The complaining I heard about Citi Field on WFAN today was deafening. My goodness, to listen to some of these people, you would think the Mets built a complete dump.

I honestly think there are some Mets fans that will never be happy. Maybe they are unhappy because the Mets so often disappoint or maybe some Mets fans gravitate toward a team like the Mets because they are unhappy to begin with.

This all proves one thing. Some people are happy with everything. Many people are indifferent. And some people will never be pleased no matter what you do for them. That's the sad fact of life. Many of the things complained about will get better with time. It will likely take the better part of the season to work out all the kinks.  

I was at Citi Field for the Saturday game with the Red Sox. I walked all around that park on every level and I just don't get what these people are complaining about. I think their complaints say more about them than it does about the Mets new ballpark.  

Here are some of the major complaints I heard on Mike Francesa's radio program.

It was hard to get out of the place after the game. Yeah, so what else is new? It's always hard to get out of a packed stadium after an event. Ever try getting out of Giants Stadium after a game? Shea was no picnic getting out of the upper deck either. Now in fairness, it took me a while to get out too but that's because I am simply not as familiar with this new place like I was with Shea. Neither is anyone else. In time we'll know what to do when the game ends.

The concourses were too crowded. This will change once people explore the place and the novelty wears off. Right now people want to walk around the concourses and take the ballpark in. That was true on the game that I went to. In fact, I was one of those people crowding up the halls.

Here's a good one. There isn't enough Mets stuff around the park. Did these people get confused and think they were at Wrigley Field or Citizen's Bank Park? I don't quite understand this mentality. It's says "Let's Go Mets" on top of the scoreboard. There are banners hanging outside with famous Mets players on them plus the championship banners hanging inside. And perhaps most importantly, the players on the field were the Mets! In time, I'm sure there will be more Mets stuff hung up. Now I am the first one to say the Mets do not do enough to celebrate their history. But in this case, I think some fans are being a bit silly and very unfair. And that includes Evan Roberts and Joe (who will never be happy) Benigno from WFAN.

The park pays to much attention to the Dodgers. This is simply not true. The Jackie Robinson Rotunda is a tremendous place. It honors Jackie the Man and what he endured for the advancement of Civil Rights. It doesn't focus on Jackie the Dodger. Personally, I am proud the Mets dedicated part of their new ballpark to this great American hero. To me, that's way more important than some additional orange and blue banners hanging there. And like it or not, the Mets have an obligation to educate the public on the history of National League baseball in this city. They inherited that birthright when the Dodgers and Giants left New York in 1957. If that did not happen, there would be no Mets. Remember, royal blue from the Dodgers, burnt orange from the Giants.

Here's another one I love. The place just doesn't feel like the Mets home. How does any new place feel like home? That takes time. Did you ever move to a new house? Did it feel like home the moment you moved in? People, give the place some time. 

Many people are complaining about the outfield wall. I kind of agree. I do think the Mets went a bit overboard with the quirky height changes and angles. On the other hand they did something smart that they should have done in Philadelphia. The Mets have enough room to move the fences in if the field truly plays too big. Personally I think that could happen at some point (not during the season though, rules do not allow that). The Phillies have no such possibility because the structure they built is too small.

Now before you start berating me over the sight line issue in the outfield (because obviously that cannot be changed) here me out.

I wrote about this a couple of times already. Seats in the outfield have sight line issues in every new ballpark. This is not something unique to Citi Field. One caller in particular said that the entire field can be seen at Citizen's Bank Park from any seat. That is not true. The Phillies park has the same sight line issues in the right and left field corner. You lose the left and right fielder depending on how far up in the upper levels you are seated. Yankee Stadium also has seats where outfielders disappear. I sat in the upper level boxes down the first base line where you cannot see the right field corner. Also in the middle tier in right field Nick Swisher went back on a fly ball and caught it unbeknonst to us as he disappered from view.

VP of Business Operations David Howard, on Mike Francesa's show, articulately explained the Mets reasoning for accepting partially blocked views in the outfield. When you design outfield seats that are multi tiered, some of the outfield area in front of the stands will not be visible the higher you go. This is because of two things: height and rake. The rake is the angle, or pitch, of the seating deck. For fans to see the entire field, either the rake must be extreme which would cause many fans to experience vertigo or the stands must be pushed back significantly in order for the outfield fence to be seen. Pushing the stands back would have greatly increased the footprint of Citi Field creating a different problem, fans would be two far away from the action. This was something, according to Howard, the Mets were unwilling to do. That decision would have destroyed the intimate feel they wanted.

A good example of the alternative approach is Commerica Park in Detroit. By comparison to Citi Field, it is huge and many fans there hate it! That's because the Detroit design team chose to move the upper level way back. Detroit has a fan base that loved Tiger Stadium's upper level in right field that hung over the field and was the inspiration for Citi Field's Pepsi Porch. As far as outfield seats go, there is no perfect solution.

HOK's ballparks have all been designed with intimacey in mind. Here is a sampling of other major league ballparks as illustrated by these images from 3D Seat Viewer.

Above is Busch Stadium III in St. Louis. The view from the left field corner in the upper level is similar to the Promenade in Citi Field. You will not see the left fielder if a ball is hit deep to left. These seats, like at Citi, are priced accordingly.

Here's another view from right field in St. Louis...

The 3D seat viewer does not move down far enough but again, you can tell by the railing in the foreground that in the right field upper level, the view of the corner and most of the right field wall is blocked.

Here's a view from Petco Park...

Now this view would piss me off. However, if I did not take a tour of the ballpark before picking my season tickets, then shame on me. Another view from Petco from right field...

Like Busch Stadium, the right field corner and most of the right field wall are hidden from up here. The Nationals new park in Washington also has limited sight seating in the outfield. Here's a view from the upper level in left...

Unless you are in the first or second row, you are missing action below and up against the wall. Here's another shot...

A common theme, the left field corner is hidden. Below is a view from the new outfield pavilion at Kaufman Stadium in Kansas City. This involved a 250 million dollar renovation.

Citi Field has nothing as bad as this. Here's one final picture. This is from the new Target Field that will open up next year in Minneapolis.

The 3D viewer will not pan farther down but you can still see how the railing and height give an indication that left field is not entirely visible. So David Howard is correct. All of these ballparks were designed by HOK. Howard maintains they knew there would be some sight line issues in the outfield and decided that was okay based on all the data HOK presented to them from the many other parks they designed. In other words, they preferred the trade off of seats closer to the infield to create the intimacy they were looking for as opposed to building a humongous stadium pushing fans further away from the action.

Other stadiums with outfield seating obstructing part of the field include Miller Park, Coors Field, Minute Maid Park and probably some others. And if you take a close look at the design for the new Marlins ballpark, you can even see potential problems there.

Now just to show you I am not on the Mets payroll, I think the Mets could have done a better job of informing fans that outfield seating does not allow a 100 percent view of the field. Perhaps on the tours, they did. My suggestion is if you don't like your seats, see if the Mets will move you. Howard hinted that was a possibility.

All in all, I think these complaining fans must calm down a little and give themselves time to adjust to the new ballpark. It almost sounds like some of these fans would prefer to have Shea Stadium back. Maybe I'm an idiot but I liked sitting in left field and the Pepsi Porch as I moved around the ballpark on April 4th. Even though I could not see the entire outfield, I loved feeling like I was close to the action. I think many of these fans bought these seats without first going to Citi Field. The Mets had offered many tours for prospective customers. And by the way, many of these seats range from $11 to $27 so they are a decent value if getting into the park is a financial challenge. And once you are in, you are free to walk around the entire place and get different views of the game. I did that and I had great seats when I went.

I really am curious to how many people had a bad experience. The fact that Francesa claims that 70% of the calls were negative proves nothing since most people without a gripe are not motivated to call in. I also have a feeling had the Mets won on Monday, the complaints would not have been so bad.

See for yourself --- 3d Seat Viewer