Baseball stadium: Great American Ballpark, Cincinnati, OH

Grade B

Stadium is in the streetgrid, making it accessible by MetroBus which is nice. It's also accessible by the water taxi, which is a neat way to go. Of course, most Cincinnatians reach for their car keys when heading to the game, but it's nice for the rest of us to have a more humanistic method for getting there.

The light stands are fantastic, the food is good and the place feels cozy. The space is used well, especially the concourses and such in the southern half of the stadium. The way the front offices and the Hall of Fame enclose the seating bowl to the north and west are a nice touch.

It would be nice to see more of the red sandstone, which faces Mehring Way, throughout the park, but this is not the primary problem this park has.

No, the primary problem with this park is the gimmicks- and chief among them is the cartoonish outfield. The "power stacks" and more recently the steamboat pavilion in the outfield are shameful gimmickry. Although not as bad as Kentucky's persistent "Hey! We have horses" campaigns, the "Hey! We have steamboats" campaigns are wearing thin on their own. As if thats not bad enough, the way the "power stacks" and the steamboat pavilion are put together is irregular and counter intuitive. These doodads have no place in a major league ballpark.

Other gimmicks include constant video, cheerleaders, and bad music. These drawbacks are not as severe because, if management were to wise up, they could turn off some video screens, send the cheerleaders back to the malls, and let the organist take over musical duties.

Grade B