Wow... I've neglected this webpage for a while.  This won't be the case for long, as I'll be sure to take better care of my blog, and post more often.  I shall return.

- John
 northstateblues

I've delayed writing more about Brooklyn because I found it hard to convey how I feel  It seems that in this year that celebrates the Golden Anniversary of the Dodgers comming to Los Angeles, it becomes that much harder for the 21st century Dodgers fan to connect with the team's East Coast heritage.  Where it once seemed that Dodgertown would forever serve as that connection, now even those hallowed grounds have been deserted, with the Dodgers moving light posts, street signs and even the big Dodgertown sign westward with them.

Part of me likes the fact that they're moving to Arizona, as it increases the likelihood that I'd get to see a Dodgers spring training game.  For me to go to Vero Beach, I'dve had to save up a ton of money just for the flight.  This is selfish, though.  I honestly think that the team will be missing something from now on, as they've torn their roots from the East Coast for good.

The main reason that I started the last post about Brooklyn with me meeting some of the 1987 Dodgers and standing on the field was to contrast with how much the Brooklyn Dodgers meant to the people of Brooklyn.  The Dodgers lived within blocks of Ebbets field, and would walk to the park, soon finding some of the community of Brooklyn walking with them.  There was Happy Felton's Knothole Gang, a television program that ran before Dodgers games that had kids learning the game from Happy Felton and some of the Brooklyn Dodgers.  According to the HBO movie Ghosts of Flatbush, the reason Brooklyn loved their Dodgers so much was because they unified their community, which was independent from NYC until the turn of the century.  As it said in Ghosts of Flatbush, as vestiges of Brooklyn's independence disappeared, the Dodgers were one thing that never changed.

Seeing the picture of the Bum crying as a giant hand ripped out a heart-shaped swatch of Brooklyn with Ebbets Field makes me feel really emotional, even though I've never been to NYC.  I consider myself a HUGE baseball fan, and the Dodgers have been my team as long as I was able to understand the game of baseball.  But to me, the team will never fully be "ours", in the sense of California's.  When you look at the deed that brought the Dodgers into existence, the word "Dodgers" never appears on the paper, just four words: Brooklyn Base Ball Club.  With Vin Scully, Tommy Lasorda and now Joe Torre, we still have connections to New York and the East Coast, but in another 50 years, what will remain?  In Los Angeles, there are a ton of sports options for your money, and with a team like the L.A. Lakers in town, the Dodgers could never hope to become the single consciousness of an area as it seemed they were in Brooklyn. 

The two times the team's been for sale in my lifetime, I'd been scared at the media's half-joke about the sound of Brooklyn collecting up their loose change for a chance to buy the team, scared that my Dodgers might be leaving me, without understanding that they left Brooklyn first.  The next time the team's for sale, I hope I could hear that sound in Brooklyn, and part of me will be rooting for them.

Sorry I haven't posted lately.  Work and School have been a bit time-consuming the last few days, and haven't gotten a chance to sit long enough at the computer.

I'll get back to my feelings about the Dodgers' Brooklyn heritage later, but I wanted to talk about how the team's doing today.  It seems like we've time-warped back to the 60's, with great pitching and a low-power offense.  I wish the offense was better, but I like what I see out of the pitching staff, except for a few bumps here and there.  At this point, I'm just hoping we can take one game from Arizona, and we'll see if we can win a series against them next time to even things up.  With Kuroda-san pitching, I think we have a good chance today.

Okay, back to school for me, I'll try to post something more worthwhile later tonight

I have been a Dodgers fan practically as long as I can remember.  I think I was 6 years old when my family won a Blue Crew contest.  We went in the space between the pavillions, where Orel Hershiser, Dave Anderson, and a few other members of the 1987 Dodgers signed our Blue Crew hats, we got a backpack filled with baseball cards, a nice little baseball card book of the L.A. Dodgers in Topps baseball cards since 1958 (come to think of it, I've gotta scan and share the next time I get down to SoCal), and other goodies.  After that, we went on the field with the other winning families and were introduced on Diamondvision.  I kept switching between looking ahead and looking back at the screen to see if I could see my face, a 6 year-old exercise in futility.  After the day game was over, we headed to Disneyland, and it was the greatest experience ever.

Today, it's near impossible for me to imagine life as anything but a Dodger fan, no matter how angry I get at on-field and front-office decisions (which is why I forgive Paul DePodesta for "ruining" the team by getting rid of LoDuca at a time when he was regarded as the heart and soul of the team).  But when I grab for my Dodger hat, 9 times out of 10 it's not an L.A. Dodger hat, it's my Brooklyn Dodgers hat my future mother-in-law got for me when she was in New York.  I've had people accuse me of being a Red Sox fan, or look oddly trying to figure out how I got the Dodger-colored UCLA hat.  But the best times, few and far between, are when guys come up and ask "Is that a Brooklyn Dodgers hat?"  I'll nod, and they'll go into this awesome story about a team I can only read about, in a place I've never been, in a borough that, at the time, was still an independent city at heart.

My favorite story was a guy who I ran into at the community college who looked at me like he had just seen seen a ghost.  I was wearing my grey Dodgers hoodie (with just the Dodgers script in the front) and my hat.  He exclaimed "THAT'S A BROOKLYN DODGERS HAT!!"  I said yeah, and he went into a story about his childhood.  "I used to live over by Flatbush, and my father would take me to Ebbets field and we'd see the game for a quarter each..."  It was the kind of lesson about your team you'd gladly pay for, but could never buy.  Then it went into how brokenhearted they were when they left Brooklyn.  His dad got a job over in San Francisco, so they moved around 1960 and he's been a Giants fan ever since. 

Don't get me wrong, I HATE the Giants.  But if there ever was an excuse for being a Giants fan, that guy had the best one.

To keep the post from being overly long(er), I'll go ahead and split this one in two, writing the more about the Brooklyn Dodgers either tonight or tomorrow. 

Time to cue up the Randy Newman and the Danny Kaye, the Dodgers won a heck of a game today.  I was hoping to watch it on ESPN, which I did for the first inning, until the Comcast realized their error and cut out the game seconds before Kent's homer.  So, it was back to my two favorite announcers, Duane Kuiper and Mike Krukow.  Tried to get KABC on Gameday Audio, but that didn't work, so no Scully for me today.

There was a lot to like in today's game.  Although he still looks a little slowed by the hamstring problem, Jeff Kent did not disappoint.  Blake DeWitt is making me hope Colletti gives the phone a rest for a while.  Although Andre Ethier didn't have a good offensive game today (or any offensive game at that), his defense was what kept the Giants scoreless, snagging Aaron Rowand's single to left and firing it to hold the runners at the corners.  Matt Kemp and Rafael Furcal came up big too, especially Furcal's future Web Gem, swiping a grounder with his back to the plate and gunning it to first in time for the out.

A key point in this game for me, and a testament to how Torre does business, was in the top of the eighth.  Scott Proctor started the inning after relieving Penny with two outs in the seventh.  The first batter, Giants rookie Bocock, got a free trip to first after a four pitch walk.  Torre immediately left the dugout, and Proctor had this surprised, are-you-effin'-serious?!! look on his face.  Five seconds later, he was gone.  Surprising, since Proctor was Torre's workhorse for 3 years on the Yankees before he was traded here for Betemit.  Not that I thought Torre would've let him walk the bases loaded or anything, but I would've thought his rope would've been at least a little longer considering that history.  If anyone still had doubts about Torre's ability to put the best team on the field, this should've quashed them.

I'm sure I'll get dirty looks wearing my Dodgers jersey on campus, though the fact it's a Jackie Robinson jersey seems to get more respect than, say, a Drysdale jersey (Krukow and Kuiper still go on about how Drysdale "cheated" by rubbing shoestrings on the laces and whatever else).  I would've worn it even if we lost, but now it'll be a lot sweeter. 

During today's final exhibition game between the Dodgers and the Red Sox, Charley Steiner was talking about it being a sleepless night, for the likely Opening Day 3B starter Blake DeWitt, for the people working for baseball teams who have put in an entire offseason dedicated to the new season, and the fans/fanatics who are in anticipation of a new season they've been waiting for since the last outs of September and October. 

I'm in that last category, since it's 4:19 AM on March 31st, and I'm still awake.  Opening Day is my favorite day of the year.  I remember many seasons of going to the stadium with my family, the bunting all over the stadium and the giant flags that stretched the entire infield during the National Anthem.  Now, I doubt I can get Opening Day tickets if I tried, but it doesn't matter, being 400 miles away from Dodger Stadium.  Yet, thanks to the Internet, I can listen to Vin Scully call the first 3 innings, which I do even if the game's on T.V., picking a 45 second delay over hearing Duane Kuiper and Mike Krukow cracking themselves up drawing on fans with a telestrator.

So yeah, I'm psyched for another season of Dodger blue, happy to see Andre Ethier in LF, and at the same time hoping Juan Pierre isn't taking it too hard, as they had to put the best team on the field, and with his Spring Training performance, he isn't at that level yet.  I'm still getting used to seeing Joe Torre in a Dodger uniform, but I like it.  He seems to have a good effect on all who come in contact with him.  When he put his arms around Frank McCourt and Ned Coletti at his introductory press conference, it looked like he had been here for years, and that was a feeling I haven't felt since Tommy was in charge.

Although the new season begins with uncertainty, I'm certain that this team is in position to exceed what was accomplished (or not accomplished) last season.  It seems like the divisiveness of last year's clubhouse is gone, and Joe's got them all playing for the name on front of the jersey.  And after 20 years, I'm ready to see the Dodgers go farther than the first round in October, and I think they're ready, too.