Can you hear the roar of 50,000 fans root, root, rooting for the home team? The smell of overpriced hot dogs and beer wafts around the entire stadium. For 81 games a year, the historic Yankee Stadium is the site that hosts the New York Yankees home games. Many famous legends have called the stadium home, from Mickey Mantle to Mariano Rivera. This celebrated stadium will be torn down at the end of the season though, as the Yankees are planning on moving to their new stadium, named New Yankee Stadium.
The image shows many different views depending on how it is looked at. One of the most obvious things we see in the picture is the 50,000 fans watching the game. However, some of these fans are enthusiastically rooting for their team. Some are apathetically sitting there, waiting for the game to end while dreading the impending traffic jam. Others appear to be heading to the concession stand to fill up on more overpriced snacks.
Another obvious sight is the heading on the picture of "Pride, Power, Pinstripes." Players have a lot of pride putting on the pinstripe jerseys that belong to the Yankees. With so many legendary players here before them, there is a sense of honor that comes with wearing these jerseys. I'm sure that there's far more honor wearing a Yankees jersey than there is of wearing a Kansas City Royals jersey. Power can be seen in different ways. One way would be power as in home-run hitting power. The Yankees certainly have that with Alex Rodriguez, who many believe will break the home-run record currently held by Barry Bonds. Power can also come from the fact that as a franchise, they are one of the most preeminent in the league. They easily have the resources, as witnessed by how high their payroll is compared to the rest of the league.
With this view of the game, all you can really discern are little figures moving around. The small, white flash of the baseball is nearly impossible to notice. The home umpire, dressed in huge, protective gear, would be hard to detect if it weren't for the fact that he SHOULD be at home plate. Despite the poor view, it's hard not to get swept up in the excitement of watching a game with 50,000 others. Besides, isn't the "thrill of victory and the agony of defeat" the reason we watch and love sports?
1 comment:
What about the "Pride, Power Pinstripes" text? This seems important to the image, and yet it is completely overlooked. The one place where you forward a critique of this image is when you point out the apathetic fans just "sitting there...waiting...dreading"—this is interesting, because it cuts against the grain of the image. But otherwise, you seem to be describing more of the game and the social context, rather than really examining the form and content of the image at hand. For instance, what about the fish-eye lens view? How is that an impossible perspective? What about the indiscernibility of the players? (It is not exactly a prime seat, unless it's advocating a sort of god's-eye view of the game...which is sort of what you are suggesting.) What does "power" have to do with baseball, a seemingly fun game? What do "pinstripes" have to do with baseball—pinstripes are for business or dressing up, aren't they? There seem to be more details in this image that you could linger on.
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