With the future of Astroland park still uncertain after this summer, many New Yorkers are ready to write off Coney Island as a future home of high priced condominiums and overpriced fake nostalgia.  For those in the know, however, Coney Island's main attraction is not the Cyclone or Shoot the Freak, but rather Keyspan Park, home of the Brooklyn Cyclones. 
 

With overpriced tickets and beers pushing ten bucks apiece, Yankee and Shea Stadiums are not a cheap place to enjoy yourself.  Even the cheapest seats can set you back twenty dollars, and if a day at the park spent squinting at the ant-sized players a mile below on the field seems pointless, seeing the Cyclones at Keyspan Park is the solution. Sure, the beers aren't as cheap as Happy Hour at Mars Bar, but at around five dollars for a can of Brooklyn Lager or a plastic bottle of Coors Light (the official crap beer of baseball), and tickets for eight bucks, you can't beat it.

We recently watched the Cyclones take on the Lowell Spinners, a Red Sox minor league team, and sat in the bleachers behind right field.  Seating at the stadium is pretty much first come first served, and, provided the ticket holder doesn't force you out of their assigned seats, it's pretty much a free-for-all.  The crowd in the bleachers seemed a microcosm of Brooklyn itself: families of every ethnicity, groups of hipsters, and a smattering of senior citizens.  Behind us, a group of drunken thirty-somethings had taken up the job of mercilessly heckling Lowell's right fielder Mitch Denning, a recently signed prospect from Australia.  Denning endured countless taunts about boomerangs, vegemite sandwiches, and his lack of both hitting and fielding ability, finally looking back with an angry expression.

In between innings, a man named King Henry, who, to us seems like a slightly offensive carictature of an overweight mentally challenged man dressed in a crown, yells a lot and hosts fan competitions for prizes.  And since we were there for Italian Heritage Night, there was also a giveaway for Frank Sinatra CDs.  At another point, a tone-deaf trio of women sang "That's Amore" to cheers from the crowd.   

Although the Cyclones ended up losing 2-1 (due to a clutch hit in the top of the ninth by who else but Mitch Denning), the bleachers cleared out, almost all with smiles on their faces.  So those of you who are ready to proclaim the death of Coney Island, let us be the first to hand you a Coors Light at Keyspan.