Hi, Karen:

I just wanted to let you know that I sympathize with your plight at the
Dodgers game, and I agree with Connie that the marketing guy should've
offered you free tickets.

I grew up in Alabama and still live here but have been a Dodgers fan since
Don Sutton pitched for them. (He was born in Alabama and graduated from high
school in Pensacola where I was born.) I make several baseball trips a year
with family and friends and take in about 20 major league games. I've been to
exactly one game at Dodger Stadium (in 1998) and the traffic and ticket
situation was so bad I'm hesitant to go to another. We bought tickets the
first day individual tickets went on sale but about 80 percent of the stadium
was already taken with season-ticket sales. We got near the stadium about an
hour and 45 minutes before the first pitch and didn't get seated until there
was about five minutes to go before the game began. And afterward, well, I
don't have to tell you about the race to get out of there. I hate it when I'm
one of five cars aiming to reach one parking lot exit.

As much as I hate to admit it, when I see the Dodgers, it's when they're on
the road. It's much easier to see them in Atlanta or San Francisco. I also
take in a lot of Yankees and Mets games in New York. There's good public
transportation there and decent tickets are available -- they're expensive,
but they're available if we're willing to pay. We can leave our place on the
Upper West Side about an hour before the game and be seated at Yankee Stadium
before the first pitch. Afterward, no matter how big the crowd is, we still
get back home at about the same time. It's the same for Shea Stadium,
although we need to leave about an hour and a half before the first pitch
because the ballpark is a little farther away.

I love the Dodgers, but I don't love Dodger Stadium. I'm sure I'll go back
someday but not this year.

Mark