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Major League press box
From the field fans can spot the broadcasters in the booth and certainly
notice the bulky glass-covered sections of the stadium that are the press boxes. Fan sentiment toward the media is generally
negative, and now that press boxes and luxury suites take up so much of the prime seating real estate it's no surprise that
many fans do not like such areas.
In 2006, though, I had the opportunity to spend a good deal of time around
the Reds' front office and in the press box. As a visitor, the first thing you must do to get into the press box is to secure
a press pass. There are dozens of different types, it seems, although in my experience they all grant about the same privileges,
and once you're in the press box no one really checks them, except for the cafeteria crew before serving you.
That dining hall is generally the first stop in the Major League press
box, and is a real melting pot of different reporters, semi-big names, team officials and others. It's always interesting
seeing the radio personalities. Cincinnati radio hot-head Andy Furman, for example, appears big and tough on the radio but
in person appears to be one of the shortest people in the room. And loved announcer Marty Brenneman in the dining room is
one of the loudest and most vulgar people.
The dining room is almost always crowded, and the food is not much to
write home about. The Reds' front office staff casually referred to it as "slop," a nickname that wasn't all that exaggerated.
All the food is greasy, and the meat and potatoes look pretty much the same each evening. There is hardly any dessert, not
that you'd want to try it anyway.
After early dinner, the diners head their different ways, most to the
main press box. The area also includes connections to the team management boxes, radio and television booths and other areas.
The team suites are significantly nicer than the regular company luxury boxes, both in size and comfort.
Outside the main press box is a set of media information sheets, some
of which are interesting but most of which spout off fairly obvious information. In the press box are several rows of seating,
equipped with phones and internet jacks. Almost everybody in the room has a laptop. One of the interesting things is seeing
which game tracker internet program the different people use. The MLB.com version has always been my favorite, though ESPN
and CBS Sportsline are popular as well. In the room, the mood is generally relaxed early in the game and frantic later, but
throughout is pretty quiet. In football press boxes, for example, there is no applauding allowed, something that has gotten
numerous people (like Ohio State coach Woody Hayes) in trouble over the years.
Occasionally a voice booms over the PA an announcement like the game's
attendance, most of which people already knew from hearing the main stadium announcement.
After the game the newspaper people generally stick around writing frantically
trying to get a story submitted. The first deadline for many papers is about 10:30, so a game that ends at 10:15 can make
for some crazed reporters after the game, trying to sort through their running story and delete unnecessary parts and connect
the relevant information.
Then it is time to head downstairs. The press rooms under the stadium
are generally much smaller and less comfortable, and it can be a real rat race to try to get quotes, esepcially for a quickly
approaching deadline. The press box stays open long after the game.
As much as the people in it are well known, the press box is certainly
not immune from the stupid, cliched comments that often dominate the conversation in the stands. In Cincinnati, especially,
the conversation can be especially infuriating to anyone with a mind for statistics.
But as long as you're not too caught up in that, and especially if you
don't have a story to file, as I didn't, the press box can add an entire other spectator element to the game.
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