Baseball Toaster: Dodger Thoughts : The More, the Merrier

The More, the Merrier

2006-03-31 14:29

by Jon Weisman

SB Nation, home of Tyler Bleszinski's renowned Athletics Nation site, has finally filled its Dodger gap. It's True Blue L.A., and it's run by Michael Nicks. Having read his first post, he looks like my kind of guy. (His level of detail in describing the Dodger fan experience includes mention of "the 20-foot stainless steel trough.") So give Nicks a glance ... looks like our online reading list might have just gotten even more overwhelming.

Comments (52)

Show/Hide Comments 1-50

2006-03-31 14:39:01

1. Suffering Bruin

I gotta correct three boxes of homework this weekend and pardon my shouting but I don't need anymore interesting reading!

(sigh)

Who am I kidding? I'll check it out.

2006-03-31 14:48:13

2. Bob Timmermann

When you tell women about the 20-feet stainless steel trough, they usually blanch.

I wonder if the troughs survived the renovations of the offseason. If any changes were made to the plumbing, then they would have had to have put in urinals to keep up with current plumbing codes.

Sometimes you see a lone urinal in a men's room and that's because they if they add on they have to put one of those in. They can't make the troughs longer.

2006-03-31 14:54:34

3. Jon Weisman

I think I read that the bathrooms were a 2005-06 offseason project.

2006-03-31 15:03:36

4. Bob Timmermann

If there are no troughs, I might have to start reenacting scenes from "The Right Stuff".

In particular, the one where Alan Shepard is stuck on the launch pad for a long time.

2006-03-31 15:15:25

5. Robert Daeley

I'll take the trough over the usual waiting women have to do at pretty much any venue. I know better now than to ask my wife "What took you so long?" ;)

2006-03-31 15:20:09

6. Jon Weisman

4 - I knew what you meant before I got to the second sentence.

2006-03-31 15:20:39

7. still bevens

There's some stray urinals in DS. Most notably theres one in the outfield pavillion bathrooms that faces the door and everyone gets to walk right by you as you do your business.

2006-03-31 15:28:21

8. Blu2

There's a similar one at L A County Fairgrounds at Pomona. Guys are walking around carrying beers, etc; some when they go to the urinal find it necessary to set their beer down on the trough to take care of more urgent business. Needless to say, they don't pick them up again. One time there was a beer sitting in front of the guy next to me; when he finished and started to leave, I said,"Hey, you forgot your beer." He actually started to reach for it before he realized where it was and that it wasn't even his beer. Gave me a dirty look and left.

2006-03-31 15:31:21

9. Jon Weisman

By the way, everyone, LACMA is free all weekend for our big birthday party. Good place to be, especially if it rains.

2006-03-31 15:35:56

10. Bob Timmermann

4
I wasn't certain if everyone had seen the movie.

I've seen about, oh, 20-30 times.

2006-03-31 15:38:47

11. Jon Weisman

Does this item from the press notes affect anyone?

"The Dodgers can be heard throughout the 2006 season on KFWB 980, but there's a new twist this year. For those who own a high definition radio receiver, they can tune into 97.1 FREE FM for crystal clear stereo sound, anywhere you can get 97.1. For more information on how to get an HD receiver, visit www.kfwb.com."

I don't really get it. You hear different programming on 97.1 depending on what kind of radio you have?

2006-03-31 15:41:31

12. trainwreck

No one at ESPN is giving UCLA any chance it seems. In fact they have the least number of stories written about them, yet they are the only team with any history or tradition left. They have been saying UCLA's two best players did not even play well against Memphis, but LSU's big men played their best in a win against Texas. The funny thing is that I think that is more of a positive for UCLA. They can win when their two best players do not even play well, while LSU has to have good games from Davis and Thomas. If UCLA gets those guys in foul trouble, they win the game! The national media has barely seen UCLA play, so they assume they can not shoot or score and they are completely wrong.

Let's go Bruins!

2006-03-31 15:49:38

13. Bob Timmermann

Since the HD stations have a wider bandwith, I think they can carry multiple channels at one frequency. That's what their advertising implies.

Right now, a regular FM station broadcasts in hybrid mode and reserves part of its signal for HD.

There are built in buffers to keep the digital and analog signals from running into each other.

So sayeth, Popular Mechanics.

HD radios are still going to set you back a few hundred bucks. And even more if you want it in your car.

2006-03-31 15:51:52

14. Bob Timmermann

UCLA does not have a compelling storyline compared to George Mason or LSU. Florida really doesn't either, but since Florida is favored over George Mason, they are perceived to be the strong team.

Hey, I wrote a long piece about UCLA in the "dark period" at the Griddle and I drew mainly crickets and tumbleweeds.

2006-03-31 16:01:58

15. Daniel Zappala

1 Hey, I'll raise you two midterms and two stacks of 10-page written assignments.

2006-03-31 16:07:14

16. King of the Hobos

Luis Gonzalez has been returned to the Dodgers. Mike Megrew will begin the year on the disabled list

2006-03-31 16:09:41

17. underdog

I mentioned this in the previous thread but worth repeating: opening game Monday afternoon is on ESPN (good news for those of us otherwise Dodger TV starved here in the bay area or elsewhere)

Tivo, don't let me down! (I'll have to avoid these threads til Monday night)

2006-03-31 16:10:42

18. the OZ

12 I'm going to pull the dreaded "I watch a lot of games, so..." card here regarding UCLA. They should beat LSU. Their guards are much better, for one. Two, there's a big fat guy on UCLA's bench named Michael Fey, who is terrible despite being 7' 275 pounds, but is big enough to put a body on Glen Davis.

UCLA is also a better-shooting team than LSU, especially on 3-pointers. UCLA's low scores are a result of a slow game in which they use the whole shot clock, not because they can't shoot.

I'm predicting a 62-55 score.

2006-03-31 16:20:36

19. underdog

Nice piece on Ben Howland in yesterday's NY Times, by the way.

I'd forgotten he was an asst. coach at UCSB for many, many years, and the article mentions this often - pulling out former Gaucho players for quotes, and Jerry Pimm, the coach he worked under. When Pimm left, they really should have hired Howland. He was at Northern Arizona, then Pitt... Anyway, it's a good piece.

2006-03-31 16:22:27

20. Humma Kavula

18 Interesting.

Care to predict George Mason-Florida?

2006-03-31 16:23:52

21. trainwreck

Even though I got to UCSB I am much happier Howland is at UCLA. My high school team played better basketball than UCSB does now.

2006-03-31 16:24:23

22. trainwreck

*go

2006-03-31 16:33:26

23. the OZ

Florida should win. They're better-coached. I don't expect that it will be a very close game - 10 points difference or more. I also believe that this Noah kid is more than a tad overrated, which is one reason I'm picking UCLA in the title game should the two teams meet.

UCLA is also much better-coached than LSU, a point that I think goes a long way. The Bruins will be better prepared, and likely more mature despite the fact that both UCLA and LSU are very young teams.

UCLA won't have a senior on next year's squad.

2006-03-31 16:39:50

24. Bob Timmermann

Fey's only possible role Saturday would be cannon fodder to pick up fouls on Davis.

2006-03-31 16:43:17

25. underdog

21 Sigh. I know. I forgot to mention I grew up there - rooted for UCSB as a kid, they had many good teams. I'm happy for Howland too, but if he had coached at UCSB they would be much better than they are now, guarantee you that. Likely not in the final four, mind you...

2006-03-31 16:44:55

26. Steve

The Dodgers can be heard throughout the 2006 season on KFWB...

What we have here is a very loose definition of the word "heard"

2006-03-31 16:45:09

27. the OZ

24 Agreed. Fey might be my least-favorite UCLA player ever. I think Howland feels the same way, thankfully. Still, he weighs a lot, if nothing else.

2006-03-31 16:48:16

28. GoBears

24. I said this after UCLA "won" that barf game over Memphis. If they get the same or similar refs, they win, because those LSU big guys will be called for 3 fouls in 3 minutes, and that'll be all she wrote.

Hopefully they'll let 'em play, and we'll see a hard fought game, and not an unscripted episode of "scrubs."

Oh, and I'll see your girly-man grading and raise you 20 senior honors theses. Each one 100 or so pages. Oh, my eyes!

2006-03-31 16:51:32

29. Bob Timmermann

27
In the Bizarro world pantheon of UCLA players, Michael Fey isn't even an inductee.

Don't people remember Stuart Gray? Ralph Jackson? Montel Hatcher? Gary Maloncon? Brett Vroman? Greg Foster?

2006-03-31 16:53:00

30. das411

2 et al - DS has troughs?!? Awesome, the Twindome in MN has a trough too but it fits in more with the whole football/igloo theme there.

One time my dad brother and I went to the men's room at the old Vet in Philly, halftime of an Eagles game so the place was PACKED, the dad and I got in lines that ended at urinals and we were fine but my brother's line was for...a hole in the wall.

Literally.

Didn't stop him at all, or anybody else behind him in line...ahhh, gotta love being a guy sometimes!

2006-03-31 16:54:49

31. Jon Weisman

27 - "least-favorite UCLA player ever"

Trevor Wilson

29 - What about Gig Sims?

2006-03-31 16:56:11

32. Steve

My senior honors thesis was on the non-delegation doctrine. Then the Supreme Court said there was no non-delegation doctrine.

2006-03-31 16:56:41

33. Bob Timmermann

Gig Sims was a childhood hero, albeit a great disappointment as a player.

Mainly because his name was Gig.

2006-03-31 16:58:50

34. the OZ

21 31 I admit that I haven't heard of any of the players you mention. The first UCLA teams I remember starred Don MacLean (who, like Jeff and Jered Weaver and I, are Simi Valley High alums).

2006-03-31 17:00:32

35. Jon Weisman

The lead story on CNN.com is that Pope John Paul II asked for someone to read him the Bible as he lay dying.

Were they expecting "Vanity Fair?"

2006-03-31 17:00:39

36. Bob Timmermann

When I was a wee lad, UCLA was the greatest college basketball team. Once I was old enough to really understand what was going on, I was Larry Farmered and Walt Hazzarded!

Oh the humanity!

2006-03-31 17:01:48

37. Bob Timmermann

35
I think he wanted to know about the Third Secret of Fatima, which goes in to detail about what was in the briefcase Samuel L. Jackson was carrying around in "Pulp Fiction."

2006-03-31 17:09:16

38. trainwreck

Morrison drove me insane with all his ill-advised shots. Moiso and Gadzuric annoyed me too. They were so soft and rarely played to their potential.

2006-03-31 17:11:57

39. slackfarmer

Any news on Cody Ross?

2006-03-31 17:12:46

40. Bob Timmermann

Brian Morrison = Jason Repko

2006-03-31 17:14:46

41. Marty

Stuart Gray! He was as tough as Stuart Smalley as I recall.

2006-03-31 17:15:12

42. Steve

If any Washington beat reporter repeated back verbatim the pablum of the politician they covered like the Times' Angels beat writer, they would be laughed out of town. With that said, does anybody have last year's numbers available for team productive outs? That article is laughable regardless (a bunch of banjo hitters taking credit for the pitching staff's success embarrasses both), but I suspect given the Abominable Clint Hurdle that Colorado will make an impressive showing.

2006-03-31 17:16:27

43. Marty

When I was a wee lad, it was tough being a USC basketball fan. I remember the one year they were good, only losing twice to UCLA. But they didn't qualify for the tournament.

2006-03-31 17:17:17

44. Bob Timmermann

41
And Stuart went to my high school. And even signed my yearbook as I was the basketball team manager my sophomore year.

Because of Stuart, I got to go to the Sports Arena for the City semifinals. Which Kennedy lost to Crenshaw and Gary Maloncon.

2006-03-31 17:20:53

45. trainwreck

I am jealous of all the people who went to Southern California high schools. You guys got to go to school with celebrities (and in some cases kiss them) and actual sports stars. My high school's sports stars consists of one guy...

Doug Davis.

2006-03-31 17:21:51

46. Bob Timmermann

I never kissed Stuart Gray.

I don't regret that either.

2006-03-31 17:25:18

47. trainwreck

Hornet's lineup tonight:

Chris Paul
Rasual Butler
Linton Johnson
Aaron Williams
Marc Jackson

Byron Scott should win coach of the millenium for just having a lead.

2006-03-31 17:25:23

48. Marty

Probably the best athlete in my high school history had a great name: Fair Hooker.

He played for the Cleveland Browns in the early 70's

2006-03-31 17:28:17

49. Linkmeister

45 If it's any consolation I went to high school in Northern Virginia, 10 miles from DC. To the best of my knowledge none of the kids I graduated with (all 300 or so) have ever become famous or even notorious. None of 'em even seem to have been on anybody's lobbying payroll.

Granted I moved 8,000 miles away 3 days after graduation and haven't been back since, but I'd have thought I'd have heard something if one of them had.

2006-03-31 17:44:27

50. DaveP

34 - Oz, what year did you go to Simi? I went there,too. I played soph and JV at Simi and was on the team with MacLean but snapped my toe in half before senior year started and ended up not playing that year.

Show/Hide Comments 51-100

2006-03-31 17:57:36

51. the OZ

I finished at Simi in the late 90s, between Jeff and Jered Weaver, so my memories of MacLean are from going to his basketball camp as a kid. I played on a good traveling club team as a teenager with a couple of future college players but quit after my freshman year because I hated the varsity coach, even before he recruited his starting 5 from other school districts that year.

My decision was also informed by the fact that I was 6'2" 140lbs as a 14-year old, and had stopped growing. I didn't exactly have a chance to develop guard skills as a kid given my height, and wasn't big enough to keep playing as a forward or center.

2006-03-31 17:59:03

52. regfairfield

Considering that when I went to school, we had the number one ranked baseball team in the Nation, it's really sad that the best player to come from West Torrance is Denny Hocking. (At least this is an improvement over Sean Berry, who I thought was number one before.)