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The Dodger Home Opener

Downtown LA

Like I wrote yesterday, the Dodger home opener was my eighth consecutive opener I have attended. It was the first one I attended as a normal civilian since 2008. I had to say it was a strange experience.

As a member of the meida I probably would have driven up to the Ravine at 8 a.m., parked in Lot P at the Top of the Park and milled around and done the normal pregame stuff I would do. This time there was none of that.

I wanted to get to the Ravine before noon, so Cathi and I decided to meet up at 10 to grab breakfast then head to the game. I left The Manse at 8:30 in anticipation of horrid traffic from San Pedro to Downtown LA through the Harbor Freeway. Magically there was none of that! I made it to The Homestead in Highland Park by 9:30. Magic!

A pregame breakfast of a veggie omelet at Astro’s, dropping of Cathi’s munchkin, the dilemma was where to park. The parking at Elysian Park was bound to be already full because of tailgaters. Again, there was magic. We found a parking spot a block away from the Sunset/Elysian Park entrance.

Thankfully all of the hiking I have done got me in good enough shape to walk up the hill to our Top Deck seats. Puig was out, the Dodgers lost 8-4, yadda yadda yadda.

I must have annoyed the people around me for laughing through the first two innings as the Dodgers clunked their way to an 8-0 deficit. As I sat watching the game, telling anecdotes of some of the players, I wondered why I was reluctant to cheer for the team. I mean, once upon a time not too long ago I was a bleeding blue Dodger fan. Now? I was a Joy Division tee/black jean island in a sea of blue.

As the game wore on, it hit me. I know too much of these players’ personalities. Until Andre Ethier, Matt Kemp and the rest of this lot moves on, I really can’t see myself cheering for them.

Other minor observations:

  1. There were no fights in the stands. I know people want to feel safe, but I like a little element of danger. I equate complete safety to gentrification, a police-state that makes sure the privileged keeps all the power. It just seemed boring.
  2. Dodger Stadium and their fans get a rap of being dangerous. If that were true, the pregame hosts would have been assassinated by now.
  3. There was this preppy ass motherfucker wearing clean khaki shorts, a button down shirt with the sleeves rolled up that showed off his bulging forearms. I really wanted to punch him in the face because he looked like he needed to be punched. Oh sure he had an ass to die for I would have loved to fuck over and over and over again. But I really wanted to punch him.