Think of it as dressing for success
St. Louis’ Busch Stadium, home of major-league baseball’s Cardinals, has been open since 2006, but the lot behind left field had been vacant until last year when the Ballpark Village development project finally took place.
The Ballpark Village, a joint venture between the Cardinals and co-developer Cordish Cos. of Baltimore, is described as a mall with a glass retractable roof that includes sports bars, restaurants and rooftop bleachers. It cost $100 million to build, and with the cost of the building comes a dress code at the various bars and restaurants, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Wednesday.
For instance, the dress code at the Budweiser Brew House and Tengo Hambre, a Mexican restaurant, prohibits: sleeveless shirts on men, profanity on clothing, sweat pants, full sweatsuits, excessively long shirts (when standing upright with arms at your side, the bottom of your shirt can not extend below the tip of your fingers), jerseys (sleeved jerseys are permitted in conjunction with a Cardinals game or any other major St. Louis sporting event), athletic shorts and hats (which are not allowed on the second level, but are allowed on the first level).
Minors must always be accompanied by a legal guardian, according to policies listed on the Ballpark Village website.
Ballpark Village itself doesn’t have a dress code, noted Ron Watermon, vice president of communications for the Cardinals. The team restaurant, Cardinals Nation, doesn’t have a dress code either, but will not allow obscene or indecent clothing.
Watermon said that a dress code has its place.
“An upscale restaurant may have a jacket requirement,” he said. “A golf course may prohibit shorts or denim. A lot of those things are legitimate.”
“No tank tops. In St. Louis?” wrote David Brown of Yahoo!
Sports. “Why don’t they just ban the American flag while we’re at it?”
Watch and learn
Columnist Ken Goe of The Oregonian in Portland, Ore., wrote after Oregon State’s loss to South Carolina in the women’s NCAA Tournament on Tuesday that the school’s men’s coach, Craig Robinson, may want to take notes from the women’s coach, Scott Rueck.
In four seasons in Corvallis, Rueck is 63-66 and has turned around a program that had not appeared in the NCAA Tournament since 1996 before getting the Beavers to the tournament this season. He guided the Beavers to the Women’s NIT in his second season in 2011-2012. Rueck led George Fox (Oregon) to the NCAA Division III championship in 2009.
Robinson recently completed his sixth season with a loss to Radford at home in the first round of the College Basketball Invitational.
Robinson, the brother-in-law of President Barack Obama, is 94-105 without any NCAA Tournament appearances.
“Robinson insists his program is ‘moving in the right direction’,” Goe wrote. “If so, the pace is glacial, and it’s past time to stop blaming the state of OSU’s men’s basketball program on how bad the situation was when Robinson assumed the reins.”
Robinson is under contract through 2017, so he’ll likely remain in Corvallis despite the Beavers not playing in the NCAA Tournament since 1990, when Gary Payton was playing for Oregon State.
“It’s time to stop talking about the process and show results,” Goe wrote. “And if he wants advice, well, Rueck’s office isn’t very far away.”
Quote of the day
“Yes, it’s going to be tough. He’s definitely a unique cover.”
Florida’s Scottie Wilbekin on Kyle Anderson, UCLA’s 6-9 point guard
Sports, Pages 18 on 03/27/2014