They’ve got to turn down the volume on the music. I’m all for a noisy crowd, but when nothing’s happening I don’t want to have to shout to my friends like I’m at a bar.

I’m generally a fan of anything that helps you watch the game, whether that’s making you more comfortable or minimizing the time you can’t see the field. I generally don’t like anything that makes it harder to focus on the action.

San Francisco: The water is a little bit of a gimmick, but it’s also a natural part of the landscape and adds to the sense of place. Like.

Concessions: The Nationals’ park in D.C. is full of food vendors from the city and the area, which is a nice touch. What’s less nice is that they’re all (more) pricey — I paid less for an afternoon at the new Yankee Stadium.

I’ve only been to TO, several time, but there’s really nothing gimmicky about the park. Concession are home grown, hot dogs, popcorn, peanuts, and if you want something extra, they have a deli and a pizza pizza (CND pizza chain). I wouldn’t mind seeing something more gimmicky, but ultimately, I’m there for the game, so I tend to stay in my seat and watch the whole thing; ya that’s right Ms Sickels, commas, commas baby, six of em.

1. If teams are so interested in promoting safe drinking and driving, instead of announcing that beer sales will end at the bottom of the X inning, they should NOT announce it; there’s no reason to encourage people to double-up on beers right before the deadline - other than the bottom line. Just greedy teams trying to have their cake and eat it too.

2. All-you-care-to-eat sections. I mean, really, do gluttons need to have another reason to gorge? Instead of in the stands, just make the all-you-can-eat section a large room under the stadium that looks like your typical mother’s basement, with ratty couches, fake wood paneling and bean bag chairs. If you have to feed the pigs, please put the trough BEHIND the barn.

Plus: I love the increased selection of food and beer in these places. Not everyone has to be a beer snob, and there’s nothing wrong with a Bud at the ballpark, but it’s nice when you can actually get a Brooklyn Lager at Citifield. Local foods are always good too. Having fried cheese curds at Miller Park is just awesome.

Minus: Why in the world is there a butcher shop at Yankee stadium? I also really don’t need all the video games, stores, diversions, jumbotron stuff, etc. A little trivia stuff and interactive stuff is good, but it’s overdone. But then again, that’s not for the heavy duty fans.

I’m there to see the game so to me the pluses of the new stadiums are better sight lines, less foul territory, and fewer cavernous upper deck seats. Some places you can get a cheap seat and the view of the action is pretty good. If you get good seats - look out - so you don’t get hit by a line drive - love it!

I’ll always complain about the food. You just can’t eat that stuff - it’ll kill you. I attend about 65 minor/major league games a year. Some of the minors have as good a selection of food as major league stadiums, but it’ll kill you to eat that all the time. I’ll never have another life insurance physical at the end of a baseball season again - do it in March if you need life insurance and like baseball - otherwise your cholesterol count will cost you.

That being said I can’t stand roving vendors of any kind. Sit down, I’m trying to watch and hear the game - not listen to your loud mouth try to sell me something.

A lot of these stadiums have a bunch of diversions. I don’t get that at all. Why would you want to go to a playground at a baseball stadium? You take your kids to the game and they see that and then you never make it to your seat without the kid nagging you about the playground. I understand why they have the diversions that cost money - kids nag parents to buy them stuff and the team/stadium makes money. But the free stuff doesn’t make sense.

I was gifted “rich-guy-club” tickets at Shea a couple of times and it was certainly nothing to write home about. The Diamond Club was a dank, windowless bar with some crummy TVs and less-than-Applebees quality food. The only real upshot was that field-level seats had their own concourse, so lines for bathrooms and concessions were considerably shorter than elsewhere in the stadium. I can’t say very many people were sad to see Shea reduced to a parking lot.

That being said, CitiField is really fantastic. The open-concourse design (which I first experienced at PNC in Pittsburgh, another lovely stadium experience) really adds to both the enjoyment of the game and the overall feeling of being in the building. There’s no more claustrophobic corridors and stairways/ramps. I haven’t even been able to explore all the amenities at Citi yet, but what I have I have liked. Was even given free pizza toward the end of a game last September - possibly because they were just happy anyone was there in the 8th inning last September.

1. At any rate, what kind of attractions have you seen at a newer park that you really thought, ‘yeah, this enhances the experience’ or ’WHAT? This is an odd thing to have at a baseball stadium!"

The ferris wheel, carousel, and overall circus atmosphere at Comerica Park (they thought they were so clever… Tigers… circus) and the Manta Ray touch tank at Tropicana Fieldare a great way for your small child to focus away from the game and to these distractions.

“I can’t remember where we were, but one game John and I attended featured a hottub overlooking right field where fans could take in the game surrounded by the bubbling, used bath water of other fans. It was some kind of marketing gimmick, but to this day i think, “HUH?”"

The Marlins have a hottub near the RF bullpen to which I can speak about as a fan (the D-Backs have the pool with the slide in the outfield). The tub is a great moneymaker, you have to reserve the area as a group party, so it’s always friends/acquaintances who you’re sharing the tub with and not strangers. It costs something like $12,000 for a group of 50 people which is a bargain or expensive depending on your budget but it’s 95% sold out which you can’t say for the Marlins hardly ever, it also includes a picnic area.

That’s really all I care about.

I am very much in the “turn that music down sonny!” camp of the old folks here. On the other hand, I’m going to miss 3$ tickets and dollar hot dog Wednesdays at the Metrodome.

Does every home player need a song for when he comes to the plate? (Somebody please choose “Sounds of Silence.”)

As a much more than casual baseball fan, I’m really enjoying having several newer minor league parks within a short distance of me in New Jersey. The Lakewood, Trenton and Somerset (indy Atlantic League) parks are similar mini-Camden Yards affairs, while the Newark (indy) park has a distinctly more old neighborhood feel to it (now if we could just get folks to go to games there—Tim Raines, the manager, is beyond fan-friendly).

I’ve loved Petco, liked Citi Field a lot, but found Yankee Stadium kind of cold and sterile (and I’m a Yankees fan), yet find myself enjoying the games more at the minor league parks—the distractions mostly happen between innings—not between every pitch.