Life as an LA Dodger fan

Life as an LA Dodger fan

It's October 1988 and I'm a 12 year old kid living in Pomona, CA. In my mind life as a Los Angeles Dodger fan at the time seemed magical. The Lakers(story for another day) were dominating the NBA with Magic Johnson, Kareem, and Worthy running the floor. The LA Raiders had also enjoyed some great years including Super Bowl wins in 1980 and 1983. But in 1988 the city belonged to the Dodgers. Orel Hershiser had a season to be remembered. While breaking a long standing record that has yet to be broken, he also won the Cy Young award and MVP of the World Series. I will never forget the moment Kirk Gibson hit the home run off of Eckersley. I was the only person left in the living room of our house once the bottom of the 9th inning started. Everyone else left to do various things. Food was being cooked and family was shooting hoop on our backyard basketball court. I wanted to play because back then I had to be good at shooting from the outside because I was smaller than everyone else except my cousin Ruben. But I had to be Larry Bird because i was last to pick who I wanted to be. Magic was already taken by my cousin Joe and my brother Michael was always Michael Jordan. Once again another story. To me Larry Bird was the next best player in the league behind Magic. Anyways, I couldn't leave the living room until the Dodgers batted in the bottom of the 9th. Mike Davis who would not even play for most teams gets onto first base. Vin Scully announces that Lasorda had been talking with Kirk Gibson in the clubhouse. I will just be honest that just about nobody believed Gibson could bat or do anything at the plate. My belief at the time wasn't necessarily that Gibson was going to do anything, but as a child I believed anything could happen. I was going to watch the game until the last out no matter what but when you're a child hopes and dreams are still imaginable. Sure enough, Gibson comes up to the plate and accomplished what was actually improbable but felt impossible in my childlike mind. He hits a home run off of Eck and if you doubt my fascination of Vin Scully just replay his call of the entire situation. Movies have tried to duplicate the moment ever since. Gibson didn't do much more the rest of the series but Hershiser dominated it. Not only did he win 2 games and save another but he also hit 1.000. I've seen many Dodger games since hoping for the same result but have yet to see any player or game that rivals that peek. Hershiser in the Mets series and A's series come close plus a few before and since. Since then though the Dodgers have not won a World Series title. At the time even as a 12 year old I promise that I accepted that as the only one The Dodgers might ever see. I was clueless in many ways a month after turning 12 but apparently realizing that my favorite baseball team may never win another World Series was already probable to me. I have had higher expectations of the Lakers and endured many more lows with my Raiders than the Dodgers. Probably because of that moment in my life where i fell in love with the Dodgers and how mUch I valued that moment.

It's 2015, my Dodgers are losing to the Mets in the playoffs and I'm yelling at the tv. My blood pressure is high and I disagree with so much more of the process than I did when I was 12. At 39 I have over 3 times the years to reflect on. Only the Lakers have won a championship since 1988. It's October 12th, 2015 and after Clayton Kershaw lost game one of the series for the Dodgers, Greinke won game 2. And now the Dodgers start one of the journeymen pitchers they paid a bunch of money to just to eat innings. Instead of getting an A pitcher for 20 million they got 2 foe 20 million. Might seem like value in many businesses but not the sports business. After scoring 3 runs in the top of the second inning Brett Anderson gave up 4 runs in the top of the second and then another 2 in the 3rd. Well, I think it was 6 runs. I turned the channel. After giving up a 2 run double in the 3rd to put the Dodgers 6-3 Don Mattingly left Anderson in. At that point I couldn't handle it any longer. If there aren't any pitchers in the bullpen that can do better than 6 runs in 3 innings I don't have time to watch that mediocrity. How do you not bring another pitcher in after or before that last double? I know that there were two outs and they just want him to finish the inning. But in the playoffs there is no tomorrow. Orel Hershiser had to have Tommy John surgery shorty after the 1988 season. But he will tell you that it was worth it. There is no tomorrow when it comes to the playoffs. I tried not to look but just checked on the Dodger score. It's 8:29pm and they're losing 10-4. When I turned it was 6-3. Brett Anderson didn't give up any more runs but the Dodgers brought in their other expensive inning eater Alex Wood. The thing about inning eaters is that they have about a 4 era and don't usually win in the playoffs. Like I said earlier, signing two guys at 10 million was not better than one for 20 in sports necessarily. The Dodger's have a deep team but baseball is not football. Especially in the playoffs. The older I get the more I want to be a fanatic of my own life not a sports teams ran by businessmen that don't understand success in sports is not necessarily the same in business.

I have no idea what my future is or how my relationship with the Dodgers will change. I do know that it doesn't make sense for me to be so emotionally involved when I don't receive anything in return a majority of the time. Giving my love without enough love in return.

The Dodgers lost last night. It was brutal, they had their best pitcher of the year pitching and still lost. Couldn't score enough runs. Oh well, I hope the Cubs win the series. Their fans have been very patient for a long time. Plus, Back to the Future two predicted the Cubs winning the world series in 2015.