Should Tampa Bay Build a New Ballpark on the Water?

Throwing you a bender because I just thought you should know...

Since AT& T Park, home of the San Francisco Giants opened, boaters and kayaks have floated around in McCovey Cove, beyond the right field wall. They gather during games for sunshine, conversation and hopes of catching a home run that leaves the park and enters the water. 

The view of the game is non-existent from this spot, but the price is right, the views are gorgeous and for those that follow the game on a radio or cell phone app, the chance of snagging an elusive home run ball is an added bonus. 

One of the detriments to floating in McCovey Cove is not having access to the fine selection of food and beverages offered inside the stadium...until last Sunday!

Akin to seeing Kris Kringle on your rooftop Christmas Eve, kayaks and boaters saw London Van Der Kamp come paddling into their view Sunday evening with a specially outfitted kayak custom made to be the first floating hot dog vendor! Everyone loves a hot dog at the ball game and these were even free for Sunday night.

Van Der Kamp had his kayak set up with warm fresh hot dogs, buns and of course, the mustard and ketchup containers. In addition, he had specially rigged paddle leashes that can tie two kayaks together. This would allow him ample time to squirt all condiments on a hot dog without the customer floating away. It was pretty impressive to see him handling the dog, applying the condiments and handing it over all while operating a kayak. He even had a follow boat tagging behind him. For boating safety reasons? To monitor crowd control? No, to have a stash of extra hot dogs in case he ran out, of course. The beer guy never seems to have that idea!

As this was a free promotion staged by the four letter network, no word is yet available if the concept will stick. However, hot dog stats show it was a huge success and just another incentive for building any new ball park on the water. My guess is we will be seeing Van Der Kamp on a regular basis from now on.

I just hope he didn't have to suffer the oldest vendor frustration of being waved over by a fan only to be asked to send the beer guy over once he arrived! And if you are waiting for the beer guy, be patient. Don't bug the hot dog kayak dude, the soda raft man, or the pretzel dinghy guy. It's a ballpark, the beer life preserver bro is ALWAYS on his way over!

All this because I know more about nothing...