The Final Score

Sorry for the lack of blogging this morning. I spent my morning outside of Shea Stadium attempting to see what exactly the place looks like right now in its crumbling state.

(The Mets are no longer letting anybody inside, saying the stadium is completely controlled by New York City and is a live construction site run by them.)

There is a fence surrounding the stadium, including the parking lot. So I parked in one of those lots right by the Grand Central Parkway and took a stroll on foot around the stadium's perimeter, video camera in hand.

There's evidence of some construction taking place outside Shea Stadium in the parking lot, but there was not a lot of movement short of the guard guarding the entrance. But there were piles of debris throughout the lot.

The blue exterior wall of the stadium has lots some of its pizazz. For example, the word mezzanine has been cut off at one entrance and the big letters that used to say SHEA STADIUM at the top of the stadium now says TADIUM.

Standing on the subway platform on Roosevelt Avenue, I was able to see inside the stadium. The outfield fence is long gone as is the scoreboard, which was brought down a few weeks ago. The outfield grass, infield dirt and pitcher's mound have been replaced essentially by rubble as construction trucks make their way around the place.

Not too many workers on site, it seemed. Maybe it was lunch time. Over at Citi Field, though, there were dozens of construction workers keeping busy.

The goal, Mets officials say, is to have the stadium gone by Opening Day. But even they admit that's overly optimistic. More likely Shea will be a parking lot by midseason sometime.