Well, Spring time has come upon us now. What does that mean? Baseball season is underway. Having been a lifelong Los Angeles resident, being a Dodger fan is a given. But in all honesty, I do have to wonder if being a Dodger fan is more about about torturing ones self, opposed to being a fan of the game. What brings me to this idea? Let's start with this article from the Los Angeles Times. The article cites the annual Forbes magazine ranking of baseball team values. The rankings list the Dodgers in 4th place and the Angels in 6th place. Forbes estimated that the Dodgers are worth about $632 million and the Angels are worth about $500 million. The ownership of the teams can take credit for the profit increases the teams have seen in recent years.
The Angels have seen a dramatic turnaround in the overall value of the team since Arte Moreno has taken ownership of the team. Heck I can still recall his first days in Anaheim when he lowered the prices of beer at the stadium and brought in a superslugging outfielder by the name of Vladimir Guerrero to the team. Costs have increased marginally, and according to the article, the average price for a family of four to see a Angel game is about $140.
The Dodgers under the ownership of Frank McCourt have seen profit increases as well. An increase in pricing here can be credited for the profit increase. The average price for a family of four at a Dodger game is $229. Frank McCourt tried to make some waves when he first came to town by bringing in Nomar Garciaparra. But he increased everything from parking ($15 at Dodger Stadium, opposed to $8 at Angel Stadium) to ticket prices.
But my questions, thoughts and comments revolve around the product that the fans get in not only stadium experience, but also the team performance. It is true that Dodger Stadium is an older facility that needed some upgrades. Fine, I get it. In order to be competitive, stadium wise, you need luxury boxes and the better concession choices. They did, make some changes to the security staffing levels during games. But to say that the fan experience is fun or enjoyable is far from the truth. I would not want to be a visiting fan at a Dodger game. I have been to my fair share of games where visiting fans were targets of thrown objects and in some cases assaulted. It's a freakin baseball game. Until the LAPD was brought in for security a few years ago, all that fans had to depend on were security personnel who were overwhelmed. It's ridiculous.
Going to an Angel game is much different overall. Having been the visiting fan at an Angel game, it's a much different experience. You get your occasional boos, but it is not nearly as hostile or antagonistic as what Dodger Stadium has become. I mean it's not as if the Dodgers have really done anything competitively.
The Dodgers last won the World Series in 1988 and have struggled to get into the playoffs in the years since. The Angels won the World Series in 2002 and are playoff contenders every year since. As a Dodger fan, this is frustrating. How in the world can the Dodgers not manage to be competitive?
But what amazes me, (and I am just as responsible as other faithful Angelenos), continue to support the Dodgers, in records numbers. While the City of Los Angeles will face possible layoffs, and people will struggle through the current economic woes, the Dodgers will almost certainly draw about 3,000,000 out to Chavez Ravine (just as in years past). The Dodgers will meet their average annual attendance of about 3,000,000 people, despite of the state of the economy and the fact that the Dodgers continue to raise prices for both tickets, food, and parking (I could devote one entire post on the parking issues at Dodger Stadium). So if you really think about it, is there anything (besides organizational pride) that would maybe force the organization into fielding a competitive and financially responsible team if they can bring in record numbers with a mediocre team?
So I guess the fundamental question is: Why do we as Dodger fans continue to go out and support this team? Could it be that the Dodgers break the myth that the Los Angeles fans are more than fair weather fans who only jump on board when they are winning? Perhaps. I just don't know. What is it about the Dodgers that have made them a part of Los Angeles, where opening day will draw a over 55,000 fans out to Dodger Stadium and millions more who are watching the game on tv in their office or online. Who knows...but here's hoping for another 1988 miracle year...
According to the promotional video, the Oscar de la Hoya vs. Floyd Mayweather, Jr. fight on May 5, 2007 has been called the "Super Bowl of Boxing." How could it not be...it's the Golden Boy versus the Pretty Boy? The duo went on a 11-city tour to promote the fight, and apparently Floyd got under Oscar's skin. During the tour, the pair exchanged words and taunted each other.
But now that the tour has ended and the fight is two days away, the only question that remains is: Will the fight live up to the hype?
I am not a big fan of either fighter, but I am a fan of boxing. If this is the Super Bowl of Boxing, the sport needs some serious help. The days of larger than life champions, like Muhammed Ali, George Foreman, Sugar Ray Leonard, Julio Cesar Chavez, and Mike Tyson (despite his crazy tendencies) are gone. Now, boxers do it for the money. Could this be said for other sports? Yes, absolutely. But boxing has seen a decline in the number of marketable icons in the sport.
Let's look at Oscar. He has started his own promotion company, Golden Boy Productions. I just found it funny that one of the fighters that Oscar promotes is Shane Mosley. Mosley beat de la Hoya in 2000. Go figure!
Well, we shall see how Saturday night's fight turns out. I will more than likely not watch the fight, but will be watching ESPN for the results. Let's just hope that the fight lives up to the hype. But I refuse to bill it as the Super Bowl of Boxing.
11 days until over 20,000 runners will participate in the Los Angeles Marathon. No, I am not running in this year's marathon (thank goodness). But I want to wish all of the participants luck in their endeavor.
This year's route for the marathon is different than in the past. The race used to start and end in Downtown Los Angeles. But due to the amount of traffic congestion that the race caused with street closures, organizers have changed the route to begin at Universal City and end in Downtown Los Angeles. Organizers are anticipating faster racing times as it has fewer inclines.
The irony is that many of the streets and communities that were impacted by the marathon will again be closed down on race day because of the Acura Bike Tour and the Emerald Nuts 5K, which really haven't changed their routes. Both of which are somehow affiliated with the L.A. Marathon. The street closures won't be as long as in previous years because both events start early and are much shorter than the day long marathon.
But speaking from experience, running in the marathon does let you see Los Angeles in a different light. In a city where most of our commuting is done in the comfort of a car, you miss a lot of the character and energy that this city has. It's hard to try and describe that in words. But when you consider that you are running from Downtown Los Angeles, through South Los Angeles, to the border of Beverly Hills, and then come back through Koreatown and the Mid-Wilshire area, you have an opportunity to truly appreciate how diverse this city really is.
There is also this idea that a marathon is an individual sport. This is far from the case. It would be nearly impossible for over 20,000 runners to complete a 26 mile race without help. Without the hundreds of volunteers who passed out water, Gatorade, pain spray, oranges, and provided morale support, completing this race would be much more difficult. It is nice that you can still count on the kindness of strangers. This of course doesn't include the numbers of people who were within reach on a cell phone with constant motivation.
I do have memories that I won't forget from running the 2006 marathon. They are memories of pain, accomplishment, disbelief, and pride. But that feeling that you get when you turn the corner on Flower St. on the last stretch heading to the finish line is unforgettable. You are in pain, but you know that the pain will feel much better once you cross that line and someone hangs that medal around your neck. That was an awesome feeling.
Coming a close second to that feeling was my relief and joy to see the subway train car arriving at the station to take me back home. It was a long, long day.
Good luck to all that are running the L.A. Marathon.
Well, like many of you, I have seen the news coverage of the incident at UCLA's Powell Library involving the use of a Taser gun on a student. The student refused show ID to a CSO in Powell Library and was confronted by UC Police. The student The incident, has sparked controversy, in part to the fact that it was recorded on a video cell phone. This footage has found its way to primetime media not to mention, YouTube. In the days following the incident, student protests have taken place forcing the University to open an outside probe into the use of the Taser. The student in question, has since hired civil rights attorney, Stephen Yagman, to represent him and will more than likely file suit against the University because he believes that his client was targeted because he is of his Middle Eastern appearance.
I actually tried to look at the footage on YouTube. There are a number of versions of this video on the site. From the version I saw, it was tough to really understand what happens. The video begins as the student starts to yell at the police officers. Because of this I will not pass judgment on the police department. There are a number of factors that have to be looked at.
Let's make this clear, though. As an alum of UCLA, I have been in Powell Library after hours and had to show my student ID in order to stay in the library. The rules are pretty simple...you have ID you stay, if you don't, you are asked to leave. The Police Department does not go in to the library to do ID sweeps with the intention to drag students out. In my opinion, this situation should have ended with the student simply leaving, if he didn't have his ID. PERIOD. If the student was indeed leaving, when the police confronted him, that's one thing. But the video footage shows a student who was vocally combative.
At the same time, however, policing at a University is much different than policing a local municipality. The people that you are dealing with are students. Some of them, for one reason or another, act and feel like they are entitled to the world. They will question and challenge authority, and will be the first to complain about their rights being violated. So to a certain extent, students have to be treated with velvet gloves.
Am I surprised to see a student protest at UCLA because of this? Absolutely not. It is a fairly liberal campus and I would not be surprised if the students involved only saw a glimpse of the cell phone video and came to judgement.
But to pass off the UC Police Department as racist or barbaric for using a Taser on a non-compliant student, is irresponsible.
Any way you look at it, the incident was ugly for the University and its Police Department. But I can tell you this...UCLA students will think twice about rushing the football field or basketball court.
Is the price of gas finally going down? I can't believe my eyes. Well, I need to start believing it. According to Los Angeles Gas Prices.com, gas is as low as $2.69. The average across the US is $2.58, while the average in California is $2.93. The real difference is the national average between this year and last year. At this time last year, the average US gas price was $2.93. This is a 40 cent difference.
How much lower gas prices will come down is yet to be seen, and I am not going to try and speculate. But the US auto industry has definitely felt the impact of the consumer response towards higher gas prices. Ford, as an example lost an estimate $1.4 billion in revenue in this past year. Why? The drop in SUV sales. When a company loses consumers in its core area, it is difficult to overcome. This will be the challenge that faces Ford's new CEO Alan Mullaly.
But I will offer my opinion. Isn't it funny that gas prices began to lower at a moment one of the major American automakers have hit a serious financial crisis? I am not trying to suggest that there is some kind of conspiracy, but rather just thinking about the dominance of the Ford Explorer and Expedition in times when gas was affordable.
With the movie "The Fast and the Furious, Tokyo Drift" opening in theatres this weekend, police are preparing for a potential increase in street racing. In Riverside, the police are staffing booths in front of movie theatres to try and discourage impressionable kids from racing.
My reaction???
GIVE ME A BREAK!!! As a kid growing up, there was a very clear distinction between something that was imaginary and reality. Think about it, did you ever get the urge to jump out of a window or jump in front of a moving train after watching Superman? Absolutely not.
But now teenagers (via the media) are shown to be either extremely impressionable, or just merely deflecting responsibility. Okay, I will admit that wrestling, back in the day was fun to watch and emulate. But I can tell you from first hand experience, that if someone got hurt after trying something left only to "professional entertainers," the last thing on my mind was a freakin lawsuit. It was how much trouble we would be in from our parents. Nowadays, people are so quick to sue television shows for not being proper role models.
Taking responsibility is a part of growing up. At the same time, people should not baby people by filing lawsuits to deflect accountability. For as much responsibility a company has for a product put out, the consumer assumes an equal amount of accountability to use the product as it was intended. This applies to movies, coffee, toys, etc.
Also, if television is as impressionable as people make it out to be, why don't more people jump into the crocodile pit at your local zoo as a result of "The Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin? That would do alot to help self selection and the laws of evolution...
