Archives for posts with tag: Magic Johnson
Clayton Kershaw at Spring Training in Arizona.

Clayton Kershaw at Spring Training in Arizona.

The only good thing going for Dodgers fans is that Clayton Kershaw is ours and ours alone. Every other aspect of being a fan is depressing and hard to even believe.

These owners don’t send us season ticket holders the beautiful printed tickets we used to get (even though season tickets cost twice what they did three years ago), they make us go through online rigamarole just to get a Dodgers Pride Rewards card for our spouse, they treat us like terrorists at the gates of the stadium, they won’t let us watch away games on TV, and now, the ultimate extortion plot, they take away our street parking! Who’s the terrorist now?

The L.A. Times reported today in a Page 1 story, “The number of people watching the games on TV has fallen, from 228,000 a game in 2013 to an average of 56,289 last year — barely more than Dodger Stadium holds. At the same time, stadium attendance has soared. The team sold 3.8 million tickets last year, the most in Major League Baseball, and 3 million tickets were scooped up even before this season began.”

As anyone who came to last year’s games on a regular basis knows, this is flat-out bad reporting, although the Dodgers’ management wishes it were true.

Ticket sales may have soared, because those bastards talked such a good line when they paid way too much for the team that people snapped up season tickets at a record number before the season started, in fact before anyone knew there was going to be a season-long TV problem.

But I’m telling you right now, no way was real attendance anywhere near what it was the year before. In 2013, bobblehead nights turned Dodger Stadium into a zoo! In 2014, on Clayton Kershaw bobblehead night, they didn’t even open all the concession stands, because there was nowhere near a capacity crowd.

Now, attendance will go down once again as people are forced to either pay $20 (TWENTY *%#@ING DOLLARS) for parking or not go to the game at all.

If those greedy pigs (that means you, $tan Ka$ten, Mark Walter$ and Magic John$on) are making so much money NOT showing us games on TV, why can’t they make it a little less unpleasant to see the games in person?

I’m not saying I miss Frank McCourt, but it was better being a frustrated fan then than a disrespected fan now.

Outfielder Andre Ethier signs balls for people at Camelback Ranch in 2012.

Outfielder Andre Ethier signs balls for fans at Camelback Ranch a few years ago.

The blue is on the green again, and it means that baseball is on its way.

Usually this time of year, Steve and I pack up the Saturn and head to the Grand Canyon State to see the Dodgers up close and personal at Camelback Ranch. Often, we get to meet up with my nephew Daniel and his girl, Jaycee. We all drink beer in our favorite seats in the shade and watch the Dodgers limber up for the new season.

The last time this actually happened was just after I got laid off from my job in 2012. The trip had already been planned, and just as I was hitting the road for Arizona, my chickenshit boss called to say my 22-year career with the Los Angeles Times was over. Although this put a damper on the outing to Glendale, we still ended up having a great time, visiting my dad and his wife, and playing pool until all hours of the night at a Holiday Inn off the I-10. My nephew Daniel owes me a lot of marbles!

Last year, I was mad at the Dodgers, so we didn’t go to Spring Training because we were boycotting them. Halfway through the season, however, they started playing real well and had a remarkable run that made me love them again.

Now, I’m a 2014 season ticket holder, but I’m also a documentary filmmaker in the midst of a rugged production schedule, so Camelback will have to wait ’til next year. But in the meantime, there’s TV. I got to watch my first Dodger baseball game of the season yesterday. Kershaw got pounded, but I know he often does in the first games of the year, so I’m not worried.

The madness is beginning again. Vin Scully, Dodger Dogs, the Manna from Havana, and King K on the mound. Thank heavens for baseball!

I went to Select-A-Seat on Friday, and I was happy to get Top Deck season tickets more or less where I wanted. I would like to thank David Kirkpatrick, the very nice Dodger official who helped me get two precious white tags in the coveted and sold-out Upper Top Deck.

dodgers tixHowever, the Dodgers always seem to take one step forward and two steps back in making us loyal Dodger fans happy. I got this email from the organization that put a dent in my excitement for the new season. I am not thrilled to find that the Dodgers are going paperless. As my friend, Emma Amaya, has written on her excellent blog, it’s exciting to receive that packet of all the tickets for all the home games of the coming season. It’s a shame that we will miss that from now on.

The digital age, so wonderful in many ways, is making life lose some of its luster.

In 1990, I was in the stands for Fernando Valenzuela’s no-hitter, and I saved my stub. Years later, he autographed my ticket stub from that game, the most exciting sporting event I have ever witnessed firsthand. If that happened now, would I have to have him sign my iPhone?

I know, I know. We have to save the trees, blah-blah-blah. I wouldn’t mind if they made the tickets out of recycled soda cups or hot dog wrappers. That would be fine. Nothing beats a real ticket stub.

About That Super Bowl
Peyton Manning is still the man.