remote gluttony before apps (a throwback)

i think this may be the ultimate tease…i thought i had found it. i was so damn proud. this entry was SUPPOSED to start off with this line:

hey sports fans…guess what? i actually found something damn cool about tulsa!!!

but over breakfast today i started thinking about it, and now i’m not so sure. see, at the WAC tournament they have something i’d never heard of…dial 4 snax…where you can literally call in your concession order from your seats at the game and have it delivered to your seat. how fucking cool is THAT? no more lines, no more bullshit, no more dealing with people!!! this service is TOTALLY automated. you call in to a toll free line from your cell phone, punch in the code for what you want, the code for your seat location (all codes on the handy little flyer they give you) and your credit card number…and then your food is delivered to your seat within FIVE minutes (according to the flyer…bet there’s a half-time margin we’re not hearing about…)

so what the fuck could i possibly find wrong with this shit?

well, i got to thinking…and i’m not ruling it out on the coolest stadium stuff of all time list; but i need to experiment. most stadiums are large, cavernous structures that are made out of literally TONS of cement. and quite a few are kinda sunk below ground level. have you ever tried to get mobile phone reception in one of these places? typically, for my money, it’s spotty at best. now, hit some outdoor ball park like the dell diamond or something and it’s game on. just don’t know how well the inside thang will fly. and if you end up with one of those calls where only every two outta three things actually go through, next thing you know you TRIED to order pizza and a pepsi, but instead ordered bbq and dr. pepper…and charged it to some stranger’s credit card. and sent it to some other guy’s seats…good for him, sucks to be you. so i wanna try it out before i sing it’s praises.

they also take RESERVATIONS…now that part i can’t find a flaw in. before you leave for the game (or if you have a treo or some other kind of bad-ass web phone that can hang with most websites) you can go online, order your food, and not only specify where you sit and what you want, but WHEN in the game you want it delivered. that, folks, just plain rocks…

now, you do pay more for your food from what i’m told…but with cheeseburgers under $4, and grilled chicken and bbq beef sandwiches rockin’ in at under $5, i think it’s damn comparable to normal stadium prices…although candy being $2.20 and 32 oz sodas being $3.85 does seem a BIT excessive. and no, they don’t do beer…but there are beer guys for that anyway, right?

so, am i behind the curve and there are plenty of other teams who do this? or is this new?

Replies: 6 Comments

Yeah, I’ve experience this before but only in the luxury seats my company purchases. Food and beverage was a tad more expensive than normal but it just meant I didn’t have to crawl over the two older gentlemen and their very young “lady companions” who arrived a quarter of the way into the game.

illuminn said @ 03/13/2003 11:06 AM CST

luxury box seats dan? did i ever tell you that you’re a really cool person? ::cough::takeme::cough::

josh said @ 03/13/2003 10:00 AM CST

wow all automated huh! and i thought the guys that go and get my food at our luxury box for the texan’s games were cool.

transamdan said @ 03/13/2003 01:21 AM CST

I was thinking about that whole food delivery thing and I think it’s a setup. If people just sit on their ass and wolf down chili cheeseburgers then eventually their ass will grow so wide that they will be charged for two seats thus selling out the stadium more often.

Porn Star said @ 03/13/2003 12:34 AM CST

As far as the basic principle goes, you’re behind the curve. They do this in the ritzy parts of some baseball parks, but you gotta be sitting in the good seats. I don’t remember whether the seats had their own keypads or if you had a little card you filled out, oh yeah – now I remember – its like restaurant service – you give your order to the person working your section, they type it in and retrieve it for you. Not as automated as what you experienced, but this is at least five years ago.

Why would anyone order (much less drink) a Pepsi? That’s crazy. If I never had to deal with Pepsi “products” again, it would be too soon.

Teeth said @ 03/12/2003 10:13 PM CST

i don’t think they have beer guys at college games. i know i didn’t see any at the UT game. i think it has something to do with the majority of students being underage or something. like that’s ever stopped anyone…