Welcome to the new Stadium, not the same as the old Stadium

New Yankee Stadium will never be like old Yankee Stadium, no matter how badly people want it to be, and those who do would best be served keeping that in mind when trying to quantify “how loud the crowd was” at a given postseason game.

It’s already been established that the new Stadium, regardless of how uproarious the crowd may or may not get, will never be able to echo the cacophonous euphoria of the old house, given its construction. From a recessed upper deck as opposed to one that loomed ominously over the field, to the fact that many areas of the stadium feature vast open air spaces where once there were concrete walls, there is no way the sound can possibly carry the same way it once did.

That being said, I was at both Games 1 and 2, and I thought the crowd was about as fired up as one would hope for at Yankee Stadium for the World Series. There were plenty of “Let’s go Yan-kees!” chants emanating throughout the place leading up to the first pitch in Game 1 and throughout the game, and the crowd was definitely pumped up every time Sabathia got to two strikes.

That the tenor of the crowd deflated somewhat after it became apparent that the Yankees simply weren’t going to get anything off Cliff Lee should not reflect poorly on the fanbase. I tend to be on one of the loudest people at the Stadium anytime I attend a Yankee game, standing up the instant our starter gets two strikes while screaming “two strikes!” at the top of my lungs to signal to everyone else in my lame section that they should be standing and cheering, but even I had a hard time maintaining enthusiasm as the Yankees were being completely stifled on offense.

Still, those remaining at the Stadium in the ninth of Game 1 got pumped back up when Jeter and Damon led off the inning with consecutive base hits for the first time all game. But at that point it was pretty clear the Yankees were not going to make up a six-run deficit. If it were 2-0 heading into the bottom of the 9th it would have been a different story. Not even if the biggest Yankee homer could have been expecting a six-run comeback that inning after Lee pitched the game of his life.

I thought the crowd was even better in Game 2 — obviously winning helps, but from the moment the Yankees finally plated a run in the 4th off Tex’s home run, the passion and zeal seemed to return to the Stadium, and the place was rocking through the remainder of the evening. By the 6th and 7th innings, there were even chants of “A-J! A-J! A-J!” — similar to the “C-C! C-C! C-C!” chants that sprung up at Game 1 of the ALCS — something that I never heard even one time at the Stadium all year.

Was the Stadium as loud as the old Stadium at either game? Probably not, but in addition to the way in which the new house was built, the organization hasn’t exactly aided the situation by likely pricing many of the “louder” fans out of the game. It also doesn’t help that Philadelphia is the closest Major League city to New York, so you had to expect a decent amount of Phillie fans to show up.

Actually, if I had one major gripe about the last two games, it would be the season ticket holders who are selling their tickets to Phillies fans. I couldn’t believe how many opposing team fans were in my section the last two nights. Additionally, while I like the vantage point from my seats, for whatever reason section 331 has been one of the quietest in the upper deck all year, and sometimes I feel as though I have to singlehandedly cheerlead for the entire section.

My own complaints aside, I was, on the whole, satisfied with the fans’ energy and enthusiasm. It seems like every Yankee fan has different expectations of what they feel like the crowd at Yankee Stadium “should” be doing, but it just doesn’t work that way. Additionally, a big part of the problem is that the fans watching at home are only seeing the rich non-hardcore fans who can afford the insanely priced Legends tickets behind home plate and down the baselines, and unfortunately their apparent lack of interest on a pitch-by-pitch basis appears to be reflecting poorly on those of us upstairs in the peon seats.

Even in the World Series you’re not going to have 45,000 die-hard scream-their-faces-off-until-their-vocal-chords-are-shredded-beyond-repair fans in the seats, unless the team decided to enact a policy of only selling playoff tickets to their most passionate and rabid fans instead of the ones with the deepest pockets. And seeing as how that will never happen, I think people need to let go of this “old Stadium insanity” mentality and embrace what’s going on at the new home going forward. While it may never match the intensity of the old place, I think time — along with a few World Series championships — should help swell the pride of the fans attending games at the new Stadium that much more.