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The 2008 Major League Baseball season is finally here! Although a bunch of the games had to struggle with the weather (hell, the New York Yankees home opener was rescheduled altogether), all systems were go here in L.A. with clear skies over Chavez Ravine.
Normally I love going to the home openers. More often than not, my experiences more resemble the picture Apryl paints at Women Like Sports than what was endured yesterday afternoon.
The game in itself was great as the Dodgers dominated the San Francisco Giants and I got myself a free schedule magnet. I felt sorry for any Giants fans in attendance, as they not only got ridiculed mercilessly but had to endure the mediocrity that is Barry Zito. I understand he’s the highest paid player on the team, but do you really think Matt Cain or even Tim Lincecum aren’t better than him?
Pitching woes aside, do Giants fans realize their shortstop’s name is Brian Bocock? Sorry… that was the inner middleschooler in me coming out. His expression in his player picture on the jumbotron suggested he may have been taking the bocock when the picture was taken (What? Yikes!). At least his name isn’t Richard.
But I digress…
We left at around 11:30AM for the 1:10PM game time. Figured this would be a perfect amount of time to get there a half hour early to enjoy some 50th anniversary pre-game ceremonies (which were apparently amazing). From my experiences, the traffic and parking situations around Dodger Stadium have been a lot better lately, so I wasn’t all that scared. And then it took 15 minutes to get off at Stadium Way. And then it took another 40 minutes of sitting on Stadium Way. It literally would’ve been quicker to walk, and I debated taking a smoke break whilst pacing alongside the non-moving car.
We finally had the privilege of paying $15 to park at the very back row next to the Police Academy. It was already 1:15PM yet many people were still tailgating. I’ve seen tailgating before, but never had I seen this many empty beer cans and bottles in a parking lot before. People were walking with 40′s or party cups in their hands right in front of cops and right up to the entrances to the stadium. I already knew this didn’t bode well.
Upon getting inside, we figured to buy some food first before sitting down. The redesigned field level seemed nice enough, but were the onion and relish dispensers really necessary? In order to put these condiments on my Dodger Dogs, I had to turn a machine that drops way too much on there anyways. Oh and it happens to drench everything in relish juice in the process. Fancy.
Whatever… we spot our seats and move in for the kill. The game had just gotten underway so at least no action was missed. Oh great. I am sitting next to a lady holding a small child. A small child in a Giants jersey. He was obviously the Spawn of Satan and his parents were merely a facade. I felt cramped and tried to finish my food as quickly as possible in order to reposition myself to best enjoy the game. Rapid ingestion of stadium hotdogs and beer, however, only added to my general malaise and disgruntled post-traffic mood.
A group of high school teens presumably ditching class showed up to sit behind us and started a bevy of chants. I was down for it at first, as the Dodgers were scoring runs, people were picking up on the chants, and all was warranted. But as the game dragged on and one uneventful inning followed the next, there really was no reason to scream “LET’S GO DOD-GERS!” at the top of your lungs during the top of the 8th in an already decided game. Oh teenz.
Spawn of Satan was eventually carried out of the game early and I was able to spread out and enjoy the middle innings as a faint breeze passed through the Ravine (poetrytsar.com coming soon). The Dodgers won, I got a free schedule magnet, and all was ultimately well.
But this is the blogosphere, dammit, and I was gonna subject you to my bitching whether you liked it or not!
