I’m not sure if I believe in chakras or not but mine certainly weren’t aligned Friday night as I stepped into Dodger Stadium to watch the Blue Crew take on the hated Anaheim (I refuse to call them Los Angeles as they don’t play in the city or even the county!) Angels. We sat in the right field all-you-can-eat section and loaded up on hotdogs, peanuts, popcorn and nachos. I immediately spilled nacho sauce down my shirt.
Strike one.
Japanese import Kenta Maeda was on the mound for the Dodgers so there were large groups of Japanese walking up and down the aisles with the men mostly wearing suits and ties and the women looking “smart for the office.” At one point a tiny Japanese girl walks by and spilled a hotdog right into my lap. My leg is now completely covered in mustard and relish. She apologized profusely in scant English and I felt really terrible for her. I told her everything was ok and went to clean myself off in the bathroom.
Strike two.
The Dodgers can’t do a darn thing and eventually lose 5-1.
Strike 3.
It was fun watching the drunk guy in front of me entertain the crowd with some well-timed jokes, “Angels suck” chants and profuse booing of Albert Pujols. His wife cackled at every spectacle. A girl a few seats behind me vomited everywhere. My girlfriend was trying to get center fielder Joc Pederson to wave at her which he eventually did. She was smitten, and he just might be one of her new favorite Dodgers. (She’s a Dodgers fan.) I’ve always been a bleacher-creature kind of guy and the free food thrown in made this a really fun, yet grimy game. We got home around 11 o’ clock and I immediately threw my clothes in the washing machine. 
Opening day is on Monday. Let’s go Oakland!
Coco Crisp's Afro 
You had me chuckling Gary. Fun post.
Glad to meet someone else who believes that a team has no right to identify itself with a city in which it does not, actually, play. I don’t really care that the former San Francisco 49ers left The City, relocating ‘way the hell down the peninsula, somewhere, shedding their blue collar “49er Faithful” fans, in favor of what they hope will be a fan base of techies with lots of disposable income- BUT, it really pisses me off that they continue to call themselves “The San Francisco 49ers”, when they have forfeited the right to that name, and I refuse to do so, annoying my son so much that we’ve agreed to just not talk about it.
A little (or a lot) off subject, I know, with Opening Day just a few hours away, but I just thought I’d share. Thanks.
Haha. I agree John, and your passion is always welcome here. I think the subject (and the hatred for teams that do this) completely applies.
You or Pederson? You or Pederson? You or Pederson? Watch her closely, man. 🙂
v
Well, if she values age, money, or baseball talent than I have no chance! 🙂
Thanks for the comment v.
Nice job Gary! Your post got me excited for the upcoming season. I haven’t purchased any tickets yet but Left Field Pavilion has been my new favorite the past two years. The All You Can Eat aspect of Right Field Pavilion adds about $20 to the cost of the ticket, so I prefer to apply that towards a hot dog and a beer. Haha But if you’re like me, you came home with no less than 5 unopened bags of peanuts. Good luck to your A’s this year!
Thanks for the comment…and good luck to the Dodgers as well.
An all-you-can-eat section? True? If you’re going to realign your chakras from that it’s going to take a lot of wheat grass kale smoothies (I’m a Yoga teech, I know these things.) In any event, chakras are generally too sensitive and don’t respond well to the rigors of a 162-game season anyway, especially if you’re a fan of the A’s or O’s who are both expected to tank the season completely by tax day, so really, just keep the nitrites to the weekends and you’ll be fine.
Thank you for the advice. I usually don’t eat a lot of “crap” so I think I should be ok. Good luck to the O’s this year! 🙂