Congratulations on your anniversary!

Congrats. I have been married for almost eight years. Good luck with all your years together.

BC

I don't go very often, but I honestly can't remember ever seeing a beach ball at the actual beach.

Maybe I should go out to Huntington this weekend and hit fungoes.

Congratulations on your anniversary! BTW, I'm a beachball popper, though it bugs my wife because she thinks someone is going to bring retribution my way. But you're right, how can you be throwing beachballs when the bases are loaded in a close game!

I too was at the game on Wednesday night, sitting on the field level and accompanied by my elderly grandmother. She's a very little, very old lady, and I spent the entire night running interference against all the beach balls.

During the early innings, I deflected a couple when they were mere inches from my grandmother's face. Then, about the 7th inning, she was cracked square in the back of the head by a sneak attack from behind. That infuriated me.

I'm a young guy; I can rationalize the interference with my enjoyment of the game. I just tell myself that my fun is not any more important than anyone else's (and people do enjoy the beach balls; there was far more hooting and hollering all game long about the beach balls than there was about the game itself.)

But $60 for the "right" to have your grandmother assaulted? That's where my patience ends.

More disturbing than the beach balls in ths stands is having the game constantly halted from beach balls on the field. Blanket night was easily the most annoying dodger game I have been to, due to beach balls, Jim Tracy's clueless decisions, Nori's at bats, and Craig Counsil. (Honorable mention to Luis Torrero)
I went home sick.
Well John, congratulations on finding the One.

Oops. Sorry "Jon".

"and out of the blue"...
Congratulations

Jon, we don't have to worry about beachballs in the Bronx. Batteries and beers maybe, but no beachballs. Honestly, I don't blame you for being irked. Seeing beachballs bounced around a stadium, interrupting the game, brings out the East Coast snob in me. "What in the hell are these clowns doing out there? How about watching the game? You gotta be kidding me."

But hey, I'm an New Yorker. (Believe me, there are plenty of amatuer-hour theatrics in the Bronx that turn my stomach as well.) The sporting scene has such a different vibe in Los Angeles. I've been to one game at Dodger Stadium, and I went to the Forum once, and to the Downtown Sports Arena (I think it was called) to see the Clippers play a half a dozen times.

I was really aware at the Forum that the basketball game seemed secondary to a good portion of the crowd. The crowd itself was the show; or at least, they were consumed with themselves, not the game. And it wasn't necessarily bad. They appeared to be perfectly content entertaining themselves, but it took me off guard.

The thing the really struck me about both the Forum and Dodger Stadium was just how clean they were. Damn, the bathrooms were sparkling. And the consessions were elevated to an art form.

In New York, the facilities are grand but bummy at the same time. The Yankees are most arrogant about this. They know you are going to pay to show up anyway, so they don't make any effort to serve good food or to keep the place clean and tidy. Sure, it's a lot different than it was in the late 70s, early 80s, when Bill Russell, Steve Garvey and company were just offended by the sheer lawlessness of the place, but still the conessions are awful and over-priced, and the bathrooms are mad sketchy. At least on the tier level.

Anyhow, I know I'm getting off the topic, but yo, the beachball phenomenon is just something that is hard for a New Yorker to identify with. The mentality of someone who would be amped to bring one to the game is completely alien to me.

Tell me, how many fights break out due to beach balls? I don't get the sense that Dodger fans are necessarily passive. I hear the games against the Giants get mad testy.

Alex, I don't think there are many beachball-induced fights. There do appear to be fights in some sections of the park for whatever other reason - alcohol, rivalries, whatever.

Part of the beachball culture appears to be the thrill of keeping them away from the ushers who try to get them. It's everyone's chance to be an outlaw.

I think I'd like to hear from - and I'll offer them amnesty if they appear - people who aren't bothered by the increasing beachball presence at the game, and whether they care or not about them detracting from the fans who just want to watch the game. Would anything I've said today actually cause someone to rethink their fondness for beachballs?

(Oh, and the Yankee Stadium bathrooms must be really bad, because I would hardly call Dodger Stadium's sparkling. It's not skid row in there, but it's pretty bus-station like to me.)

I have to say one of my finest moments at Dodger Stadium was watching the guy sitting behind me pop a beach ball with his pen, then about a minute later seeing someone trying to desperately inflate it.

The wrap around screen is another issue. It's unobtrusive for the most part, but occassionally on some ads (like Bank of America's) it becomes a blinding shade of red, and it's nearly impossible to focus on the game. (I can't imagine it's all that pleasing to see when you're pitching either.)

Has anyone ever actually witnessed a beachball being blown up at Dodger Stadium? I mean, who are these people? Are they crouching between the rows and putting blankets over their heads?

Jon, congratulations to you and your wife on your fifth anniversary. The very best thing a man can do for his children is to love their mom, sounds like that's happening in spades. All the best on this special day. -Dave

Thanks to everyone for their good wishes on my anniversary. I'm still sitting here wondering how it could be five years already.

congratulations, from up here in the bay. Five years and a couple of kids? Right? I can relate to that one.

Thanks for the site too.

Happy anniversary, Jon, and many more.

The beach balls would drive me nuts. Just let me watch the game, ya know?

Jon, that was sure a nice story. Funny how sharing a little of your happiness can make others feel good. Pretty fair comment on your writing chops when you can distill the wonder of it all in a few short sentences.

And now, on to the beachballs. But in a separate post.

Yikes! I think I played against Jon in co-ed softball. I think I recall hitting one off his shins. Jon, check your email.

Beach balls don't bother me nearly as much as the wave or the volume of the speakers at the stadium. Then again, I grew up in the wave's home town (Seattle, it was invented to shake off the frozen sleet during Husky games).

And Yankee Stadium is more properly called the Bus Station Urinal That Ruth Built. Yet it has a lovely fake plastic facade in the outfield. Honestly, Shea is nicer, it's just dated.

Much worse than beachballs were the Bronx yayhoos who kept yelling at the players (from the upper deck, natch). When Brian Roberts got spiked and was laid out for about 10 minutes, the guy behind me yelled "ah, rub some dirt on it!" Which was funny, but the 99 times he repeated it after that--not so much. And the random Dominican guy who kept yelling "Saaaaaammy Sooooossssa!....eyyyy!" every time Sosa saw a pitch. But after A-Rod hit a weak groundball to end a rally, and I yelled "stop slapping at the ball, Alex!" well, nobody thought that was funny.

Congratulations, best wishes, and down with beachballs. I heard Vin's tone when he spoke about them the other night; he sounded at least annoyed, if not disgusted. I don't remember him being quite that openly derisive before.

There's a thought: since Vinnie is more or less the voice of a Higher Being in Dodger Stadium, get him to tape an anti-beachball message and play it between the first few innings.

Jon...congrats on your anniversary. My wife and I celebrated our 4th last week.

I beg to differ on the Dodger bathrooms. Although the lighting is bad and they are old, they ARE clean and there is always paper to dry your hands.

I don't care much about the beachballs. I am just glad I am at the game. With a 9 month old daughter, getting to the game is much more difficult than it has ever been.

I know we are not supposed to lament on Wed's game but I did think of your article about Tracy and the bullpen when he mishandled them completely by not taking Weaver out and then not leaving Schmoll in.

Tonite is a new game against a new team. Let's see if we could get a win.

Jim, it was hard to limit myself to those few sentences - I could have gone on and on.

Big, there were two Jons on our team - the other Jon pitches. So maybe it was his shins?

Referring back to your comments about Tracy's use of the bullpen, I was happy to see the 'pen get some credit in the Times this morning.

One thing that bugged me about the story, though, was the implication that Tracy deserves the credit for the bullpen's performance. Who does the Times think put together this group of "no-namers"? I would think DePo merits at least a mention in the story, espencially since these seven guys make a combined salary of just $2.7 million.

So the world wants to know Jon- what position did you play?

On Tuesday nights, I played everywhere but pitcher depending on what we needed. But one of the centerfields is my preference.

So Jon, basically, you are telling us that "just friends" could mean "wait two months and I'll go out with you". Cool.

Congrats on the anniversary. I like Tracy in general and think he's the best manager in the bigs, but I think he has made some mistakes:
1. pinch hitting of Choi.
2. Perez batting with bases loaded.
3. leaving weaver in.
4. general handling of the Choi situation.

Weisman, Jon - Rover

By my count the game was interrupted five times by beachballs during Wednesdays game. It never fails to irritate me, not so much for the game delay, but for the simple rudeness of it. And I was just watching on TV.

I've probably been to a couple of hundred concerts in my life. Never could imagine concertgoers exhibiting such behavior.

We'll, then again...a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away (Ontario), I went to the original California Jam. A great set by Emerson, Lake, and Palmer ended the show, at which time anout a hundred or so idiots started heaving gallon jugs of water as far as they could through the air. All it would have taken is for one of those jugs to have hit someone it the back of the head to break their neck. I still get infuriated when I think about it.

What does that anecdote have to do with beachballs? Oh, nothing, I guess. It just bugs the hell out of me that we have to put up with that kind of nonsense.

And on that note, I'd like once again to propose putting beachball snipers on the light standards...

Re: #20
Linkmeister, I recall Vin being more derisive about beach balls, oh, maybe 20 years ago, but more recently it seems that he's become quietly resigned to it.

I used to be mildly annoyed, but tolerant of the beachballs. But one game last season amped that up to pretty pissed off. I went with my usual compansions, one of whom brought his infant son to the game. They were hitting the beach balls pretty hard in the pavilions that night, and we all spent most of the game playing human shield for the little 'un. So I sympathize with Hungerford Devil; a similar principle applies. Maybe it is time to have Vin do a PSA.

Congrats on your anniversary, Jon!

One of my worst moments at Dodger Stadium was about two years ago, against the Giants and I think it was opening day. I was in the top deck. Hostility was everywhere, and any fan daring to root for the Giants was subject to taunts and yells and occasionally being showered with trash or food.

The beachballs were also common (how they fit with hostility, I've no idea), and one woman, after being hit twice with one, had enough. She grabbed it and popped it.

Whereupon she was screamed at, and had three seperate people throw full drinks at her, along with various other things. Her husband ran for security, and 10 minutes later the two of them were escorted out.

Congrats and Happy Day Jon, Girl.

I've also noted Vin's disgust at the beachballs and how rare it is to hear him upset at anything. He was also annoyed at the D'backs fan that was driving a hard bargain over Repko's home run ball. "Gosh, you hate to see that" I believe he said. I mean, this is a guy who never second-guesses umpires, even on the most obvious blown call. "Hmm, that one could have gone either way." "We have the benefit of instant replay." "You can see why ______ is so upset."

I agree about the beachballs. It used to be a slightly amusing diversion when there were only a few of them per game. Now it's like every deck has a few going on at any given time. I remember being in the reserved level and seeing a guy catch a ball at the front row, tease the crowd, then toss it over the edge, where it drifted all the way to the field level. He was booed and cursed mercilessly, even by guys who were there with their little kids. It was ridiculous. I've never popped one that came to me before, but I've wanted to. And I can't promise to refrain next time.

Am I the only guy who would be shocked if a woman flat-out asked him out? It's happened to me once, via e-mail. It was like a miracle. I've said a hundred times that if I'm asked, there's a 95% chance I'll say yes, if only to reward her for having the ovaries. Meeting a woman with that kind of confidence in herself is just so rare. Too bad for me that guys like Jon snatch them up so quickly!

Beachballs are tools of Satan.

Pure and simple. If we view the issue in these terms, we may be able to get Congressional action on the matter.

The 99 cents store sells a lot of the beach balls that get brough to Dodger Stadium and so I boycott that store out of principle. I'm sure they miss my business. Maybe I should come to their store with a fungo bat and hit baseballs around while people are shopping.
I'm thinking that may not be wise.

I feel so left out at games some time because I go to, you know, WATCH THE GAME.

But here's the problem the Dodgers face with beach balls:
1) the fans obviously like them
2) the ushers have to try to confiscate them because they are a safety issue
3) if the Dodgers really crack down on them, then there will be a PR backlash from Plaschke and Simers

Signs outside Dodger Stadium do explicitly ban beachballs. And I have seen people near me inflate them. I wanted to say something to the guy except for him being larger, with friends, and having consumed several beers.

One day I will catch a beach ball in my section and pop it with pen.

When that day happens, I want you to all promise to come visit me in the hospital the next day as I recover from my severe beating.

Oh, and congrats Jon!

A 95% chance you'd say yes? And you call yourself aloofman? :)

We had a sweet beachball showdown in my loge section this month. A "cholo" if you will spiked a ball right off the dome of a guy 5 rows up. Guy #2 tipping the scales at 250lbs picked up the ball and returned serve right into the forehead of Guy #1. At that point my friend and I fled to the 3rd row and waiting for the melee to ensue. They cooled it at that point. Happy ending- from the 3rd row I was better able to spot Carrie Underwood in the American Idol suite directly above.

My problem was always that whenever a woman told me she just wanted to be friends after I asked her out, I would try to be friends but periodically ask her out again. That never worked. This was the rare occasion where I actually held back.

Ironically, the first movie my girlfriend and I saw together was "The Station Agent" and we're a 6'5" and 5'11" couple.

On my first date, in high school, the girl asked me out. I assumed it was the way it was supposed to work.

Five years later, I decided to do the asking myself and found it to be a highly effective method of finding people to go out with you.

New James Loney story:

http://tinyurl.com/czvro

Comment #3 rocks.

Beach balls and the wave belongs at the beach.

The only things I hate more that beach balls and the wave are Rally Monkeys, ThunderStix and idiots on their cell phones calling attention to themselves on TV.

I do my best to stop the beach balls. If I'm keeping score, I grab them and stab 'em with my pencil. If not keeping score, I use my keys. I've yet to bite a ball and come up with a mouthful of plastic and turn and stare at the crowd like I'm a mad man. That may be next.

So is it safe to say that beachball lovers don't read Dodger Thoughts?

Perhaps I should script a Romeo and Juliet love story about a beachball hater who asks out a beachball lover, and gets turned down, only to have the beachball lover come around and ask the beachball hater out, and they fall in love despite the beachball war going on all around them.

Can it only end tragically?

Joe, could we call that technique "The Hrabosky?"

The beachballs don't bug me at all. When I go to games, I usually have one or both of my sisters (both are in high school) with me. My sisters do not know the difference between Beltre and Valentin. They just go because it is fun to be at the park. There are certain situations where I'd prefer the beach balls aren't flying - bases loaded, 9th inning close game etc. The thing I really don't like is the swearing I hear from the crowd. Especially when kids are in the vicinity.

The oddest place I've ever seen a beachball: the movie theater! I was at the midnight show for Star Wars episode 2 and a couple beach balls popped out.

Oh, and I've never seen anyone blow up a beach ball either...odd.

A few of you mentioned concerts. The one thing I hate about concerts is crowd surfers. I don't mind the occasional guy/gal surfing but it gets annoying when I'm trying to support more than one person at the same time. I'm not that tall, 6 feet, but crowd surfers always seem to crash into the back of me head/neck and I hate it. I hate the fact that I have to use my full attention on people surfing from behind me. I'd rather be watching the guitar player/s so that I can learn how to play certain songs.

Living out on the east coast now, I rarely get to Dodger games. But I did see one a couple years ago, where Prior beat Kevin Brown 3-1 on the strength of 2 Sosa home runs. I was in the RF pavillion and both HRs landed near me, around 450 feet away. Wow.

Anyway, there were a couple of beachball delays during the game, and I admit that I was steamed. It just seems rude.

My favorite delay of game, that I witnessed, was when Koufax was pitching (yes, I'm pretty old) and someone floated a paper airplane out on to the field. Sandy stopped the pitching routine and watched the plane....which kept floating and landed at his feet on the mound! You could hear a pin drop. Smiling, Sandy picked up the plane and walked it over to a ballboy.

Oh, and Jon, take it from a geezer married over 20 years...it can get even better. Congrats.

Joe, before you pull the last technique, put a tab of Alka-Selter on your tongue...

I was in the upper deck, first-base side, and as soon as one beach ball went over the side, there was a collective "Awww" and someone served another one. The delays were the worst when one got away from the folks in the bleachers, because a ballboy had to truck all the way out from the dugout to the warning track. Irritating.

A young gentleman in the front row of our section had tied his misprinted blanket onto the railing as a banner. When an usher showed up around the 7th to make him take it down, he argued for a while, then shouted "GO DODGERS" right into the usher's face. Security materialized and escorted the fan and his mom from the premises.

They weren't the only ones standing in the aisles. It seemed that a lot of folks were hanging out talking to friends, sharing nachos or something, necessitating a lot of neck-craning to, you know, see the game.

If you're taking up a collection to fund the Inflatable Sniper Corps, I'll kick in a few bucks.

Wow, you'd never know that so many people are annoyed by beach balls when you are at the game. I'm actually pretty surprised that it bugs so many people since most fans in the stands don't seem to care. If more people spoke out against beachballs....maybe it wouldn't be such a problem. It looks like everyone supports it since the people who hate it so much don't say anything about it. Then again, I can see why you guys don't say anything. People seem to get very angry when a beach ball is popped/knocked over to other sections.

I was tolerant enough of beachballs until Wednesday. It's become a quantity issue now.

Congratulations Jon! It's always refreshing to hear someone describe their significant other with affection rather than with disdain.

The only times I can tolerate beachballs is when I see a 45 year old man with tattoos and a harley davidson t-shirt scream out like a child who has seen Spongebob Squarepants. "BEACHBALL....YAY!!!" Of course, this is only humorous the first time during the game. Once the seventh or eighth beachball reaches my section and it is only the top of the third inning, I've had more than my share.

Maybe W. could boost up his poll numbers by declaring beachballs Weapons of Mass Distraction...

Probably my worst experience at a ballpark involved beachballs at a game at Fenway Park. I was in the bleachers, it was late September 1999, the Red Sox were in a heated pennant race with the Yankees. Pedro Martinez was in the midst of a 2 hitter against the Blue Jays at the time. In the 7th or 8th inning the group of had-to-have-been frat boys sitting around me and my girlfriend (at the time - my wife now) unleashed about 40 beach balls all at once. Pandemonium and drunken douchebaggery ensued. It was what I imagine baseball games in hell are like.

I hate beach balls. HATE them.

By the way, otherwise, that was an awesome game. Pedro struck out 12 on his way to a 3 hitter. It was my birthday and my first (so far only) trip to Fenway. The only Blue Jay batter Pedro didn't strike out that night? Shawn Green.

Did anybody else go to the first night home game this season, Wednesday 4/13 against the Giants?

Aside from being the night of Choi's first Dodger HR, it was also calendar night, which were poster-sized calendars with player photos on them (pretty nice, actually).

Unfortunately, I think I was the only person to take mine home, as the rest of the posters turned into the World's Largest Paper Airplanes.

All night they were flying onto the field and nailing people in the backs of their heads and necks. My friend had his 9-month-old with him, and I couldn't stop envisioning one of these things sticking right into one of his newborn eyes, or one of mine for that matter.

I'm 29 years old, evoking the "put your eye out" line--incredible.

Anyway, I think giveaways are stupid, and I think the masses are even stupider. I attend a game and feel like an alien visitor from another planet. There is no way I can be of the same species as these monkeys.

I guess the people that hate it most are the "true" baseball fans. It seems as though most people at Dodger games are casual fans. The fact that I read this site every day, in my opinion, makes me above a casual fan. I like to listen to the Dodgers Double A team and I check box scores every night for the all the Dodger minor league teams. But when I go to the game, I don't mind beach balls or the wave. So I guess I'm not a true fan.

Jon, you asked this question earlier:
"Would anything I've said today actually cause someone to rethink their fondness for beachballs?"

I'd say yes. But there isn't much I can do since I've never actually brought a beach ball to a game. I try to be as considerate as possible so now I feel bad for everyone that has to put up with this.

Thanks for the recommendations guys. I think I'm gonna pull a "Hrabosky", complete with the foaming mouth and I may throw in a chest pump or two. I'll bring a camera to document it!

Re: #33, where Bob says, "if the Dodgers really crack down on them, then there will be a PR backlash from Plaschke and Simers."

Actually, my guess is that wouldn't happen. Most sports scribes consider themselves baseball purists and traditionalists. When it comes to the Dodgers, they like the Stadium, the green grass, the grilled Dodger Dogs, and Nancy Bea Hefley. They don't like electronic sound effects, advertising on the outfield wall, and beachballs--if only because they suggest that not everyone's paying attention.

Jon, I'm with you. Last season, I took my son to a critical late season game against Colorado. We sat in the field level, way out in left field, so that to see the action anywhere near the mound or batter's box, you had to face to your right. Next to us was a family with about four young kids. If I hadn't finally said something to their parents, they would have stood up the entire game, tracking beachballs in hopes that one of these magic bubbles would land near them. A ball could start flying in the right field loge, and they'd jump to their feet, waiting for their chance to bop it.

Fine, not all kids care about or understand baseball, but their constant standing meant we couldn't see the game unless we stood up, too. What really irritated me was their parents' attitude when I finally complained. To them, this is what they had paid for--five seats in a place where their kids could smear themselves with ketchup and ice cream, and bounce around chasing beachballs. My objection was seen as pure meanness, like I didn't get it.

Maybe I don't get it. But I hate to think I have to cadge corporate-level seats if I want to enjoy the game for itself, that if I just buy a ticket, I'm consigning myself to sitting where paying attention to the game makes you a bothersome freak.

P.S. You're right about Weaver. He's better than he was when he was with the Yankees, but he's still got some growing up to do if he wants to be a bigtime pitcher, and I'm not sure he's going to get there.

P.P.S. Wonderful tribute to your wife! I'm sure I don't have to remind you, but count your blessings, especially this one.

Man! I am rushed today so.... this might've been mentioned upthread. Apologies if this is repetitive...

Beachball batting can be dangerous. It's only a matter of time before someone gets hurt if someone hasn't been hurt already. How's this for a public address announcement?

"Any one seen batting a beachball will be removed from the stadium. Thank you and enjoy the game!"

Now would be a good time for this. It will be manadatory after someone gets clocked. You'll get headlines, articles left and right, talk show fodder... followed by the PA announcement. Let's beat the rush, Dodgers. Make the announcement now.

And let me put it in bold: Happy Anniversary, Weisman's!!

I'll have fifteen years under my belt come Bastille Day, 2005. May you reach that and many more. Congratulations.

When he comes back from the DL, Gagne will be suspended for 2 games.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/wire?section=mlb&id=2049944

What's this about Gagne getting suspended two games for wearing his jersey while on the DL, breaking rule 3.17? I guess I answered myself.

A guy can't even show a little team spirit. I'll bet the giants complained.

RE: 34.   Jim Hitchcock

A 95% chance you'd say yes? And you call yourself aloofman? :)

Can't be aloof ALL the time, can I?

After a few years of not having season tickets, I decided to take the plunge during the great experimental season and aside from the recent struggles it has been a blast.

I thought I was the only really annoyed by those damn beachballs. Field level Aisle 51 is where beachballs come to die. My buddies and I took out three of those things last game. We're all pretty big guys, so the worst we got was a deflated ball thrown at us. But there was a guy who took our cue and popped one, he was rocked by beer and food.

First of all , why would you waste a $7 beer. Second, the guy who popped the ball was escorted out not the bastards who threw stuff on him. I don't get it.

I hate those things. Though the BALCO one on opening day was hilarious.

The weirdest thing about that Gagne story - and it's a weird story to begin with - is that the writer takes the time to talk about Gagne playing at Seminole State College in the second sentence.

Since everyone else has echoed my beach ball frustration, let me ask this: Why do so many people go to first date movies turn out to suck? My wife and I saw The Whole Nine Yards. (Bob T. and the Station Agent are the exception that proves the rule.)

By the way, the worst choice I ever made for a first date movie was Blue Velvet. That relationship didn't last long.

The weirdest thing about that Gagne story - and it's a weird story to begin with - is that the writer takes the time to talk about Gagne playing at Seminole State College in the second sentence.

That really threw me off. And the headline is uber-confusing.

I guess I'm going to be the first to say it. I don't like going to games anymore. I've almost got into fights with drunks, the beach balls are out of control, mix that in with BO in certain sections of the park, and it basically means I have a more enjoyable experience with beer in hand listening to Vin Scully on television. The traffic to and from the park is a nightmare, the food is not as good as it used to be, and now I have the added luxury of a possible stabbing in the parking lot. Forget it. I just wish the cameramen would show a little more female tail, and less little kids, and then my night would be complete.

Hey look - in this rewrite, the Seminole reference was removed.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2049950

Stadium-goers love the beach balls as much as they hate cops. In fact, the two are directly related. The more you hate cops(really any incarantion of the man) the more you love batting a beach ball directly outta the hands of some dorky usher on a power-trip. And it is these deniers of authority who bring the balls.
I'm no rich man, and really, having season tickets provideds me a way of seeing more games for cheaper via the 2 for 2 deal. So I am used to the riff raff and their beachballs. And the reason most of you don't see beachballs blown up in your fancy loge and field levels, is because they only are in those sections due to trickle-down from the reserve and top deck sections. Though I am with you that a poorly-timed beachball or wave can help ruin a dramatic moment, it really is a joy watching a hapless security guard helpelssly track the ball down to shouts of "CULERO!!"
Let's face it, these are the fans with LA tattoos on their scalps and a threatening fist for the orange and black. And quite frankly, I couldn't sit anywhere and enjoy the game as much.
By the way, has anyone else noticed a smaller number of ushers helping fans find theur seats? Have they all been whisked away to assist the disgustingly wealthy / apathetic?
This is what I know. If you aren't sitting within an earshot of a "Go Doyers!" call, then you really haven't experienced the whole spectrum of Dodger fans.
We show our passion by talking like wanna be GMs on the internet, second guessing managerial decisions and the ribbon board; They show theirs by sneaking in beachballs and booing whatever name they recognize on the other team, all the while sporting their Piazza jerseys and madly cheering whenever Fernando graces the diamond vision.
It is for them that the "noise-o-meter" calls.

12. DeucesAreWild
Has anyone ever actually witnessed a beachball being blown up at Dodger Stadium? I mean, who are these people? Are they crouching between the rows and putting blankets over their heads?

An hispanic "gentleman" had a backpak full of 99 cent beach balls and throughout the entire game he kept blowing them up and launching them. I was in Field down the thrid base line about 10 rows behind him. Another gentleman in the row ahead of me kept cheering for each beach ball, demanding that the beach ball be hit to him so he could let his 5 year old hit it. It was a crazy scence at the ball game on Wed but I didn't let it bother me too much. Why the usher didn't take the back pack away I have no idea.

I tried hitting on the guys wife/girlfriend in front of me who was screaming for the beach ball beacuse I assumed she must loathe him. we'll see how that goes. I normally wouldn't do that but that guy has it coming (and she was really attractive.)

So does this mean Werth is going to get slammed too? Wasn't he weraing a jersey on Dodger Opening Day? My desktop at work is a photo of Werth holding Milton after the game-winning hit (you know, the one where Milton is pointing and yelling).

In the long run, more security issues will mean less big spenders coming to games, which will mean loss of revenue for the Dodgers. The Dodgers attendance numbers over the years have correlated exactly with the dramatic increases of illegal immigration into the area. It's nice that there are more Dodger fans then ever because of a high birth rate, but the effects on our city's infrastructure, such as highways, hospitals, public schools, etc., is just too great. Dodger stadium, like Los Angeles, is becoming a haven for the very wealthy, and the very poor. The middle class has moved to Riverside.

Happy Anniversary, Jon.

From a guy who has stuck his keys in many a beachball while at a game.

What is the deal with the pronunciation "Doyers." I once had an internship near St. Louis and everyone called them that. I don't believe it is an accent thing, I think it my be because Mike Shannon, the Cards' announcer, is always saying it and his speech is always slurred (if you know what I mean). But it's turned into this term of derision out there. I've been to two Bums games there, and the crowd always seems a little more amped about facing L.A.
Beachballs to Dodger Stadium is like drunk frat boys to Busch Stadium. That whole place is soused.

"NEW YORK -- Injured Los Angeles closer Eric Gagne was suspended for two games and fined an undisclosed amount Friday for violating a penalty by Major League Baseball barring him from Dodgers games during his stint on the disabled list."

violating a penalty???

violating a penalty???

See links above. The heckling that led to an ejection weeks ago.

I was just pointing out that, at least to me, the phrase "violating a penalty" is gibberish.

Yeah, that's pretty funny, Marty.

Are there any hard-core Doonesbury fans out there? Anyone remember when Rick and Joanie were sending out their wedding invitations, and they had to keep including errata slips?

It is hard for a non-native Enlgish speaker from latin or south america to pronounce the "DG" as found in words like edge or dodgers. The sound is not found in the Spanish language and therefore they have troiuble pronounincg it. The "g" in Spanish makes a "hey" sound; they have no native reference.
It is much like some Chinese vowel sounds that are, likewise, nearly impossible for outsiders to pronounce.

I've noticed more beach balls than usual this year. The game is stopped multiple times per night to retrieve them.

The other night, late in the game with the Dodgers trying to pitch out of a mess, the people around us were transfixed by two beach balls. They missed the key K by Schmoll in that 7th evening. That was exciting, but did they care? No, many didn't even notice.

I do my best to grab a ball that gets near me and pop it with my pen as I keep score. I have done this a few times, and each time people act like I just murdered my grandmother. Some Rhodes Scholar candidates behind me have even thrown stuff at me and yelled things. I feel like shouting, "Shut up and watch the game." But that would just invoke more wrath. I've had it with the dolts.

concerning the "DOYERS" phenomenon above, by the way

I was just pointing out that, at least to me, the phrase "violating a penalty" is gibberish.

That it is. I didn't even notice how dumb that phrase is until you pointed it out.

Re: #54, it seems to be a sign of our current society that people think they can do whatever they want, and damn anyone who dares to make them accountable or be more considerate of others.

It's the same people who will cut you off on the freeway so that they don't have to miss their exit because they weren't paying attention. God forbid they should have to go out of their way and get off at the next exit. Better to risk an accident and inconvenience others. It's the same mentality.

As I recall, "Doyers" is how Fernando pronounced the team's name during interviews. So, whether it's a standard Spanish pronounciation or not, the team's greatest Mexican hero favored it, and it stuck.

Improbable88, I wince at myself and other posters for seeming like such pissants about this beach ball thing. Making the ushers and rent-a-cops earn their pay--there was always a certain satisfaction in that. I think the problem is, it's reached a tipping point. A few beachballs per game was a charming distraction, but now it's constant. Fans getting lit up at a game is fine too if it makes them funny and friendly, but on Opening Day a couple of very drunk women were screaming the foulest obscenities at a six-year old kid wearing a Giants' cap. I don't think there's anything romantic about that, and it doesn't make me or anyone else a snob to call that kind of behavior out as deviant and disturbing.

Drunken fans at Busch Stadium. In St. Louis! Home of The Best Fans in Baseball (TM). (Joe Buck has told me so. Over and over and over and over).
Did you know fans in St. Louis NEVER leave early either?

We need to find out when beachballs started to make their first appearance at Dodger Stadium. I first went to a game in 1971 I believe. I don't recall seeing them.

My oldest brother was an usher from 1977 through 1982 or so. And he definitely had to deal with beachballs.

When he gets back from his trip to Guatemala, I should ask him.

Oh, and as for bad movies, my very first date in high school, I took my date to go see "The Sting 2" with Mac Davis!

The first date with the woman to whom I'm now married was none other than "Deliverance." No wonder it took us almost 30 years to tie the knot.

Some of you guys should get together and buy out a section for the enitre year. There, you can all quietly keep score and lament the downfall of society as represented by beachballs...

Great idea. We could set up a "beach ball free zone".

The problem is that many of us would disagree if it's spelled "beach ball" or "beachball" and our alliance would splinter over that issue.

Re#28 Jim, I too was at the dearly departed Ontario Motor Speedway in 74 for the first California Jam. Don't remember as much as you, but hey, it was the 70's. How old and rich are the guys from Deep Purple now?

Whenever I go to a game, I just assume that there will be a drunk bunch of morons nearby, and usually I'm not disappointed. I end up buying enough stuff for my family to distract them, and usually the morons run out of steam by the sixth inning. But it's tough to go to a game either with a senior citizen or kids.

Most people on this site are students of the game, most fans in Dodger Stadium just go for a good time. You just have to remind yourself it's a ballpark, nothing more.

You can bring your own personal mosquito nets?

My first date, at age 14, we were supposed to go see the movie Ragtime at Thee Movies of Tarzana, but they wouldn't let us in because we were too young. We ended up talking over ice cream for three hours - something I was not prepared to do at all. No second date.

I always do my best to end beach balls around me. Either by hitting them over the edge (if I'm in one of the decks) or by hitting them toward an usher or popping them. I also applaud whenever a beach ball game is thwarted. F**k em.

Also, the past few games I've been to, I have seen some people get seriously harassed for wearing another team's hat. Doesn't matter what team. From having stuff thrown at them, to the hat being ripped from their head and passed around so everyone can destroy it, to being assaulted. Sometimes I find myself muttering, "I hate Dodger fans." (present company and nice people excluded)

"Officer and a Gentleman" worked for me (and my wife), though in truth I usually hate romantic comedies. It made up for our meeting each other in a Goodwill store.

Kurt, "Blue Velvet" has to rank as one of the worst date movies of all time. What were you thinking?

I'll tell you where you never see beachballs or drunks during the game...at California Speedway during a NASCAR race. For all you know, everyone around you might be drunk, but it's so noisy you couldn't possibly tell the difference. And if I were crazy enough to whack a beachball during a key moment in a race, I'd be stomped into a bloody pancake.

#76, "I've had it with the dolts."

or as Al Swearingen would say "the hoopleheads"!

Taking a date to see "Ragtime" would have been as ill-fated as my dates that involved seeing "Local Hero" and "Gandhi". Although the latter gave my date a chance to fall asleep on my shoulder.

or as Al Swearingen would say "the hoopleheads"!

Swearingen might have a different names for the fans I'm referring to, but this is a family site.

bad first date movies:

Interiors
Vera Drake
EraserHead
Brown Bunny
Diary of Anne Frank

Local Hero would be a lovely date movie, I'd think. That's one of my absolute favorites.

Worst movie for a date in my lifetime: Raging Bull. Wish I could have that one back.

Another problem with the beach balls (besides the sheer quantity) is that people seem to be hitting the harder these days. I notice this as someone who has been going to Dodgers games for almost 30 years now. A soft lob is one thing, but there's a lot more spiking of the ball going on now, and that makes it more dangerous.

Doing something that could hurt a small child or a frail elderly person in the name of 'team spirit' is not cool; it is not something that ought to be romanticized in the name of 'sticking it to The Man.' Grow up.

I was just poking around Retrosheet looking for something else, and found this:

"And the funniest thing of all is the apparently irrelevant information scorers choose to scribble in the margins. My favorite was from the Yankees scoresheet where the scorekeeper noted that it was Beach Ball day but not the names of the umpires or the attendance."

Gosh, I wonder why we don't see more Beach Ball Days?

I don't think the Dodgers will ever do another ball day either.

"What an unfortunate thing to happen on Dozen Egg Night!"

I miss ninja throwing star night...

More advice for First Date Movies;

Whatever you do,on your first date, DON'T dress as your favorite STAR WARS character to see STAR WARS Episode 3 this summer.

Never take a first date to see Joe Rogan live.

The Dodgers indeed do not have a "Ball Day" scheduled.

Nor do the Angels.

But the Angels are having a "Lenticular Cup Night". It's July 20 against Oakland.

(Scurry to your dictionaries, people!)

Er, yeah, Bob. What means this "scurry?"

I'm not sure what you'd put in a Lenticular Cup, but when I took some photos of a lenticular cloud out in the desert, my astromer friends were very excited.

Will they be serving Lentil Soup?

boxing helena. obsessed madman hacks off all of sherilyn fenn's limbs. they fall in love.

not as bad a first-date movie as one might think, mainly because my date and i made fun of it for an hour afterward over pizza.

Gagne got suspended for "heckling" the home plate umpire in the Giants series.

MLB rule 3.17 prohibits any player on the disabled list from taking part in any aspect of the game.

Who knew heckling was accepted as an aspect of the game? Can we dump all-hit/no-field guys like Olmedo Saenz for no-hit/no-field/all-zinger guys like Don Rickles?

Having a mic'ed Don Rickles for 9 innings would make the beach balls more tolerable...

If harrassing a 16 year old girl in a straw hat is your idea of defying authority then you are a coward and any real authority need not worry about you. In the hundred or so Dodger games I've been to I've sat lower than the reserve level only once. I prefer seats in the back rows of the lower reserve under the overhang. There are far fewer beachballs because of the overhang. The balls themselves are one thing but drunken adults, who were never taught how to behave in public, climbing over me to touch the magical beachball are another. One of these days I'll get a seat in the front row so I can hang deflated beacballs along the ledge like K signs.
I was just out of high school. She had a year left. She became my first real girlfriend. On our first date I took her to see Das Boot. A great movie but not a great date movie. I thought it would make me seem intellectual. Luckily, it was sold out and I slyly suggested we go to my place and check the paper to see what else was playing. References to German submarines became an in joke with us.

Getting lintel soup would be a nice change of pace.
If they served lintel soup in Japan, you could probably get it at parks there. Instead you just have to settle for octopus rolled inside dumplings.

I guess Gagne was the DH that night, (designated heckler.) Sorry

Well, the Japanese parks could always serve Spam Musubi.

http://www.hormel.com/kitchen/recipe.asp?id=5088

Note: Hormel got that from thousands of Hawai'i kitchens. I suspect they finally included it after extensive field research out here.

Re: #12. I actually have seen a beachball blown up at a game. This guy brought his family to the game and was teaching them about the finer points of making sure that the baseball game was secondary. After he finished blowing up the ball, he gave it to his young daughter (who was 5 or 6) who then threw it over the railing (they were sitting in the front row of the top deck).

A young lady and I rented John Waters' Pink Flamingos for a first date.

Didn't go nearly as bad as you might expect.

Call you and raise you, Dan Reines; the original `Texas Chain Saw Massacre', Max Baer and all. Well, did get to make out for most of the movie...

Reminds me of the classic Seinfeld where he's caught making out with a girl during "Schindler's List."

First date film with the love of my life: Tequila Sunrise. At least I think that was the title. Mel Gibson, Kurt Russell, Michelle Pfeiffer. Overrated. Pfeiffer implied in later interviews that she thought Robert Towne didn't know how to write parts for women.

Alien. Scariest damn film I ever saw. It was at the Avco on one of the big screens. I spent most of the film in the lobby because I was too scared. No, there was not a second date.

Getting back to the Gagne suspension, in 1982 the Dodgers and Padres were involved in a bench-clearing brawl after Padre second baseman Juan Bonilla ticked off Dusty Baker.

During the fighter, DLed Padre Steve Swisher left the bench to come out on the field. Tommy Lasorda protested the game because of Swisher coming out on the field.

The protest was not upheld.

Juan Bonilla got hurt later and lost his job to Alan Wiggins.

Boy, you want to stop all extraneous cognitive thought in my brain, just mention Michelle Pfeiffer. Beautiful and brilliant. Anybody remember her five minute monologe at the end of `The Story of Us'? Wow.

Re: #109
Good point, Langhorne. Taking satisfaction from hassling the ushers in the name of rebelling against authority is pretty damned sad, when you think about it.

Another beach ball incident: A game against the Cardinals, a while back; the last time I saw Fernando pitch in person. Sitting near the front of the pavilion. Beach ball comes floating over to an elderly lady, apparently toothless and obviously on in years, sitting in the front row. She grabs it, and drops it over the railing, and gives the punk kids around her a glare as if to say, "We're here to watch baseball." I've thought of her often since then. Now that's being a baseball fan.

Das Boot: Great movie, not a great date movie. There's one flick I wish I had seen with a date, and that's the version of Cyrano de Bergerac with Depardieu in the lead. Story of my life; went to see it with a couple of buddies who didn't mind going to an art house.

Some great first date movies I've attended- Neverending Story, Local Hero, Defending Your Life. My first first date movie was 'Night of the Living Dead' which worked out pretty well because I was so scared I pretty much held on to her the entire movie.
I'v attended quite a few minor league games over the years. I got to see alot of Cesar Izturis in 2000 when he was still in the Blue Jays organization. Anyways, I don't remember seeing any beach balls at the minor league games. You'd think they'd be more prevalent. Alot of tickets are given away free, so you have alot of people attending who aren't necessarily interested in the game.

Anybody here know German and can translate for me?

"Der kleine Catechismus fur die Jugend so sich Finanz-Wesen"

There's an umlaut in "fur".

Carry on.

Minor league games don't get as many beach balls because the stadiums are smaller (so you would picked out more quickly) and there's all sort of hijinks going on to distract people anyway.

Hijinks, indeed. Whether it's rolling giant dice off the backstop or tossing bean bags through toilet seats, every half inning there's some on-field promotion. And loud pop music.

From Babelfish:

"The small Catechismus fur the youth so itself finance departments"

The German to English translator I found has this to say:

"The little Catechismus for the youth so itself finance-being."

Another one had a slightly different interpretation:

"The small Catechismus for the youth so itself finance departments"

Sounds like a class for youngsters on handling your own finances.

Thanks. I had tried babelfish, but it didn't sound right. Probably didn't help that it was German from 1763.

It seems to be the oldest book ever written for children on how to spend their money.

Happy Anniversary, Happy Anniversary, Happy Anniversary, Haaaaaaaapppppeeee Anniversary!
(Ruthlessly stolen from the Flintstone's Anniversary Song)

Jon, I just hope you took her to a good dinner and didn't serve her Kraft quick-serve microwavable Macoroni & Cheese! :) She deserves much more then that!

Best date at a movie for me, or at least, most successful date at the movies was Giuseppe Tornatore's "Cinema Paradiso." One of the Top 5 greatest movies ever made--at least in my terms of greatness.

It worked like a charm. Well at least for 3 minutes it did! :O

On my first date with my husband-to-be, we were going to see Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, but it had ended its run at most theaters, so we saw Neverending Story instead. On our next try to see ST3 (at one of those $2 theaters), about 30 minutes into the movie, the projector jammed and we saw the film melt/burn up on the screen. The third time was the charm... We'll be celebrating our 20th anniversary in October.

Congratulations, Jon, to you and your girl. With best wishes for many, many more years together!

I'll add to the congratulations as well. That is seriously one of the coolest things I have seen written about a significant other on a website.

I know more than a few folks that won't say the same thing about their girl.