I'm probably speaking out of turn here, and after all, I'm only 34, so take this with a grain of salt, but there was certainly some kind of aural magic to the renovated Yankee Stadium that the new one lacks.
I never went to the old ballpark (though I would probably kill someone to have been there), but the place in the '80s and '90s was my home. And there was something about how the enclosed structure held in the sound and vibrations of the crowd...I've just never felt anything like it before.
I've only been to one playoff game in my life, Game 1 of the 2002 ALDS. The electricity, the volume, and the thunder that came from that crowd. God. And I've been to plenty of games in the new place, and it's never sounded even remotely the same. Might it have something to do with the fans? Perhaps. After all, I haven't been to any postseason games in the new place, so there's bound to be a different level of intensity there. But, I still think the new stadium just doesn't carry the sound in the same way the old one did. When the Yankees were behind and attempting a comeback, the crowd would get into it, and you could literally feel the place rumble. I wonder if that was the 'cauldron of sound' that Babe Ruth referred to? Lord knows it wasn't hip-hop music.
Maybe I just really miss Bob Sheppard. And Eddie Layton. ESPECIALLY Eddie Layton.
Speaking of whom, any of you fellas who went to that ballpark in the 1980s and long for those great summer days will appreciate this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7W5N9TySsQ
I'm done chasing kids off my lawn.
Graig