By Cindi Andrews
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Nothing can go too wrong on Opening Day. The air may have been a little too cool and the Reds may have lost, but Monday was about more than the weather or the score.

"You guys all set here?" a manager hollers to the crew unpacking ice cream coupons and baseballs just inside the main entrance. "All set? 15 minutes before gates open!"

Chuck Taylor, 29, of Reading is just outside the main entrance of Great American Ball Park, waiting at the head of the line with dad Sherman, 53. It'll be Sherman's first Opening Day, and they skipped the parade to get right down to the ballpark.

Machine Room

First in line means first to get a table in the Machine Room for Gary Pope, 53, of Maineville and his son Jason, 24. They waited outside the ballpark's Broadway entrance for an hour before the 1:30 p.m. gate opening. At 1:53, the Machine Room staff is estimating an hour and a half wait for a table, and by 2:08 the wait is two hours.

Gary Pope likes the idea of a sports bar in the ballpark, but his initial review is lukewarm - like the temperature of his Montgomery Inn barbecue pork sandwich. "It looked like it had been sitting out for a while."

Fine-tuning

The guy fixing the hinge on a cart of tarts, cakes and liquors looks like ... sure enough, that's Jeffrey Shanor, director of food and beverage operations for Great American Ball Park.

"There's always those little fine-tuning things that go on," he says, returning the screwdriver to his pocket.

But to Shanor's surprise, former President Bush, the ceremonial first pitcher, made no special requests.

Priceless

Cincinnati native Jim Hitch's first Opening Day starts auspiciously when he catches a foul ball in his left-field seats during Pittsburgh's batting practice.

"I had to fly all the way from Boise, Idaho, to get this ball," he says, gripping it as he grins.

He lives in Idaho now and spent $375 on plane tickets for himself and his son, Jamie, 15, after his wife bought Opening Day tickets online.

Strike up the band

The Pete Wagner Band fills the concourse with music before the game. Asked about the authorship of a piece called "Angry," band leader Paul Wagner shrugs.

"The Pete Wagner Band - that's my dad - was the last to play at Crosley and the first to play at Riverfront," he said.

The band also was the last to play at Cinergy, Wagner goes on to say, and, now, the first at Great American. With that, the Pete Wagner Band launches into another tune.

Whatever the cost

On the upper deck concourse, behind home plate, fans are lined up 30 deep, waiting to get into a tiny gift shop. Donnie Thomas of Lower Price Hill emerges from the shop with his son, two friends and bags of stuff. "We bought a lot, shirts and hats" - $80 worth, he says. So far he has spent $240, and that's after spending $505 to buy four $10 bleacher seats on eBay.

That's what it cost to attend his 24th straight Opening Day. "I've not missed since 1980," he says. "We won't leave until the last pitch."

Good eats

The ice cream concession - Davey's Cones - isn't keeping up with neighboring Bullpen Grille and Pete's Pizza shortly before game time. They have customers six deep while food stand - operated by the Faith Center Church of God Mountain Assembly - is seeing only an occasional straggler.

Still, concession worker Al Newton, 35, of Williamsburg has faith: "We're waiting until people get warmed up."

Good new days

Jack Hohl, 72, of Dayton is barely in the ballpark for his 35th straight Opening Day. He wasn't able to get through to buy tickets, but a friend came through with seats in the top row of the outfield.

"I loved Crosley, but it couldn't handle the crowds nowadays," Hohl says. Great American is much easier to get in and out of than Cinergy, he adds.

Goosebumps

Scott Robinson, 28, of Clifton and Jeff Ward, 28, of Loveland take the pregame festivities to heart, cheering wildly at the conclusion of the national anthem and when former President Bush tossed out the ceremonial first pitch.

"This is what it's all about," Ward says. "Baseball and showing support for America."

"It's going to be electric when the game actually starts," Robinson says. "I know I'm going to have goosebumps."

The men could probably already be considered Great American Ball Park veterans. The two longtime Reds fans attended Friday's preseason opener against the Cleveland Indians and took a public tour of the stadium a week before.

Different view

John Arvai, 26, of Montgomery, is one of the few people who bothers to look west toward the unrecognizable remains of Cinergy Field. He even snaps some photos. "I haven't seen it from this view, so it's kind of neat."

Still, he has no regrets. "The new place is a lot better," Arvai said. "All those big doughnut stadiums need to go."

For you, America

Kevin Dehaas, 46, of Hillsboro, wipes his eyes as the last notes of "God Bless the USA" ring through the stadium. A 10-year veteran of the Army, he's thinking of what's going on in Iraq as he watches the field from the gap.

"You've got to free the people over there," he says, as a chant of "USA, USA, USA" rises in the crowd.

Job satisfaction

Frank Goodwin surveys his handiwork as he stands along the railing in section 105 on the terrace level of the ballpark with beverage in hand. Goodwin, one of the leaders of the construction team, is at the game reaping the fruits of his labor.

"The people seem to be enjoying it," Goodwin says of the $280 million ballpark. "It's not a hard stadium to get around in at all. It's pretty well put together and all the seats offer a good view. I just wish it were a little warmer and the Reds were winning."

First-game troopers

Wendy Slosser of Tiffin, Ohio, waited 45 minutes to spend $24 on a T-shirt and a program. She and her husband have been to first games played in other new arenas - Comerica Park in Detroit, Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Fifth Third Field in Toledo. Now they add Great American to the list.

"I think it's beautiful," she said. But this Opening Day is different. "It's a little colder than some I've been to," she says.

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E-mail candrews@enquirer.com

Reporters John Byczkowski and Kevin Aldridge contributed.