutes in game time between when the puck was over and when the paramedics finally showed up, which I figure to be about a 6-7 minute delay. What were the paramedics doing? The first aid station is behind section 117, right next to the incident. When someone gets hit in the head by a piece of frozen rubber being propelled that hard, you have to wonder what takes the paramedics so long.

On a positive note, it was nice to feel Verizon Center as cold as well, a hockey rink. Someone has been getting the notes on how to make the ice better it seems.

Pictures of Verizon Center improvements

I just got back from a concert at the Verizon Center and being the always-thinking type, I took my camera along and snapped some pictures of the new signs and paint jobs around the concourse, and a couple of other improvements.

First off, anyone that has a suite on the 300 level now has a seat on "Lexus Luxury Level." No, really.

But here's some pics of the new signage around VC, as well as an idea of the new color scheme. I took some pictures of the scoreboard, but they didn't really come out at all since it was tucked away up high.


This is the sign when you first enter, showing you the directions to go for upstairs and whatnot.



This is what the walls look like all over. A fresh set of paint, and an update to the color scheme.


The sign outside your section showing what section you are sitting in from the seating area.


A sign showing which section is which from the corridor approaching the sections themselves.


Brackets for the new HDTV monitors that are going to be going in. I guess the monitors themselves aren't quite ready yet.

I also have a couple of bad pictures of the scoreboard itself that I can publish if people really have a desire to see pictures of black blobs.

I, sir, am outraged!

The DC council passed a resolution yesterday for improvements in the Verizon Center. The improvements boil down to two things, a new HD scoreboard (yay!) and improvements for luxury boxes (boo!). Who will pay for these? Anyone who attends an event at Verizon Center.

There will be a fun new tax to people who purchase tickets to events at Verizon Center, as well as anyone that buys merchandise and concessions there. This money will go to the DC council, who will in turn pay for the improvements on a building that was
A. Built on land given to Pollin for free
B. Leased at a rediculously low price
C. Is allowed to live property tax free.

How about Pollin take some of the millions of dollars he saves annually on those deals and pays for it himself instead of gouging the common fan. It's not so much that I don't like paying taxes, I don't like the fact that the normal joes that go to events at the phone booth will be paying for improvements to the luxury suites, while big corporations sit back and write off paying for the suites as a business expense, and get a tax break on it. Something isn't kosher there.

There is still an opportunity for DC Mayor Adrian Fenty to veto the bill, but he's shown little willlingness to fight with the DC council.

So my tickets will go up about 4%-5% to cover improvements for people that sit in luxury suites. Meanwhile, I sit in what is literally a folding chair. Something isn't right with this picture.