Letters to the Editor: ‘I don’t sleep in October’ — on being a Dodger fan right now
September 15th, 2011by Chris Stoner in Opinion
You could be forgiven for assuming that, like almost everyone else, I have a favorite team.
I remember being excited to watch the Dodgers in the mid-1990s when I was a boy growing up in suburban Pennsylvania. I attended a Dodger game at Ebbets Field against my neighbor’s Mets and saw my first game at Ebbets Field, when I sat behind the pitcher on the visiting team’s bench.
I was in my late teens when I moved to the LA area for college and fell in love with the Dodgers for the first time in my life. After several years, the Dodgers began to fail and I started missing games.
Finally, one day I decided to just go to the ballpark instead of sitting down somewhere else where I didn’t know anyone and didn’t have to talk to anyone. I just walked to the park.
I have had a bad experience with the Dodgers on many occasions since that time. In 2005, because I had been in one of their minor-league ballparks, I was scheduled to go to a game. When I first walked through the gate, I realized there weren’t any fans sitting in the seats, so I sat right on top of a guy who was not only on top of the seats, but I believe was also in one of the upper rows. If he hadn’t been sitting in my way, I would have had no choice but to get out of his way by sitting in a seat I didn’t know. I sat there for the last inning, and then one of the first-base umpires called me over. He said, “We’ve got plenty of seats, but we don’t want any more people sitting in them. You’d better stay there.”
I couldn’t bring myself to walk away from a place where I had been sitting for so many hours, and I ended up sitting in a lower row behind another guy that I didn’t know and had never seen before.
I’ve also gone to a lot of Dodger games at Chavez Ravine. As you can see, when I was younger, my Dodgers were usually on the road.
In recent years, I’ve had more time to watch the Dodgers at home, and I have not been disappointed.