Years ago in another life (and another body) I used to play slow-pitch softball. My wife would come to most all the games, and she and the other wives would have the greatest of times though they could not tell you who won or lost the game. But the point is that the men got to do their thing, which was to drink beer after the game, and the women theirs, which was yak with other women. What could be better?
Well, here’s a story about a study that says that cities that have major league baseball teams, on average, have a 28% lower divorce rate than cities that don’t have major league teams, but would like to. As schooled as I am in stats, I can guarantee that that means direct cause and effect, and here’s why: If a husband and wife go to a game, since it is such a slow game, they can have conversation. If two couples go to a game, the women can yak, and the men can cheer for the team and drink beer. Everyone is happy, ergo longer-lasting marriages.
Earlier this year we went to a game at AT&T Park in San Francisco. We were wandering around the stadium before the game, and I determined that I would have a beer for this afternoon affair. I went to the booth, asked for an Anchor Steam, handed the man a $20, and got $10.25 in change.
$9.75 for a beer. Needless to say, there were no seconds. Surely someone somewhere, perhaps Freakonomics, can explain such a high price for a beer. I can think of only one good reason: The San Francisco Giants do not want rowdy fans, and at the same time want to make a lot of money on beer. Therefore they drew a graph and hit on the optimum price that would yield the highest profit from beer sales while putting a damper on rowdies.
AT&T, by the way, is a beautiful facility, and does the city proud. But those prices could well break up a marriage.
Piece of Mindful 
Now, remember the cost of living in SF and realize that a beer in a bar probably runs you 6-7 bucks, and the $9 Pac Bell beer doesn’t seem so bad.
But what I do remember about PacBell is that the seats are relatively inexpensive compared to other MLB ballparks. (I think Boston’s the most expensive.) During my short stint there, I had partial season’s tix to the Giants, and my tix — box seats about 20 rows behind the 3rd base dugout — were $24 each. Bleacher seats — excellent seats, BTW — ran $10 each.
So, yeah, the food is expensive…but I never bought food inside the park. There were always good sandwhich shops surrounding the park (one place had turkey&cranberry sandwhiches on thickly-sliced homemade bread…mmm…). Of course, I’d get one beer and a scoresheet and I’d be happy…
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