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Lock Me Up in "The Safe"

© C. A. Wright

Okay, enough stats and speculations about the Mariner's season-come with me on a little memory trip to "The Safe." That's the place to be if you want to see a Mariner game.

My family and I were supposed to leave at 4:00 p.m. to get there for the 7:05 start on a Friday night. Oops, we didn't get on the road until after 5:00. Traffic was fine, though, until we got to Seattle. We thought we would try to go through the city and slip into Safeco Field from the northwest. Here is our view as we approached the mighty steel-roofed structure and the ensuing traffic jam that greeted us along First Avenue.

Since we were running late, we opted not to wait in line to get into the new parking garage right next to the ballpark. Instead, we squeezed into a $15 lot a couple of blocks south. We didn't save any money and had to walk further, but oh well.

On the way we stopped for polish dogs and saved a buck over the price inside. I was tempted to buy an Ichiro T-shirt from a nearby vendor that said, "No Escape. Area 51," but we needed to move along. As we crossed the street, a man on the corner kept repeatedly asking if anyone was selling tickets (the game was officially sold out).

I love going through the Home Plate entrance. It has that grand old, established look as you see here. We rushed up the entryway stairs, under "The Tempest"-the $900,000 overhead structure that features 1000 baseball bats of resin plastic placed at 500 different angles-and found an escalator to the upper deck.

Contrary to what I've heard, there are a few bad seats in the ballpark, and I just happened to get one of them. It was an aisle seat behind a steel guard on the stair landing, where people are constantly walking. One of my family members, who doesn't even watch Mariner games, took pity on me in the second inning and traded me seats. Now I was ready to sit back and take in the game, or so I thought.

I found myself noticing other things, besides the count and who was up to bat, things you miss on TV. One was the sound. It is much loader in person-the music, the announcer, the crowd-your surround sound system doesn't quite give you the same feel that being in the middle of it does. Another thing that you don't get at home is the feel of the sea breeze in the late afternoon or the feel of being perched in a high place (if you are in an upper section) and looking down at the field.

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