In the issue of TV Guide for May 18-24, sports columnist Phil Mushnick calls clubowners “war profiteers.” Anyone who has been to a ballpark after September 11 should be aware of this: In the name of security, club management has forbidden people to bring containers into parks, ostensibly for patrons’ safety. Mushnick, however, points out that the concession stands gouge the customers: You pay our exorbitant prices or you don’t eat at the park. And he claims Commissioner Bud Selig is the clubowners’ rubber stamp; he won’t force the owners to be fair to the fans; obviously the owners want to make terrorism pay off. :mad:
Am I right here?
If I’m forced to pay $5.00 for a hot dog, then the terrorists have already won.
Does he really call them “war profiteers?” Jesus, and I thought that hack had entered his washed-up and cranky phase a few years ago. Whatamaroon.
Well he doesn’t have his facts straight, first of all. At Pac Bell park you’re allowed to bring in anything smaller than a backpack pretty much. (I think the actual measurements have to be smaller than 14"x14".) I usually bring in a translucent vinyl-type gift bag (around 12"x14") and that’s easily large enough for a huge bag of peanuts, a couple (plastic) bottles of soda, maybe some sammiches and chips. That’s just the one bag. If my husband wanted to carry a bag too we could bring twice as much. The fact of the matter is, people like to buy food at the ball park, and consider it a special treat. (Where else can you get an Orlando Cepada “Cha-cha bowl”?) The obvious exception is beer/liquor, but it’s pretty damn easy to sneak in if you think about it for about a nanosecond. (Well, liquor anyways, beer you’d actually have to be pretty creative about.)
The people who are attending games ought to be used to gouging – they’re paying for the tickets, ain’t they? 
I try not to attend professional sporting events unless I get a press pass to cover them. Otherwise, TV works just fine for me.
The local chain of movie theaters ran off a whole bunch of signs (I swear, they were still warm from the Xerox machine on September 12th) informing patrons that to ensure the “safety” of all patrons, shopping bags and “oversized” purses would no longer be permitted in the theater. :rolleyes:
No skin off my nose, though. Apparently, my purse isn’t considered “oversized,” even though it will hold a pound of M&Ms and a 20 oz. bottle of soda. 
It is what it is. During WWII, everything, it seems, was either rationed for the “war effort” or in short supply because the trade routes were cut off. Now we’re restricted in what we can do, what we can carry, and where we can be. Not saying people shouldn’t be aggravated, just that this is a reminder that we are at war.
Yeah, bringing my own lunch to a ballbark is really going to help terrorists attack it. They never strap bombs to themselves; they only disguise them as ham sandwiches.
I thought that even before Sept 11 you weren’t allowed to bring any food to a ballgame. Obviously the bottles and cans were out since people might throw them (but you can buy a plastic bottle of beer or soda from vendors. WTF?) Coolers are too big to not be a nuisance.
But actual food is still just fine. At Veterans Stadium you can bring in any non-bottled or canned stuff you can fit in a clear plastic bag–such as a hoagie and huge bag of chips from Wawa. I’m definetly going that route the next game I go to.
I know back in the day, at County Stadium in Milwaukee, I had been made to leave food at the door. I’m pretty sure foods have been taboo (at least certain foods) at Stadiums prior to 9/11
Is it really related to September 11? Quite apart from the security aspect at sports arenas and concert venues here, the sponsors generally try to have as a condition of their sponsorship that bringing in food and drinks is prohibited. This was a major issue when we held the Olympics.
The only thing you can’t bring in is glass bottles and cans. (Apparently some chuckleheads were crushing the cans flat and flinging them at people.) And obviously liquor, but the crafty can circumvent that. Some places have a restriction on the size of bag you can bring in, but they don’t care if you bring food/drink in at all. The only thing that’s different since 9/11 is the bag size restriction.
Oriole Park at Camden Yards container policy:
Seems quite reasonable to me. 10" x 13" x 9" is just over 2/3 of a cubic foot, and you can get quite a bit of food and drink into that much space, with room left over for your flexible blue-ice packs to keep stuff cold.
You can’t bring alcohol in, and your soft drinks have to be in plastic bottles. (Maybe cans too - depends on whether they left out a comma or an ‘of’ from ‘cans beer’.) But this is hardly an imposition, let alone “war profiteering”.
Also, in a full stadium, each patron has a fairly limited amount of space at his/her seat. Bringing in coolers, large knapsacks, etc. makes it almost inevitable that those people and/or their belongings slop over into other patrons’ space, no matter how benign their intent. Such a limitation on how much stuff you can tote to your seat seems not only quite reasonable to me, but necessary.