If I took a boatload at the exhibition game, then my Home Opener haul was about 2 boatloads. My Flickr account is near it's monthly upload limit already, so I created a photobucket account and put my favorites up there. Some are illustrative of the points I make in the extended entry.

http://s68.photobucket.com/albums/i4/jvonbokel/Cards%20Home%20Opener/

My notes on the stadium are after the jump.

1 - Bringing back the Clydesdales again was a nice touch. I wonder if that's the rebirth of the tradition, or just a one-time thing for the christening of the ballpark.

2 - Overall the sabermetrician in me is really happy with the new stats boards and whatnot. The current-batter-stats show OBP and SLG, but leave out the big 3: AVG, HR, RBI. Surely that's an oversight. I love the in-game updated ERA, and the B/S/Total Pitches board (although I couldn't see it from my seat yesterday). That was the big thing I've been looking forward to ever since seeing it on June 12th, 2003 (Oh, what a game! Well worth the trip).

3 - The sound system was not as bad as I expected. It was really loud early on in the exhibition game, but it appears they adjusted that to a reasonable level. I didn't like the borrowed-from-Houston "Day-Oh!", or whatever cheesy song with the word "Walk" in the title whenever a BB was issued to a Cards player, but I suppose that's inevitable.

4 - The High-Def video board is awesome.

5 - US Cellular's text board is kind of a cool idea. I could see myself texting stuff there on special occasions. I hope this doesn't mean the free birthday recognition on the main board is gone though.

6 - Sometimes the "Vision Challenge" is more like the "Vision Joke".

7 - I'm a bit torn on the "Welcome to Baseball Heaven" thing. It's nice, but it's also very pompous. Hopefully that'll only be there for the inaugural season at most.

8 - I know I need new contacts, but the red text on the Loge deck video board was really tough to read.

9 - Can't stop after 8 ("Play a Hard Nine", get it?), so I'll include a 9th item even though it actually has nothing to do with my own experience of the game or the stadium. I recently decided that John Kruk is my favorite BBTN guy, because all the former player commentators are basically idiots, but he's the only one who acknowledges it. And in last night's show, he certainly cemented that position by going on and on about how classy the Cardinals organization is, and how Busch II was always his favorite place to play because of the fans.