September 27, 2006
Verizon Center Is Concerned for Our Culinary Safety
Let's all breathe a collective sigh of relief.
In this dog-eat-dog world, the hustle and bustle of our daily lives leaves us little time to stop and think of our own personal safety. Thankfully, the Verizon Center is here to act as our guardian angel, shielding us from harm's meandering path.
Yes, you may have heard that the Verizon Center has banned fans from bringing outside food or drinks into their friendly confines. The report states that the purpose of the ban is two-fold.
Spokesman Matt Williams says the restrictions will help improve safety and comply with industry standards.As FedEx field has always banned outside food and drink, area sports fans are left with RFK stadium as the only major venue allowing patrons to bring in their own food.
Frankly, we don't know what we'd do without the noble intervention of the Verizon Center. The world's a dangeous place — something as innocuous as a teddy bear can turn out to be a cold-blooded killer. So we applaud you, Matt Williams and Verizon Center, for assuring that our next ham sandwich doesn't turn us into the next Mama Cass.
Oh, and we totally believe you that the policy change had nothing to do with concessions sales.
|
It is a well-dunked myth that Mama Cass choked on a ham sandwich.
It is probably already known to many people, but Mama Cass, Papa John Phillips, and Jim Morrision all attended George Washington High School (now Middle) in Alexandria at various times during the 50's and 60's.
Actually, RFK won't let you bring anything but water. I don't know what they say their policy is, but they certainly won't let you in the gate with any food.
Hungry Fan - we've been bringing in sandwiches every game. They look at my bag, I say, "Sandwiches," they let me in.
I admit, I have not tried to bring in peanuts, hot dogs, etc, so I don't know if they turn those away, but I've never had a problem bringing in delicious Vace subs.
This is true, you can most certainly bring any sort of food in with you at RFK. As far as beverages go, only sealed bottles of water can be taken in.
One wonders if they'll now attempt to raise the concessions up to ... ahem ... "industry standards." The concessions at Verizon Center are only marginally better than they were at RFK before the Nats came to town but after that football team with the racist name left.
While the revelation that you can bring your own food into RFK is news to me (and quite surprising), I know first-hand that you can't bring your own coffee in -- even though as far as I've been able to tell, they don't sell coffee anywhere in the stadium.
Yeah, you can bring hot dogs and peanuts into RFK for baseball. That's why there are so many vendors out there. They won't let you bring in Cokes from the vendors though.
Wolf Trap permits outside food and drink on the lawn area. The Indigo Girls playing up front, my friends and I on a blanket, and cheese and wine for hours, is the life.
Took drinks and food in to an Os game last year bought outside the stadium on Eutaw (construction zone this year so didn't do it there this time - although my wife did bring outside food in for a game one night.)
I have seen with my own eyes a gentleman bring a Camelback full of vodka-Red Bull into RFK. Nothing is impossible there.
"I have seen with my own eyes a gentleman bring a Camelback full of vodka-Red Bull into RFK. Nothing is impossible there."
A gentleman does not drink vodka and Red Bull from a camelback.