Repkododgers17team

Dodger dogs and nachos

2006-08-15T17:32:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, our family went to see our annual game at Dodger Stadium. We actually live about ten minutes' drive from the stadium, but with annual ticket price hikes and the difficulty of going to a game with small children, we only make it out to see a baseball game about once a year.

Though an evening game would be cooler at this time of year, with our children's bedtime around 8:30 pm, we have been going to Sunday afternoon games lately. Unfortunately, the weather on Sunday was unusually warm and humid for this time of year, so our seats in the shade of the Top Deck didn't bring us any relief.

A former colleague at work gave us a couple of adorable Dodgers outfits for our daughter as gifts, and lots of people commented on how cute our daughter was in her Dodgers cheerleader outfit.

I was planning to buy the Dodgers' famous garlic fries for our daughter and a Dodger Dog or two, but the garlic fries are not sold in the relatively small top deck section, so we had to settle for nachos with cheese sauce and salsa. Contrary to what I have read on the internet and the Los Angeles Times lately, the food lines were not unreasonable (though they might have been once the game started).

We got there early, about 12:30, but we ended up leaving about 2. The weather was just too miserable, and our daughter started getting restless, and it was difficult to watch the game.

Hostile territory, Billy Bob Thornton and the St. Louis Cardinals

2006-08-03T17:49:00.000-07:00

Ben Godar

As a Cardinals fan living in Los Angeles, I'm often forced into unfriendly territory to watch my team. Thankfully, Redbird Nation stretches from coast to coast, so there's always more than a few wearing my colors in Dodger Stadium.

We give each other a smile and a nod as we file past the throngs of mouth-breathing Dodger fans on our way to our seats. Anyone who's worn team apparel into enemy turf knows that it's rarely pleasant. I've had food hurled at me and been greeted more times with "Cardinals suck!" than I can count. Which isn't to say that I've had it so bad. A Giants fan was killed in the parking lot last year.

The point is, it's always a comfort to see another red t-shirt in the sea of beach ball swatting morons. But it's especially comforting when that face is Billy Bob Thornton.

Whenever a celebrity is at the stadium, their face usually winds up on the jumbo tron. Somewhere around the 6th inning of Friday night's game, Billy Bob Thornton appeared on the screen wearing a St. Louis Cardinals cap. The image drew a chorus of boos.

Now folks, that takes balls - and let me tell you why. Nobody, except perhaps our assbag president, is as succeptible to heckling as celebrities. When your typical Dodger fan sees me at the game, all he's got to work with is "Cardinals suck" and maybe "Pujols sucks." But that's only if he's really clever.

Can you imagine the torrent of abuse that could be unleashed on Billy Bob Thornton? He was married to Angelina Jolie and he was in The Alamo. There's about an hour of material right there.

Billy Bob Thornton doesn't need to wear his Cardinals hat to the game. He could just sit quietly and smile and wave when they put him on the big TV. But Billy Bob knows that wearing your team's colors is the RIGHT THING TO DO.

Now compare Billy Bob to Tom Hanks. Sports Weekly reported that Hanks, who calls himself an A's fan and sold concessions at the stadium as a kid, led a Baltimore crowd in a chant of "O-R-I-O-L-E-S" at a recent game ... while they were playing the A's. Nice work, Tom. I'm sure the crowd all loves you and the team all loves you and America all loves you. But where is your heart, sir?

I think we should all resolve to be more like Billy Bob Thornton.

RIP Thomas Gregory Arthur

2006-07-29T16:18:00.000-07:00

John Ryan, of the San Jose Mercury News put it best: "A little bit of heartache with the heartburn today: Thomas Gregory Arthur, creator of the Dodger Dog, has died."

``Besides peanuts and Cracker Jack, it's probably the most famous delicacy in baseball,'' Dodgers team historian Mark Langill said Tuesday.

Arthur died June 8 in St. Louis at 84, but his creation lives on. The World War II veteran came up with the idea when Dodger Stadium opened in 1962. It started as a homage to the dogs he fell in love with at Nathan's. But . . .

``He called it the foot-long dog, but it was actually only 10 inches. It was before truth in advertising, but he decided to call them Dodger Dogs,'' his son Steve said.
``It's one of the best dogs in the country. It's not the meat. The secret is the spices.''

Next time you are at Dodger Stadium, be sure to have a Dodger Dog in his memory.

Booth movement and some major college football news.....in MAY

2006-07-06T18:35:00.000-07:00

So because they no longer have the rites to Monday Night Football, ABC is pooling their resources to put together a major college football primetime package beginning this season with Notre Dame at Georgia Tech.

The goal is to pair some of the top match-ups of the season in this package, and get the "big named" teams their primetime slot. Among the teams featured, Notre Dame will be on three times, against Tech, Michigan State and USC (and maybe again in the Rose Bowl if they fall there), Ohio State is featured twice, Michigan twice, and USC three times.

(Editors note: The highlight for me personally is that October 14th game with the Alma Mater extracting revenge on Mecheatagain at Beaver Stadium. Finally we get them at University Park for the first time since 2001. Go ask THE Ohio State's Troy Smith how much he enjoyed last year's primetime game at the Beav. Oh, and your homegrown referees won't save your ass this year either.)

But the package itself is a great idea, it's the first time that network television will carry a college football primetime series, and the weeks where there is a dual broadcast, the other game will be picked up by either ESPN or ESPN2 meaning you get three primetime games likely in one weekend.

ABC is smart in the sense that they have picked college football "cash cows" USC, Notre Dame, Ohio State and Michigan to lead this new adventure and they are also going with a 12-day selection package too, meaning that games from November 11 on, they will select the games they will air 12-days before hand. Good choice, this way, much like the NFL Flex schedule they can get the best match ups from the conferences they choose to air.

ABC is also carrying the Rose Bowl (only) during the BCS, so they keep some of the traditional Rose Bowl teams like Ohio State, Michigan, and USC close to the vest in the hopes that maybe they can land a match up with any one of those three in their lone BCS game. Remember the other three BCS games move to Fox beginning this season.

There are other movments in the college football world as well.

NFL Network will air the Insight.com bowl beginning this year, this to go along with their airing of live regular season NFL games for the first time. That, plus they will take the top five games from each week and re-air them in full, it's the network broadcast too.

Keith Jackson announced his retirement weeks ago, so ABC will scramble to fill his shoes and the booths are being switched around right and left. Brent Musberger will work with Bob Davie on the ABC Primetime game, Mike Patrick and Todd Blackledge (who moved from CBS) will do the ESPN primetime game, and former ABC'er Gary Danielson takes Blackledge's roll as lead analyst on CBS' coverage of the SEC this season. This means that (my idol) Brad Nessler and Bob Greise will be the lead afternoon team on ABC and they will keep Gary Thorne on the other game during the afternoon (Since Mike Tirico is now the MNF guy)

All we know about Fox's coverage of the BCS is that Thom Brennaman will call one of the games (the title game, maybe the "Plus-one" game?) and the rest of the crew, analysts and all will be named later. You could stay in house and get guys like Joe Buck or Troy Aikman, but it might be wise to go outside and get someone else. As long as it isn't the guys they use on the Fox Sports Net studio show during Saturday telecasts, it'll be OK. But Fox definitely has the shallowest of broadcasting talent pools, specifically when it comes to play-by-play and college sports.

Those changes are inline with what the NFL booths look like with Greg Gumball moving back to play-by-play, James Brown jumping from Fox to CBS and Michaels and Madden jumping to NBC, Collonsworth and Bryant Gumball jumping to NFL Network.

It just goes to show that the booth movement is almost as crazy as free agency in other sports.

Dodgers Stadium

2006-05-08T02:30:00.000-07:00

Retired Mobility Opportunities Via Education (MOVE) Administrator Linda Bidabe received the 2004 E.P. Maxwell/J. Schleifer Distinguished Service Award from EP (Exceptional Parent) Magazine and Major League Baseball on Aug. 6 at Dodgers Stadium in Los Angeles. Bidabe was escorted onto the field by U.S. Navy Rear Admiral and Worldwide Commander of all Navy SEALS (Ret.) Ray Smith, board director for EP Magazine. Smith then presented Bidabe with the award at home plate prior to the game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies. Afterwards, Bidabe, daughter Tanya Fulghum and grandchildren Nathan and Lauren were seated in VIP loge box seats to enjoy the game as guests of the Dodgers.Each year the Maxwell/Schleifer award recognizes an individual for continuing and significant contributions to the disabilities community. Since 2002, Major League Baseball has collaborated with EP Magazine reaching out to sports fans to promote awareness of the 54 million Americans with disabilities, their families and caregivers.Bidabe was a special education teacher for the Kern County Superintendent of Schools office in Bakersfield. She created the MOVE program that teaches people with severe motor disabilities to sit, stand and walk while participating in real life activities throughout the day. Prior to MOVE, students with severe disabilities spent all day on beanbags and had no opportunities to move and enjoy a more full and abundant lifestyle in their homes, schools and communities.

Dodgers Stadium

2006-02-26T21:16:00.000-08:00

Dodgers Stadium, in Los Angeles, California, has been the home of the Los Angeles Major League Baseball team since 1962. It was also the home of the Los Angeles Angels between 1962 and 1965.