In the old days, people dressed up when they went to a demolition.

1 - like any other funeral.

Call me callous, but I am sure glad that Los Angeles stole the Dodgers from Brooklyn.

3 - Sometimes, I wonder what would have happened if the Dodgers and Giants didn't move. Would baseball ever make it past the Mississippi River? Would it ever have expanded? I suspect it probably would have, but I doubt it would have had the success that it did.

3
Watch for Roger Kahn in your rear view mirror.

5 - he'll be the dry guy in the rain, right?

4
Baseball was already past the Mississippi River in 1958. There were teams in St. Louis and Kansas City.

Baseball was going to expand to the West Coast eventually. It was just a matter of which people were smart enough to take up the matter.

You can almost read Campy's thoughts in that video.

8 "This dust is killing me"

I was about to LAT myself in previous thread; was going to post that I agree with our A's guest in 78 , I think reg is undervaluing what the A's got back in return, and I'm sure both sides, A's and Dbacks are happy with that trade. I stand by what I wrote; I think the DBacks gave up a ton in Quentin and those other prospects for Haren and Carter, but if they're happy with it, then that's fine by me.

As for DeWitt, he's looked pretty good at 2nd so far to me.

As for Santana, I'm sad we gave him up.

As for Brooklyn, I hope they're over it by now.

5 Sportswriters may be larger than they appear in mirror.

The interesting thing is, if the Dodgers and Giants stayed put, the Angels, Padres, and A's may have become California's primary teams.

It's scary to think about...

I just noticed that wrecking ball is made to look like a baseball! Why does that seem cruel to me? Funny, but cruel.

Does anyone know what the "magic number" is? I guessing 14?

13
You "guessed" correctly.

I think it's 15.

Yes, 14.

Er, I mean, yes, 14 it is!

I look forward to "3" so we can all sing that Schoolhouse Rocks song.

Rockies elimantion # is...

19
9

Thanks...Me and some buddies here at the office talking Dodgers and I needed a quick answer...

Having the Rams yanked away from me gives me empathy for the Brooklyn fans. O'Malley and Bitch Lady made the right business decisions but it still sucks for the fans left behind holding nothing but memories.

If the Giants and Dodgers had stayed in New York, I bet the Dodgers would already be on their third stadium in Brooklyn or Queens, and the Giants would be playing in either the Meadowlands or Long Island.

LA and San Francisco would have expansion teams, both probably from the AL, since they went first in 1961. Maybe an NL team like the Braves would have moved and set up shop in Orange County later in the 60s.

22 Indeed.

Though one could argue leaving the second largest city in America for a smaller one is different from leaving Brooklyn for LA, but the point is still the same and hearts are still heavy.

Speaking of "What if..." scenarios, Bob have you read "The End of Baseball" yet?

Yeah, the painted seams on the wrecking ball are a funny touch.

12 That got to me at first, the whimsical baseball and its destruction. Then seeing Campy sitting there forlorn -- I'm not even of that era and it was hard to see.

10 I was having a discussion about the future of the A's a few weeks ago and came to the conclusion that they really are just screwed. In a few years if everything breaks right this is their team:

1B Barton
2B Cardenas
SS Free Agent (Khalil Greene?)
3B Free Agent (Beltre?)
LF Cunningham
CF Gonzalez
RF Buck
DH Carter

SP Cahill
SP Anderson
SP Gonzalez
SP Gallagher
SP Eveland

Even if everything breaks right, is this that good of a team? In the likely event that some of these guys flame out, is this even a decent team? Guys like Cunningham and Smith are nice additions to a strong team, but you can't build around them. I'm thinking more and more that all but the best prospects aren't that valuable in the long term.

25 I haven't read it, wanna give give a quick run down on it?

After reading up on Roy Campanella I am surprised he isn't mentioned more often as the greatest dodger of all time. Piazza, Jackie Robinson, Koufax, Snider and Drysdale always seem to be mentioned instead. I'm young, and have only followed baseball for the last seven years or so, but it seems he is underrated by many.

(Paging eekrock)

Haven't seen you around in a while, but wanted to tell you I saw the Strange Boys with Crystal Antlers last night. Strange Boys killed it, too. I like what those dudes are doing. Jonny was saying Jay Reatard did a song for them. Also, have you seen the Crystal Antlers PitchforkTV bit?

29 Nevermind, in the words of Pedro Cerano, "I do it myself"

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/End-of-Baseball/Peter-Schilling/e/9781566637824

17. Wasn't baseball already in California? PCL and the Angels? Wasn't Ted Williams tearing up the PCL in California, long before MLB came to California? Help me out.
vr, Xei

28. Are there plans for them to increase payroll in the new stadium?
vr, Xei

Steve Bilko ring a bell or perhaps Chuck Conner?

"The Dodgers today named right-hander James McDonald as Minor League Pitcher of the Year and infielder Ivan DeJesus Jr. as Minor League Player of the Year, presented by Under Armour. "

34
Yes.

By the way, the Flickr user who posted that video has some cool historical photos as well, including a few Dodgers ones. I love this one of Red Barber in the booth:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/32912172@N00/2847798430/

I desperately want that cool button and switch contraption sitting next to him.

37. Then I would venture that it would be very difficult to predict their roster going forward. Billy Beane with a little extra cash to spend on salaries could be interesting.
vr, Xei

If they ever put a wrecking ball to the Colisuem, I'd celebrate with cocktails and mimosas.

28
You are forgetting Jemile Weeks. They still have young guys that they will trade and get more pieces for.

Duscherer will probably be traded. Street, either Ryan Sweeney or Buck. Then they have more prospects to trade like Simmons, Brown, etc.

22 Having the Rams yanked away from me gives me empathy for the Brooklyn fans. O'Malley and Bitch Lady made the right business decisions but it still sucks for the fans left behind holding nothing but memories.

Wait a minute...Bitch Lady? A grudge is what you're holding in addition to memories, more like.

Can any of you fine scholars provide a Dodger fan with a short list of "good" moments for the LA Dodgers in New Yorks soon to be departed stadiums?
I am going to a game in each stadium this weekend and would like to think about historical moments other then two dodgers thrown out at home or reggie jacksons three home runs.

Gibson and Scoscia's HRs in Shea 1988?
Dodgers in Yankee stadium in 1981?

Sorry I am too lazy to research this myself before my flight to NYC

41 I did, but I'm really unenthusiastic about him. College second basemen very rarely turn into anything (I think the number is something like 1% pan out).

The idea is that if his defense was good enough to be a middle infielder in the bigs, he would have been playing shortstop, and I don't think his bat plays in a corner.

28 The frustrating thing about being an A's fan, that I see from knowing a lot of them, is how many players fans have become attached to who are then traded - in their primes even, like Haren, Harden, and some of the others. I've learned not to question Beane in general because his moves more often than not pan out but I can understand how frustrating it must be to have your team often close to contending and then seemingly torn apart again and again. That said, Beane usually has a clear plan and as noted above, with a bit more spending money soon, well, it could be more interesting there with in 2 years.

41
Fautino De Los Santos
Craig Italiano
Vince Mazzaro
Adrian Cardenas
Jemile Weeks
Matt Sulentic
Arnold Leon
Josh Donaldson
Jose Garcia
Josh Outman

They could all make something of themselves.

Man...had to click away from the video after seeing Campy sitting there among all the destruction. I grew up three blocks from his house in Woodland Hills without ever knowing it until I started dating a girl who lived a few houses away from him. My neighborhood was cut off from theirs by The Farm School.

Inoa is so young, he is like Minatour II.

33 - minor league baseball was everywhere, including california. DiMaggio also played in the PCL

43 Good Dodger Moments in Yankee Stadium-think 1955 and 1963.

I once asked my West Virginia born grandmother--the first Dodger fan in the family--how she felt when the Dodgers left Brooklyn. She said she didn't care. She had never been to New York and she'd never get to LA, so it made no difference to her, they were still the Dodgers.

50
Thanks for the point to 1963
Yankees only scored four runs in the whole series. That and Sandy striking out 15 are good ones to pull out if I get into discussions with Yankee fans. I plan on wearing my LA hat and assume I won't get jumped by Brooklynites.

Regarding the discussions above about the magic/elimination numbers of various teams, for whatever reason the MLB.com standings page is unique in that it gives this fairly vital piece of information. Neither Yahoo nor ESPN do this, and I just can't understand why.

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/standings/index.jsp

The Dodgers' magic number is 14, which makes them even with the Mets in terms of proximity to the Promised Land of the postseason.

45 - this got LAT'd in the last thread... regarding plans, clear or otherwise, the Dodgers' current situation reminds me of something Arte Moreno said after McCourt bought the team: "We have a business plan, and it's not like it's written on the back of a napkin." Frank's is.

43 - Check out your favorite bookseller in March 2009.

51 How did your grandmother become a Dodgers fan in the first place? Was there a Dodger farm team in the vicinity, or nothing like that at all?

With all the adulation for Vin, I wonder why there's no one, anywhere, so far as I know, who emulates him. Sure, no one else would have his unique characteristic turns of phrase that hark back to 1950, but they'd have something else of their own.

It's rather the essential component of Vin's commenting - decency, integrity, absence of homerism, and good research - that others could at least try for. Why don't they? I guess just having two commentators naturally leads to mindless chatter.

Vin used to do games with broadcast partners. Does anyone knows how and when this changed, that he switched to broadcasting - by happenstance, when a partner wasn't available and he just had a go on his own, and/or did he insist upon it some year when a colleague retired? I've never seen any discussion of this.

4 - see Steve Treder's interesting 2004 article on this.

http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/smart-growth-and-mlb-a-virtual-history/

55
I plan on it.
As I was 10 when Jackson hit his HR's those memories are pretty deep. I am a little disappointed I couldn't come up with a "moment" in 1981 that stayed in my memory. I remember tributes to Jim Gilliam but the 3 player MVP dilutes the memories. But we did clinch in Yankee Stadium in game 6 so I will bring that one with me. And it was the end of the "70's" infield so that was significant.

57 "Vin used to do games with broadcast partners. Does anyone knows how and when this changed, that he switched to broadcasting."

Sorry - that was missing a word at the end - "switched to broadcasting solo."

56
Jackie Robinson turned many fans into Dodger fans who had no affiliation with Brooklyn.

57
Probably are but we never hear of them because they would never get hired in today's world.

Major league leaders in HR's
1. Howard 42
2t Dunn 36
Quentin 36
4. Delgado 35
5t. Manny 34
Braun 34

Odds finishing with the most HR's
1. Howard 1-10
2. Qunetin 1-2
Dunn 7-1
4. Delgado 50-1
5. Manny 75-1
Braun 6-1

Is it me or does something just not seem right here?

My grandmother actually moved from Brooklyn to Los Angeles... and shortly thereafter her Dodgers came after her.

56 61 And Robinson's what happened in this case.

63 Not sure where those odds come from, but first thing that stands out is how can Quentin have any shot, yet alone the best shot, of winning the HR title if he's done for the year?

66 And how Dunn is 10 times more likely than Manny with 1 more HR, also how Braun is 12.5 times more likely than Manny with the same amount of HR's.

http://tinyurl.com/5yqz87

63 Those make absolutely no sense at all.

Well, I just put 3 bucks on Manny. Go crazy in Colorado big guy.

66 He has the second best shot, but it still makes no sense.

Howard seems like free money though.

58 - that's actually rather interesting. I question some of the names and how Chicago would be able to support 3 teams, and whether Newark would be able to support a Major League team, but still, it seems to work out pretty well. 36 teams seems like a lot too, but then, we're at 30 right now, six more teams wouldn't be too bad, I suppose.

Anyone familiar with how park factors work can you try to explain something for me?

The park were Houston plays (don't know its current name), can you explain why the first few years of this decade it was an extreme hitters park, than the last few years changed to a nuetral/pitchers park without dimension changes or other changes?

Am I the only one who wants Stults and Park to start in Colorado in place of Kershaw and Maddux or Maddux and Kuroda?

Kershaw has 20 innings left this year before he hits the limit the organization set for him. He should be shut down until the last weekend of the season against the Giants so that he can start a couple games in the playoffs, but it seems like they're going to keep pitching him in the rotation and start Maddux in the playoffs if Penny can't go. What am I missing?

73 - I'm not a fan of "am I the only one" questions, but you might well be the only one who wants to see Chan Homer Park try to tame Coors Field for five innings.

On the other hand, I did a post that talked about Kershaw, so you're definitely not the only one there.

72 I blame Enron.

73 No, you're not the only one. Some of us here have been wondering if Kershaw can be skipped. I asked Tony Jackson about it yesterday in fact, no response yet. Not sure if Stults or Park would fare that much better but at least we'd give Kershaw's arm a break.

I don't even want Billingsley to have to pitch in Colorado.:)

72 Maybe they have less guys that can only hit in Minute Made (like Biggio).

Josh (Los Angeles, CA): Thanks for all the great columns - what with stepping up the output come September, you'll surely be elected into the BBRAA due to your clutchness and intimidation factor. Andre Ethier - would an apt comparison of his potential peak be something along the lines of Trot Nixon's? 25-30 HR/35-40 2B/.360ish OBP for the next few years perhaps? I think you could do a lot worse out of a corner OF for near the ML minimum.

SportsNation Keith Law: I think this is his peak right now - 127 OPS+, .367/.522 ... I didn't peg him as a .200+ ISO guy, more of a high-average/doubles guy who'd hit ~20 bombs in a peak year, and I don't think he's got THAT much more power than I expected. On the plus side, he'll be a lot healthier than Trot.

http://proxy.espn.go.com/chat/chatESPN?event_id=22379

Penny at Coors. If he truly wants to be a starter, try him at Coors!

72 - better pitching? more games with the roof closed?

78 - Andre Ethier will be much better than Trot Nixon.

Much, much better.

81 Nixon was way underrated. I'd be really happy if Ethier was that good.

Bart: (Boston, MA): Please rank Lester, Liriano, Kershaw and Kazmir? Are there any other young lefties who you would rank with these guys?

SportsNation Keith Law: Kershaw probably has the best stuff and the highest ceiling, followed by Liriano. Lester is by far the most advanced in approach and feel. If I had to take someone to pitch tomorrow, it'd be Lester.

71 Given the crowds the Marlins are drawing, I wonder if Selig was right about contraction, other than picking the wrong teams to eliminate. It's hard for me to be sympathetic toward the Fish thanks to what Loria did to Montreal.

Maybe a bit late to the party with this.

But--based on last night--apparently Manny does not find Petco to be all that much a pitcher's park.

They should just move the Rays to Disney World and make them the happiest team on Earth.

The rotation should have been shuffled so Derek Lowe and his Magic Groundball Machine got one of the starts at Coors. I will also echo the chorus of calls for Kershaw to be skipped for a start or two, starting this weekend.

Neither of these things happened/will happen. Joe Torre, way to earn that $4 million.

84 - there's no reason why the (soon to be Miami) Marlins can't draw more people. It's a failure of ownership, more than anything. You have to give people a reason to go to games and buy merchandise. But the constant turnover of the roster, basically renting two championship teams, and stadium lawsuits don't breed love for a team.

It seems sinkerballers like Maddux and Lowe should do well at Coors if they're on and can get the Rox to hit grounders.

Do they usually do OK there? Or does the thinner air mean sinkers don't sink? I dunno....

63 Those odds look like they haven't been updated for 1 week and a half to 2 weeks, before Quentin got hurt and Manny added a few more homers to his total.

89 I would think fastball/straight changeups pitchers would have the most success at Coors. How has guys like Pedro Martinez done at Coors in the past?

Interesting how the RedSox seem to be media darlings but their right fielders tend to be very underrated. Dewey Evans has a better case for the HOF then Jim Rice and no one uttered a squeak when he went off the ballot so easily, Trot Nixon was one heck of ballplayer for a few years with health being his only weakness. Kind of like Milton Bradley. Now they have JD Drew who seems to get little attention unless he's hurt.

How many of you who don't want Kershaw to pitch have him on your roto team?

91 "Guys like Pedro Martinez"...your referring to?

I wonder if they're going to move the Cubs @ Astros series... Here's the latest:

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3581523

Think it's crazy to try to play anything in Houston from Friday night til Sunday.

95 - The Cubs will not fly into Houston.

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/baseball/cubs/1158214%2ccubweather091108.article

96 Ah. Smart. I sure wouldn't!

I wonder if the Cubs are scared of the hurricane, or the Astros.

98 - there's good reason to believe both. Regardless, I don't see a postponement as a good thing for the Cubs, for unless they play Saturday-Sunday-Monday, they'll end up with doubleheaders later on.

Who hits harder Ike or Berkman?

98 Maybe they're scared of Ed Wade:

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/photos/ewade360300aw.jpg

101 - he looks like a sort of demented Henry Ford in that picture.

This is a kind of funny post about John Shelby making outs from all nine positions in a game almost 20 years ago, as found by a Red Sox fan:

http://letsgosox.blogspot.com/2008/09/john-shelby-i-am-your-density.html

101 I'd have take Chacon in that fight. Looks like a little weasel.

101 Looks like Dana Carvey as George H. W

I'm looking at Nixon's numbers. '01 and '03 look good. Otherwise, he seems like an average ballplayer. Am I missing something?

There was something on espn.com the other day that was along the lines of Sweet Lou saying that the Cubs are playing like they're expecting to lose. That doesn't seem like good mojo going into the home stretch.

ok, i just watched that "No Love Lost" video on ESPN about the Cubs fans.

If the Cubs win, it will be much, much worse than the Red Sox from a couple years ago. We must do everything we can to prevent this from happening.

106 Good patience, good defense, below average power most years. Seems a lot like Ethier with slightly more patience (last month not withstanding).

Speaking of which, there was a fun little post from an A's fan blogger about who she may root for in the playoffs this year, and some of the comments to follow our interesting. A lot of people seem to feel that way about Cubs fans. There's also a pretty big shot taken at Dodger fans in the comments, though a few A's fans came to our defense. Perhaps a few more A's fans can rise up there? (I don't have a log-in to that site, though I do have an SBNation log in for a couple of other sites.)

http://www.athleticsnation.com/2008/9/11/612415/so-who-are-we-rooting-for

are interesting, not our. I need coffee.

110 But all you have to do is click a box. SBN makes it so easy.

112 Yeah, I did that yesterday for the A's site and the Cubs site. And then it told me I have to wait 24 hours to post anything. And now the Cubs site is telling me I have to still wait another day. You'd think it was a NORAD site or something.

110
I'd have a hard time defending Dodger fans. Nothing has ruined my experience more at DS then stupid fans who go to the game to be heard as though we paid our money to listen to their stupidity. Hey look at me, I'm a total loser in life but I can pay 20.00 and act like a bigshot and yell at the left fielder's back the whole game. Then I can get drunken high fives from the other idiots around me.

As of today, home and away TV feeds are now available on MLB.TV Premium only. Very cool.

114 It's the assumption that they're stupider than fans at A's games or most other stadiums these days that get me. Plus there are some stereotypes there that deserve to be buried. But I've had some bad experiences at DS recently, too, which was very disappointing, no doubt.

Based on the people who post at Dodgers.com and call in to KABC, I don't much care for Dodger fans either.:) At DT, we're in an uber-class above the great, unwashed masses of Dodger fans.

114 - Jose Molina entered Monday's game as a late-innings replacement for starting catcher Pudge Rodriguez; he had a collision with Torii Hunter and was subsequently ejected after a bench-clearing brawl started. The crowd cheered his name when it was announced. Contrast this with, variously, Mike Piazza and Eric Karros, who have been roundly booed on their returns to Dodger Stadium in other teams' uniforms. Piazza I can sort of understand, given the acrimony surrounding his exit, but not Karros, especially considering he was traded and indicated he did not want to be.

This, to me, is the principle difference between Angel fans and Dodger fans: Angels fans remember the good guys. Dodger fans, in the main, are ignoramuses, present company excepted, of course.

116

I've always noticed the worst crowds come during games against the Giants and games against other big market teams at night.

Day game crowds are loads better... I've been to two day games this year and the crowds are surprisingly cool. This is in the Reserve Level no less.

I always got a kick out of us hating our own fans. I've had my own bad experiences, but like underdog says, its similar to other ballparks.

Does anyone here care about any other team, in any sport as much as they do the dodgers?

117 Again, insert another city's version of KABC there and another team's equivalent of Dodgers.com, and you'll find the same depressing cross-section of the unwashed masses.

120 I like the Lakers, Rams, and UCLA. But nothing compares to how much I care about the Dodgers. It's not even close.

120

Absolutely. The Lakers are, have been, and always will be the team I care about most. I was on the brink of tears after Game 6 this year.

That's no knock on the Dodgers, no sir! I think they're a solid #2 on my passion list.

When do you think we will see James McDonald make his ML debut? Since Coors Field is famous for burning up the bullpen, you would think that James will finally take the hill during one of these three games in Colorado.

[120} Here is my list, in order of priority

A.C. Milan
Dodgers
Lakers
Man Utd

But lately, I am way more preoccupied with the Dodgers, so maybe it's a tie.

120 I love the Lakers and the Cal football team, but only my love for the Korean national soccer team comes close to that of the Dodgers. And it's not that close.

120 Nope. I do like a few other MLB teams like the Angels and the Royals, but there is no other sport or team that captures my heart like the Dodgers.

124 Stults should be the IMO to mop up at Coors if need be. The guy would hit 320 if played 1st base for the Rockies.

120 - Dodgers were the first sports team I cared about from the age of 6. They are my #1.

I care about the Lakers but they are a very distant second place.

There are great Dodger fans, dumb Dodger fans, Violent Dodger fans, Drunk Dodgers fans, all of the above Dodger fans....I think every fan base has it's good and bad apples. I was surprised to read Oaktown fans defending us, as most of the scorn tends to come from the NYC and Da Bay....Nothing's more tired than the Dodger fan stereotype.

118 There are a lot of fans at Dodger Stadium who will always boo an ex-player when he returns in someone else's uniform no matter what the circumstance of his departure. I don't undertand it, but it must have something to do with the fact that he is now the opposition. Of course, those same fans will cheer the same guy when he is brought back and recognized in a pre-game cermemony.

Dodgers fans are made of cheese. It'd be nice if the area around Dodgers stadium were open after midnight.

Suddenly I'm reminded of the Sneetches.

I am a huge Laker fan but I think it's the nature of the game that won't allow me to be the same type of fan I am with the dodgers. This coming from a guy who has watched 90 percent or maybe more of all Laker games since 1988. And have always been a Kobe guy, so that ain't it. In fact the only thing close was the Gretzky era Kings for me.

120 Dodgers are first in my heart but it's a close call with the Broncos and then the Lakers. Much further down the list in terms of emotional attachment are UCLA hoops and football, UCSB hoops, and hah hah the San Jose Earthquakes are a 1 on the emotional Richter scale for me. And then there's hockey.

There is no doubt that the Dodgers are my favorites. The Lakers used to be a really close second, but they are a bit more distant now. I really like the Denver Broncos as well, but I don't follow them as much as I used to either.

I think I should blame the lack of interest in basketball and football on my wife. Before I met her, I was way into that stuff.

Dodgers 1st, Lakers 2nd, Cal sports? That's mostly it.

It's also nice that the Dodgers and Lakers' seasons combine to fill the entire year... except sometimes October.

132 - did someone cut the cheese?

Not at the same level of course, but I compare my love for the Dodgers to my love for my kids - unconditional and constant, even when they're frustrating. They keep me up at night when things aren't going well, but they will always be number 1. Lakers basketball and USC football would then be like my niece and nephews - I love them and always want the best for them, but small setbacks are easily forgotten. I was over the NBA finals by the start of the 4th quarter and over the Stanford game by the next day.

Since May 28th-
Lowe 131.1 IP, 91 K's, 23 BB's, 2.74 ERA
Billingley 123.1 IP, 119 K's, 42 BB, 2.70 ERA

That's a pretty good 1-2 punch.

As a converse to 123 , I also care about and enjoy the sport of baseball most. Basketball would be the solid #2.

College Football and NFL football are tied for 3.

Given how I watch a Sept 11 Last place vs first place game (by 2 1/2) while leading 95% of game, I simply don't know how I would watch a dodger WS game. I mean sometime I pause the game just so i have some slack to work with.

I love me some Oregon State baseball.

Current Standings.
1. Dodgers
2. Lakers
3. Angels
4. USC Football
5. UCLA Basketball

32 Years ago.
1. Reds
2. Vikings
3. Lakers
4. Dolphins
5. LA Kings
6. Angels
7. Liverpool

I was a bit of a rebel in my wee youth and hated the local Rams and Dodgers. vr, Xei

3 -- I've had the best and worst of the three Dodger parks. Actually, make that four parks as the Brooklyn Dodgers would play eight games a season at a place called Roosevelt Field in Jersey City, wherever that is. My Dad took me to my first Dodger game at Ebbets Field when I was four. He then had the foresight to move the family out to LA in February '58, and always maintained we moved because the Dodgers did. Actually, make that five parks: after at a Dodger/Giant doubleheader at the Polo Grounds, (please Google for the defination of a doubleheader), my cousin, a local basketball celebrity at the time, took me into the Dodger clubhouse where Carl Furillo signed and gave me a bat he cracked in the game. My mother went through my closet years later and clearly thinking I had too many bats, threw away the Furillo bat. We haven't spoken since.

120 Dodgers are definitely well on top. I got into the LA Kings pretty heavily for a few years, but the lost NHL season caused that passion to go on standby. Love the Lakers and Cowboys. Growing up it was the Texas Rangers. As a baby, the Raiders.

"As a baby, the Raiders"

Unfortunately, I haven't grown up, yet.

1. Dodgers
1A. Internet connection
2. USC football
3. Top Chef Reruns
4. The Office
5. Chuck
6. Lakers

The teams I care most about:

1. Dodgers
2. Whoever's playing the Angels
3. Whoever's playing the Giants
4. Whoever's playing the Red Sox
5. Whoever's playing the Yankees
6. Whoever's playing some other NL West team

I have a bad feeling that "Whoever's playing the Cubs" is soon going to occupy position #7.

1. Lakers
1 1/2. Dodgers
2. Notre Dame
3. 49ers

150 Whats the deal with Charlie Weis? He's getting fired after this year right?

I'm going to see the Angels play Saturday.

I will be rooting for the Angels.

Is it okay to kind of like both the Angels and the A's?

120 - Lakers and Dodgers are 1 and 1a for me. everything else is a distant third. I keep trying to adopt a football team, but it just doesn't seem to work out.

If Long Beach State's basketball program gets back on track (here's hoping Munson can work that Gonzaga magic here), They'll probably get close. If I can find a way to convince the Big West to bring back football, well...

For me it's been the Dodgers and Rams since the mid 90s. Rams caught up to the Dodgers because I had to make more effort to follow them once they moved. UCLA and Lakers are a distant 3rd and 4th for me.

153 - I was going to make a comment about liking both the Dodgers and the Giants. But there just isn't the same kind of rivalry. Dodgers and Giants have 100 years of not liking each other on two coasts.

Right now the Dodgers would be tops but the Dodger Rays are moving up the list.

Back in the day when True Blue readers were still sucking on milk filled teats it was a tie between the Dodgers, Lakers, and Rams. I followed them all religiously. In my lifetime I'd have to say the Magic Lakers have given me the most joy of any team I followed and the Shaq/Lakers gave me the greatest game I've ever seen live. Yet the current incarnation would not make my top 10 of teams I follow. I've tried to recapture the magic but I get nothing. Even the Laker/Boston series evoked little emotion and I hated the Celtics with a passion once upon a time. It is a strange feeling.

Question: Why do I keep hearing Sabathia's name mentioned so often as the NL Cy Young winner? If they are going to pick a half season guy, why not Harden? As good as CC has been, Harden has been better.

For the record, I would pick Lincecum and it's not really close.

150 Not UVa?

151 Frankly, I have no idea. I would expect that he would unless the Irish win a bowl game, but I don't think that would necessarily solve anything.

At this point, after seeing the likes of Jim Tracy, Grady Little, Bob Davie, Ty Willingham, Steve Mariucci and Mike Nolan, I really have little faith that a change in coaching is the solution.

But Phil Jackson does make me think otherwise.

Weis at least is supposed to recruit well. I just wish that translated somehow onto the field. I honestly don't expect the Irish to win another bowl game anytime soon. They would have to be the best team in the country to not be put over their heads in a bowl game.

I honestly don't know who I would want to come in instead. So I'm hoping they give him another year after this one. If we're going to be bad, at least the school could avoid paying two head coaches.

I like Xei way of looking at things.
Current Standings.
1. Dodgers
2. Clippers
3. Gonzaga Basketball
4. Dodger Rays
5. Angels

32 Years ago.
1. Dodgers
2. Rams
3. Lakers
4. UCLA Basketball
5. Angels

120 I follow every major sport and have strong favorites in each that I follow religiously, but none of them compare to the way I obsess over the Dodgers. I think that comes from when I was about 5 and I mentioned to my dad that I may choose another team besides his Dodgers to be my new favorite. He calmly explained to me that I would also need another place to live after picking that team. I've been a die hard ever since.

1. Dodgers
2. USC Football
3. 49ers
4. Lakers
5. Rafael Nadal

159 It's hard to jump on the bandwagon when you arrive at a place just for the law school. One year and a few weeks hasn't done it for me. I love the school, but the sports teams haven't won me over yet. I'm trying, but I have a lot of previously established loyalties, running back to when I was an infant. (I was born in South Bend).

I am more of a UVa sports well-wisher, at least for the moment.

158 - because CC is 9-0 with 6 complete games, 3 shutouts, a 1.59 ERA (good for an ERA+ of 274), 102 Ks, and 21 BB - all in 13 games.

Harden has fewer strikeouts, fewer games, fewer wins, no CGs, and has pitched half the innings as CC in the NL.

164 Ah, that makes sense.

As for me, since I went to a school as an undergrad that was hardly a sports school (the div II San Francisco State, which used to have a great tradition in D2 football, which is now defunct, and track and field), so I don't have much to root for there, and went to an arts school for a master's, I fall back on the roots of my childhood, which means UCLA and UCSB.

165 Yes, but Harden has a better ERA, K/9, BA against, OPS against, WHIP, and has just been a better pitcher than CC, both in the AL and NL.

I see your argument about CC having more innings and games, which is why I say Lincecum. Lincecum has done it for 39 starts, while CC has 13 and Harden 10 after tonight.

156 It's the same for me. I was born and raised here, and the Dodgers and Lakers have been my teams since birth. I also like the LA Kings & UCLA Football but those are distant seconds to the Lakers and Dodgers.

I was a Raiders fan growing up but when they moved I gave up on them.

165 Whoops, I forgot Harden's NL ERA+ of 301, a full 26 points higher than CC.

Logan White on Josh Lindblom:

"I think this kid probably could have pitched in the big leagues if we forced the issue pretty good," White said of the 2008 second-round Draft pick. "He's big and physical, he's got a really good makeup and his stuff is pretty impressive."

http://tinyurl.com/44a78x

153 - no, you must choose or you will not be a True Fan. Or something.

167 - for me, and i speak for no one else on this, it's the complete games and shut outs that put CC over the top. Hard for the other team to win when you don't allow them to score. Also pretty hard for your bullpen to blow it if you're going the whole way.

166 - I attended Cal State Long Beach in the twilight of their football program. They brought in a big-name coach -- I want to say George Allen -- to revive their fortunes. He died the first season after he started, gaining a winning year in the last game of the season.

The football program was retired the next year.

173
I liked George Allen because even though he was very disciplined he still ate ice cream every night. Then he died and made me look at my ice cream in a different way.

Harden's thrown about half the innings CC has in the NL.

166 Dang, underdog...was it just a short 7 or 8 weeks ago when the season looked pointless?

What a difference a good camping trip or two makes ;)

176 I know, and it wasn't that long ago I was threatening to become Grizzly Adams permanently if they didn't get their act together! ;-)

---

170 >>Andrew Lambo, .295, 18 homers, 91 RBIs, Class A Great Lakes and Jacksonville: "He can swing the bat a little bit," Watson said. "He's a good-looking hitter. He carried the club, and that's a pretty big burden for a 19-year-old kid playing with 22- and 23-year-old players, but the young man kept a consistent approach the whole year, stayed focused and executed. We have a guy on our big league club who was roughly doing some of the same things at the same time, age-wise."<<

Kemp, I assume?

That article should at least temporarily cheer Nate. It did me.

172 Harden can't help the fact that they remove him early. It's his past that keeps him from complete games. His BAA is .163 though. That's incredible. It's like whoever he is facing has Mark Sweeney in the lineup 9 times.

177 Could be Loney.

So how does everyone feel aboutthe seeming likelyhood of Lincecum taking the Cy Young this year?

Another bad start or two from Webb and I think he might lock it up.

177 Could be Manny. Is Lambo being Manny?

157 I agree that the Magic led Lakers set the standard for my favorite Laker era that will probably never be matched. The players today just don't seem as loyal and passionate or care about winning as much.

My favorite Dodger era is the 1974 to 1983 span with the same infield, Baker, Reggie Smith, etc.

My favorite Ram era was the Eric Dickerson days.

170
Great read

Is there any reason Johan isn't even getting mentioned for a Cy Young when he leads contending teams in ERA?

180 I think Lincecum might already be the new favorite. Look at his W-L record pitching for that horrible team! His ERA and strikeouts are also better than Webb's.

The story (as I heard it back then) is that George Allen died from pneumonia, which he caught after being doused with Gatorade when the team clinched its first winning season in something approaching forever.

184 Recently, I always hear Johan mentioned as one of the top 4 choices for NL Cy Young.

182
Big fan of Lawrence McCutcheon and Wendell Tyler. Saw Tyler beat the two time Heisman Trophy Archie Griffin Buckeyes at the Rose Bowl and was a huge fan ever since.

Anyone remember the incredible game that Willie Ellison had one Sunday?

120
1.UCLA Basketball
2.Lakers/Dodgers
3.Raiders
4.UCLA Football
5.San Jose Sharks

Raiders could definitely drop down to 4.

My Top 5

1. Dodgers (always have been, always will be)
t2. UCLA B-Ball & F-Ball
t2. Lakers (used to be a closer 2nd to the Dodgers)
4. Seahawks (My NFL team thru living in Puget Sound, Will never forgive the witch for killing the Rams here and taking them to StL.)
5. 4 way tie (Any team playing the Yankees, Angels, Notre Dame or the hated Gints)

I've always been more of a die-hard Dodger fan than a Laker fan, even though everyone around me was the exact opposite, no matter where I've moved to. In fact, when I was a kid, everyone I knew was a Braves fan (since they were on at 4PM on TBS), and teased me to tears once when I wore a Dodger shirt (I still hate David Justice). I blame it on the fact that I didn't start following sports til I was 8. Back then both the Dodgers and the Lakers were equally bad, so I chose the one that was in better shape at the time. The Dodgers had Mike Piazza while the Lakers had Cedric Ceballos. My decision, at the time was easy.

I have no idea how that happened since I did not put brackets.

177 Surely Martin?

1)Dodgers 2)Lakers 3)Rams (oh my).

184 I haven't heard much hype about Johan either.

I imagine someone has already mentioned the article at BP on Manny? I must have missed it. Unfortunately I don't have a subscription, so see only a bit of it.

Believe it or not, I can't quote the best line in full because it would be an infraction of the euphemism clause of Rule 1, so here it is edited (no clause yet on excisions, use your imagination):

"I'm reminded of [Pedro] Guerrero because I swear I'm seeing the reincarnation of that one-man Dodger blue wrecking crew in the form of Manny Ramirez right now, night after night after night. Ladies and gentlemen, in case you haven't been paying attention, know this: Manny Ramirez can [...] hit."

http://www.baseball-reference.com/f/fieldpr01.shtml

How much do you think Fielder will make in arbitration this year? $5 million? $7 million?

1) Dodgers
2)Auburn football
3)Lakers
4)Buffalo Bills
5) An obscure High School basketball team in Alabama

Today:
1. Dodgers and Hokies (tie)
3. Auburn
4. UVa's opponent
5. Browns

Ken the kid
1. Dodgers
2. Baltimore Colts

120

1. Dodgers

Off seasons suck.

72 . Climate change. The air got heavier. (Just a guess).

1. Dodgers
2. Lakers
3. UCLA basketball/football

188 Was a big Rams fan, Lawrence McCutcheon, Youngblood, Olson, Brooks and Dryer. What about Cullen Bryant? Bob Klein, Harold Jackson, Ron Jessie.

Probably the biggest injustice to me was the Rams not making a Super Bowl with those teams. Sure they got there in 1979 but that was not one of their better teams.

I consider myself friendly towards the Clippers and Angels.

200 check your e-mail.

199 Doesn't anyone who plays Nick Saban's team go on your top 5?

Now Saturday's Chicago/Houston contest has been postponed with no make-up date.

http://tinyurl.com/3vw87g

The Astros are being really stupid about this.

Oh yeah, I would put A's ahead of Sharks actually.

72 , 201 - this is also just a guess, but I would hazard that one or more new parks entered the division (as Petco has turned Dodger Stadium into a slight hitter's park, perhaps ) that were more pitcher-friendly. Another alternative is that the team started becoming right-handed-power friendly, as the Crawford Boxes make life easy for RH power hitters.

205 They can't play in St. Louis, Arlington, Milwaukee, Cleveland, or any other number of stadiums in the mid west?

208 - those games were sellouts at Houston. That's a lot of revenue to lose.

The Phils are currently beating the Brewers 4-3. Milwaukee has been playing about as badly as their division rivals, the Cubs, of late, so they really need to win here and put some distance between them and their Wild Card competition.

208 The article says

"The Cubs recognized the Astros did not want to leave their families in the Houston area to start the series at a neutral site on Friday. "

I kinda understand and agree with the Astros here. I wouldn't want to leave. If the hurrican hits hard like it's supposed to, it would be hard for them to focus on baseball.

200 That's devotion.

148 . I think the Chuck story line has already played out, although I'm curious to see if my hunch is true. Too much of a one-trick pony. Sarah, of course, will never grow tiresome. No, you're right. Bring back Sarah, I mean Chuck!

Stupid Question of the Day Alert:

How does a "Magic Number" move? Hypothetically speaking, assume the Dodgers magic number is 14 and the follow occurs:

Dodgers win, D'Backs lose. Does the number move from 14 to 13 or 12?

Dodgers win, D'Backs win. What happens to the number?

Dodgers lose, D'Backs lose?

Dodgers win; D'Backs idle?

Dodgers idle; D'Backs lose?

These magic number things are very tricky. As a Dodger fan I am not very familiar with them.

213 The magic number stands for the sum of Dodger wins and D'Backs losses which the Dodgers need to clinch.
So any Dodger win will lower it by one, as will any D'Backs loss.
If both happen, the number drops two, one for each result.

213 The magic number is the number of Dodger wins and/or Arizona losses it will take to clinch the playoff spot.

So if tomorrow, the Dodgers win and Arizona loses, the number reduces by 2, if both teams win, the number reduces by 1, if both teams lose, the number reduces by 1, the only time the number does not go down is when the Dodgers lose and Arizona wins.

If a team is playing while the other is off, it would depend on if that team wins or loses but since that only happens once between now and the end of season (Monday Sept. 22nd, the Dodgers are off and the D-Backs are in St. Louis), it is not a real big issue.

213
For your hypothetical:
Case 1: Number drops from 14 to 12
Case 2: Number drops to 13
Case 3: Number drops to 13
Case 4: Number drops to 13
Case 5: Number drops to 13

The Rams are dead to me {choke} {tear}.
182 . I forgot Tyler was a Ram before Dickerson. I only remember him as a 'Niner.

I'm going to go out on a limb and bet there will be no movement on the Dodgers' magic number tonight. Any takers?

--

I had sort of forgotten until today that the Rams were my second favorite NFL team growing up, I loved everything from their Ram helmet design to Vince Ferragamo and then Eric Dickerson, and then... yeah, when they moved away I stopped caring entirely.

1. Dodgers
2. Lakers
3. Fantasy football team
4. Whatever team I am controlling on NCAA Football 09 for PS3.

With Philadelphia ahead of Wildcard leading Milwaukee 5-3 in the 7th, if they can hold on they'll be three games out in the Wildcard race.

But, the incredible story is the Houston Astros. They are up 5-0 over Pittsburgh in the fifth. If they hold on they also will only be three games out of the wildcard.

I was just looking at Houston's schedule, I now give them a really good chance to take the Wild Card.

213 - Wikipedia is your friend:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_number_(sports)

220 - and they just jumped the Cards for third place in the NL Central.

218 - sort of by definition.

222 "Wikipedia is the best thing ever. Anyone in the world can write anything they want about any subject, so you know you are getting the best possible information."
-- Michael Scott

Old friend Matt Herges just gave up a 3 run homer and the Braves now lead 8-4 over the Rockies going into the 7th. If this lead holds the Dodgers will have an 8.5 game lead over the Rockies.

Dodgers-Astros NLCS would be the weirdest thing ever.

...assuming the Astros don't have to play three makeup games in one day or something. Who knows how the hurricane will affect their chances. They could be this year's Rockies though.

202 . Those other teams had no QB. Ferragamo could at least heave a pigskin. I still remember, gosh, what's his name, Haden? getting pursued like a little kid being chased by bigger kids. Vikes or Cowboys, I can't recall. Oh, yeah. Cowboys. Too Tall grabbed him and held his feet off the ground just long enough for Hollywood to strip him of the ball and run the other way for a TD. Pitiful. A good QB was all those '70's Rams teams lacked.

A little late to the party:

1. Dodgers
1.1 USC Football
3. Lakers
4. Tiger

No game tonight. No Problem. This "Hole in the Wall" show on Fox is fantastic!

I think I'm 5-10% dumber than I was ten minutes ago. Time for my daughters to drop their Barbies and rescue me with a game of catch.

229 Bob and Toy Cannon might say all they needed was an officiating crew who could make the right call.

As long as Ike does not gain momentum, the plan is to play a doubleheader on Sunday and one game on Monday, which was going to be an off day. So, as long as they can stick to that schedule, pitching rotations be damned, they should be ok. Especially considering the Brewers play the Cubs next week.

225 - which is the purest nonsense. Yes, it is strictly speaking true that "anyone in the world can write anything they want about any subject", but there are people who do care about the quality of the content there.

Since the owner is belatedly concerned about fiscal responsibility and will probably hold the budget to the 2008 level what effect will this have on the 2009 team?

I assume Frank will want to resign Manny ($24M/yr 4 years).

He should resign Lowe ($14M/yr 3 years), but not Penny, Blake, Kent, Nomar or Furcal.

After paying all the arb increases (@$10.5M) and the post career monies owed ($11.7M) this does not leave much in the kitty.

Instead of resigning Blake for 3B we should play DeWitt at 3b and trade for a new 2B such as Brian Roberts for leadoff to freeup Kemp.

The trade would have to include Pierre +$4M for salary reasons. What players/prospects can we afford to lose that would make a trade palatable for the Orioles? They are interested in pitching.

Pierre + $4M
DeJesus
Stults
prospect
prospect

Who would you recommend?

Thank you to everyone who fielded my Dumb Question of The Day.

204 Number 6--for the six victories in a row over them.

Scareduck evidently doesn't watch The Office.

My mantra for a long time was the Colts are my team, and baseball is my sport. Which isn't so much a knock on the Dodgers as it is an expression of my love for baseball as a whole, while I lose interest quicker in non-Colt related football games. It's hard to try and rate the two. Colts losses hurt a lot, lot, lot more, but that may be I've actually lived during a very successful era and am not at all used to them losing very much. There is also ten times as much baseball as football in a year. So,

1) Dodgers & Colts
-
-
2) UCLA Basketball/Football (will rise as I continue to learn the NCAA game and the team(
-
-
-
-
-
3) Pacers (I'm not a huge basketball fan, but this could be right below UCLA basketball if they were in such a horrible position. I don't need a winner by any means, but the actions of the team shows no idea for direction. If you think the Dodgers are bad, try being a Pacers fan.)

I am also slowly trying to work the LA Kings and Liverpool into this mix, but need to figure out a way to watch both NHL and EPL with more regularity before I really get attached.

232 . I don't know what the In-the-grasp rules were then. In the dim fog of my memory they did it quite smoothly. It WAS humiliating and I gnashed my teeth. Of that I'm sure.

1. UCLA Basketball
2. Dodgers
3. UCLA Football
4. Lakers

Any team I am willing to sleep on concrete for 10 nights for has to be #1. Dodgers are 2nd, but very close. A few years ago the Lakers would have been higher, but I've grown apart from the NBA over the last few years.

Ken Noe,

Who do you like in the Auburn-LSU game?I think Auburn has a shot if they don't turn the ball over. Mississippi State will play them tough this weekend. Hoping for 7 in a row over the Bammers.

240 Actually I was thinking about a call concerning a fumble and a false start involving the Rams and Vikings.

238 - apparently not. This is an ironic quote, then?

I don't know about irony, but it is typical of the cringe-worthy things the Michael Scott character says on the show.

203 Thanks again!

1. Los Angeles Dodgers.
2. Montreal Canadiens.

200 I forgot to add the, er, Vikings.

239 etc. -

1. Angels
1a. Dodgers, though heaven knows they make it difficult. Bad teams I could deal with; stupid management and ownership is another matter.
2. Dirtbags baseball. As you can imagine, I hate the new NCAA scheduling rules.

244

The office is always ironic.

I need a ruling from the Irony Police.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-dodgers12-2008sep12,0,5631371.story

Andre Ethier story by L.A. Times beat writer Dylan Hernandez

Ethier said it was Ramirez who helped him make his real mental breakthrough, teaching him how to care enough without caring too much.

"You don't know what's going to happen tomorrow," Ramirez said he told Ethier, explaining why he should lighten up.

248
Step 1 in becoming a NFL fan.

Remember your team.

I'm not a fan of the Raiders or Ram.

I think I'm coming out ahead of that relationship.

NL West Contenders Pitching Matchups for 9/12 - 9/14

Dodgers @ Rockies
Billingsley (R) v. Francis (L) 6:05 p.m.
Kershaw (L) v. De La Rosa (L) 5:05 p.m.
Maddux (R) v. Cook (R) 12:05 p.m.

Reds @ Diamondbacks
Cueto (R) v. Webb (R) 6:40 p.m
Volquez (R) v. Johnson (L) 5:10 p.m.
Harang (R) v. Scherzer (R) 1:10 p.m.

Other NL Playoff Contenders

Braves @ Mets
Brewers @ Phillies
Cubs @ Astros

In response to my nervous stuttering comment that the Dodgers should have played the youngsters earlier, James Loney offered something along the lines of well, yeah, its a big city, and they need big names and stuff. I would say that James seems like a genuinely good down-to-earth kid except we are about the same age.

Also Lowe and Maddux are eating dinner together, but I don't think they are talking about pitching.

247 Hmmm. Same here, in its entirety.

243
Tom Mack still hasn't moved.

But he's right, those teams were loaded except for the QB. My favorite all time football play was Ferragamo to Waddy over the middle to split the Cowboy defense and take me to the Super Bowl. Years of frustration broke on that play. I was recently married and my wife probably thought she had married a mad man. Years later she realized she had married a mad man and went for someone a little more sedate.

257 When and where exactly was it you asked Loney that, and saw (or are currently seeing) Lowe and Maddux eating? You seem to have left out some pertinent information.

260 Hooters seems to be a popular restaurant change.

260 The Ritz in Denver.

262 Man, they don't stay at the Brown?

259 . That wasn't when Ferragamo tripped over his own feet, got back up and completed the pass, was it? Or was that another play in the same series?

A fun exercise so I will add to the listing

1. UCLA Hoops (1995 was the best sports season ever) Can't wait for Oct 15 every year.
2. Dodgers (1988 was almost as good)
3. UCLA football (been as high as 2 and as low as 5)
way down the list
4. Mariners. Season tickets with my kids who are really into it. Hoping for Kim Ng to rescue us.

Off the list: Rams (who were #2) and NFL football. Lakers and NBA basketball.

1. Bums
2. Lakers
3. Georgetown/UCLA Baseketball
4. Racing (Argie soccer)
5. Raiders

Cubs just beat Cardinals 3-2. Milwaukee lost to Phillies earlier today. Astros narrowing in on wild card, along with Phillies, but their games tomorrow with Cubs postponed due to Ike. Phillies can still advance on Brewers (and Mets), because they play them tomorrow, which would also help both Cubs and Astros! Quite tight there, could prove interesting. We just have to keep ahead of D'backs, no alternative options.

Age 8:
1) Rams
2) UCLA basketball
3) Dodgers
4) Lakers

Age 14:
1) Dodgers
2) Lakers
3) UCLA and Stanford

Age 18+
1) Dodgers
2) Stanford
3) Lakers

177 - Watson on Lambo at 19 years of age: "We have a guy on our big league club who was roughly doing some of the same things at the same time, age-wise"

Err..Dru?

My favorite teams are an eclectic mix. There is the Dodgers, of course, thanks to the Baseball Life of Sandy Koufax, which I purchased as a boy through Scholastic Book Services. I also became a Steelers fan during their Super Bowl run. Sorry, guys, I became Celtics fan during the Larry Bird era. I have never lived in California, Pennsylvania or Massachusetts. But being the son of immigrants and a military brat growing up, I was stateless and so I could root for pretty much who I wanted. Nowadays, I focus on the Dodgers. If the Steelers make the playoffs, I'll watch them. Ditto for the Celtics. Otherwise, I just ask my son how they're doing.

Someone mentioned how many people became Dodger fans because of Jackie Robinson. An older gentleman I know is a huge Dodger fan. He grew up here in Arkansas, which has been Cardinal country. He said after 1947, he and every other black in his part of the state, Crossett, were Dodger fans. He still keeps up with them.

How could I forget Notre Dame. It's in my genes. My parents immigrated from Ireland.

1T. Dodgers
1T. Angels
2. Lakers
3. BYU
4. Stanford
5. Oregon
6. Pac-10
7. Rams

When I was younger I also rooted for the Plunkett and Stabler Raiders but I hold no affection for them now. The Rams used to be #3 on the list.

Thank goodness for Dodger Thoughts. I've got nothing to watch tonight. I feel like I'm at the end of a movie and they still need to fill 10 more minutes. This is the weirdest feeling I've had in a while.

Tou'll hear me talk about the Steelers here and on my own blog (http://tinyurl.com/673jj8). They happen to be tied for 3rd with USC football on my "passion" list.

---

Jon most definitely called the Astros to be this year's "Colorado Rockies".

You know, having September runs like this, does that mean the NL is just that bad?

(273)

The Astros and Colorado making a run at the end doesn't make the NL bad, as much as it illustrates there are no really dominating teams. Toronto in the American League is also putting on a run....I hope there is a way to get Furcal back to just see if he is really healthy.

188
That was the best pro football game I ever saw as a kid. I went to that game, I think it was against the Saints. I still remember Willie's stats: 26 carries, 247 yards, long 80. That 80-yard run was a sweep around the right side on third and long, then he had an awesome cutback with about 30 yards to go to totally fool the safety. That same game, Travis Williams of the Rams broke the record for the longest kickoff return (105 yards?) in a game. I think the final score was something like 45-28 Rams. I remained a Ram fan until they moved to St. Louis.

If its a fandom through the ages thing, I must admit at various times I in my life I was an avid fan of the Packers (Lombardi era), Rams (Fearsome Foursome, Roman), UCLA football (Beban, Farr), Redskins (Gibbs I and the hogs),and O's (Weaver I and Palmer, Murray, and Ripken. I even followed the Natz in 2005. All behind the Bums, however.

I was busy at work today so didn't get to post, but I like the idea of this thread. Here are my favorite teams:

1) Dodgers
2) Lakers
3) USC (football and basketball)
4) Raiders

For me, the Dodgers are a clear #1, but it is interesting that:

a) my favorite athlete of all-time is Magic Johnson, and it's not really close
b) the worst loss I have ever experienced was USC losing the 2006 Rose Bowl

I would have thought the Dodgers would feature more prominently in those two factors.

277 Similar: Favorite athlete is Marvin Harrison, followed by Manning, followed by a lot of other colts. Dodgers just haven't kept someone who hasn't gone on to break my heart.

Worse loss is actually funny, because while its a loss to New England, it was the regular season opener in 2004. For some reason, that one stung so much worse than the playoffs.

Best win, likewise, was 2006, and my favorite sporting moment of all time. Though Finley's Grand Slam comes close (I, sadly, missed most of 4+1 live)

to supplement my list above (Lakers/Dodgers... everyone else). 17 years ago (age 13) it went something like this:

1. dodgers
2. lakers
3. raiders
4. rams
5. LA Kings
6. 49ers
7. usc football
8. ucla basketball

hockey lost me, football's departure made me care less, usc and ucla not finding my gpa good enough for admission hurt.

Dodgers and Lakers are both #1 for me, with the Lakers probably #1 and the Dodgers 1A, mainly because the Lakers have been winning more often. I will say that the Rams traumatized me more than any other team when I was a kid, mainly because they taught me that life isn't fair. Sometimes you get phantom illegal procedure calls (Tom Mack), sometimes you get incredibly lucky long bombs (Drew Pearson), and sometimes you get horrible goal-line spots (Ron Jessie, Pat Haden) on the opening drive, followed by the ridiculous decision of the head coach to kick a field goal on 4th and inches, followed by the evil Purple team blocking that field goal and running it back for a touchdown.

The Padres are taking out their frustrations on the Giants. 10-2 Padres in the bottom of the 8th.

My two worst moments in sports as a fan:
-Magic Johnson press conference.
-Marty McSorley's stick incident game.

Three that are close:
-West leaving the Lakers
-O'Malley selling the Dodgers.
-The Rams leaving SO Cal.

282
I have never felt more of a sports sucker punch than November 7, 1991.

My sports fanaticism now runs in a calendar like this:

Apr-Sept Dodgers
Aug-Jan Bruin Football
Dec-March Bruin Basketball

I could use a little more overlap between Dodgers and Bruin Football.

I need no other teams and pay 'sports in general' little heed. I wish the Angels & Lakers well. I wish the Giants and USC chronic and acute embarrassment, along with Mark Riddley Thomas and also the politicians/bureaucrats that planned/approved past Metro routes in this town.

~40 years ago, it was the Rams of Roman Gabriel & the Dodgers of Wes Parker who got me into the sports page every morning before school.

282 - oh, this should be fun...

1. magic johnson press conference (not even close)
2. o'malley sells to fox
3. piazza trade
4. gretzky trade to St Louis
5. rams/raiders leave
6. 94 baseball strike

Magic's announcement rocked me to the core. 2, 3, and 6 almost caused me to give up baseball. 4 and 5 pretty much ended my love affair with those sports.

What compounded the gut punch of Magic's announcement was the poignancy of seeing the movie Grand Canyon a couple months later and getting the gut punched all over again.

1. UCLA
2. Dodgers
3. Lakers

As much as I love the dodgers, going to UCLA simply puts it above everything else. I'm surprised there aren't more people that put their college as their first choice.

The only "teams" I actively root for:

1. Dodgers
2. U. of Oregon football
3. U. of Oregon basketball
4. Tiger Woods in majors
5. Minnesota Twins (don't know why)

1. Dodgers
2. UCLA Basketball
3. NASCAR (Kyle Busch)
4. Clippers
5. UCLA Football
6. Rams

285 I'm in agreement on those first three pretty much. I would also add that personally the Broncos-Niners super bowl blowout when I was living here in San Francisco, in college surrounded by Niner fans, when the Broncs were demolished, humiliated beyond all comprehension, is up around #2 or so as well. (Followed by the Redskins SB from the year before.) I literally almost gave up rooting or following football at all after that. Thank God for Terrell Davis to help me exorcise those demons. A few of those Dodger traumatic losses too, the Niedenfuer game and the Joe Morgan homer, those games are up there, too. But Magic, that was really devastating. And bless him and medicine, he's still around and happy!

287 If you went to San Fran State you wouldn't either.

287
If I went to USC, or another school was D-1 sports, I would probably have the school at #1. I grew up liking USC, and went to UCSD (with no D-1 sports), so the Trojan allegiance continued.

I will be wearing a USC polo shirt to work tomorrow, and will also wear this button:

http://tinyurl.com/42ugdx

or another school was D-1 sports

I wish I went to a school that taught me better grammar.

Totally off topic but I just posted what may be the strangest movie trailer ever, on my blog, if anyone's interested in...

{lightning flash}

Executive Koala!

http://tinyurl.com/53ae4t

32.1 scoreless IP for Roy Oswalt. His ERA is down to 3.54.

That puts his ERA+ right about 120. He has never had a season lower than 125 in his 8-year career.

294
Makes me think of Peter Jackson's Meet the Feebles combined with Miike Takashi's Happiness of the Katakuris.

I want to see it.

294 Looks like Donnie Darko meets Porkie's.

298 I'm proud to say I misspelled Porky's.

291 understood.

1. Magic announcement
2. Koufax retires
3. Laker losses to the Celtics in the 1960s
4. The tuck
5. UCLA losses to USC in football

Totally - I want to see it, too. It definitely has that Miike crazy humor vibe. Darkness mixed with absurdity. I love the animal thing. Makes no sense from the trailer but I'm down with it.

1) Kings
2)
3) Dodgers
4) USC Football
5) Fresno State Football
5) Lakers
6) Galaxy

1(t). Dodgers
1(t). UTEP basketball
3. Longhorns basketball
4. UTEP football
5. Longhorns football
6. Longhorns baseball

That's it for me. Baseball is basically the only pro sport I follow.

King, how much longer, I don't follow them anymore like I used to. I should but geeze I thought the McCourts were retarded. King Management makes them look great. Man I was a diehard. My first sport memory was seeing Marcel Dionne vs the Sabers in the early 70's. I have a Gretzky Jersey for each team he played on, including team Canada for Petes sake. I know they have alot of young talent and the GM had built the Sharks..but realistically how much longer?

And no Canuck I am not Canadian. Just a dork!

(I also follow a few other college hoops teams: Stanford, Utah, plus whichever teams Majerus and Floyd happen to be coaching.)

305
This is why I say I am not a true hockey fan, because I first liked Kings, but once the Sharks came around I started to like them more.
But I think the Kings are 2 to 3 years away. Definitely built up the defense for the future.

308
Plus I loved the Mighty Ducks movies so I had a soft spot for them, which is gone now that they are just the Ducks.

The Kings will suck this year, probably squeak into the playoffs next year, make some noise the year after that, and then be contenders the year after that. That's the trajectory.

Ricky Nolasco has been ridiculous his last 63.1 innings.
71k's
5BB

Worse Days in Sports:
1. Magic Johnson Press Conference
2. Dodgers lose Game 5 in 74
3. Dodgers Lose the 1980 TieBreaker Playoff Game
4. All of the Ram playoff losses to the Cowboys and Vikings

296 Oh man, Meet the Feebles...I don't think I've ever seen a movie that made me feel more like I needed a shower to wash the "ick" off. :)

313
I was a junior in high school when I first saw it and I thought it was weirdest movie ever.

Sadly, now I don't find it very disturbing.

Favorite teams:
1. Vin simulcast Dodgers
2. Vin tv Dodgers
3. Dodgers
4. Flavor of the month

I'm late to the conversation, but it appears we're listing our favorite teams. Like Jon, I shifted with age:

1960s, when I lived in a NY suburb:
1. Mets
2. Jets
3. Football Giants
4. UCLA football
5. UCLA basketball

I have no idea why I liked UCLA so much when I was a kid. I had no connection to LA til I moved here.

Now:
1. Dodgers
2. Cal football
3. UCLA Basketball
4. Angels
5. Football Giants
6. Chargers
7. Clippers

The Lakers used to be somewhere in the middle of the pack, but they've completely lost me. I root for them to lose. Ditto the Raiders and Rams, who I rooted for at various times.

Wow, this is quite the hit piece by John Klima on Manny:

http://www.dailybreeze.com/sports/ci_10444559

Sheesh.

317

That reads like the rant of a 14-year-old posted on dodgers.com.

1. UCLA basketball
2. UCLA football
3. Clippers
4. Dodgers
5. World Cup (soccer)
6. Team USA (basketball)
7. Lakers

314
This is an outsider looking in, but LA sure has a lot of jerk-offs who try to make a name for themselves with these rants against local teams that make no real sense.

I meant 317

317 Oh my. That has to be a satirical piece, right?

If not, he needs to have his journalist credentials, high school diploma, college degree, marriage license, employment contract, and the right to vote revoked.

If you are in the Phoenix area and want to see some youngsters in the system, check this out.

Date: September 15-October 15
Event: Mariners, Padres and Dodgers Instructional League
Time: 12:30 pm weekdays, 10 am weekends
Location: Peoria Sports Complex
Description: The Complex is proud to host our home teams of the Seattle Mariners and San Diego Padres along with the Los Angeles Dodgers for this year's instructional season. All games are played on the practice fields and are free to the public.
Contact Person: Complex Operations
Contact Phone: 623-773-8700

http://www.peoriaaz.com/

Favorite teams?

when I was young...

1. Dodgers
2. UCLA basketball

as I aged gracefully it changed to...

1. Dodgers
2. UCLA basketball

Worst Days in Sports?

there are no Worst Days, they are just games played by overpaid kids who never grew up...but I sure enjoy watching them

Worst days in sports

1. Clemente plane crash
2. Koufax retires
3. '62 playoff with Giants-Game 3
4. '66 WS
5. Any Yankee WS win

Favorite teams
1. Dodgers
2. US Olympic team
3. UCLA Hoops
4. UCLA Football
5. Detroit Tigers

Fav Teams -
1 Dodgers
2 US Soccer MNT
3 Boca Juniors
4 UCLA football
5 LB State hoops

"If it doesn't, I would like to be somewhere else," Jones said. "I know I can play every day. I am an everyday player. The reason I'm not playing every day is because of injuries."

http://www.presstelegram.com/dodgers/ci_10442829

311 - He struck me out a few times in my high school days. You don't really realize just how fast a 90mph fastball is until its getting fired at a target a foot away from you...

1) Dodgers
2) LA Kings
3) SF 49ers
4) UCLA Football/Basketball
5) LA Lakers

Seems like the higher up the list I go, the less recent success they have had outside of the Kings, who haven't ever won it all.

I have four teams that I follow with a passion, Georgetown Basketball, Dodgers, Penarol, and the Uruguayan national team.

Oddly enough, none of them are in the sport I follow most closely, which is college football, but that is ruled by my enjoyment of most teams outside of my intense hatred of Alabama, Florida, Florida St., Ohio St., LSU, Texas, and Oklahoma.

I guess I'll give a serious answer to the question at hand. My current favorite teams (I have a lot of rooting interests):

1. Dodgers
2. Lakers
3. UCLA basketball/football
4. All my various fantasy teams
5. Cal football
6. Cleveland Browns (don't ask)
7. USC football
8. Clippers
9. CSUN basketball
10. Kings

328 I would like Andruw to be somewhere else as well.

Get ready Chicagoland, your Jay is back. Jay Mariotti to the Chicago Tribune! Let those words luxuriate on your tongue for a moment. At least that's the word according to two of our sources, one of whom is quite close to the situation. Tribune higher-ups — and by that I mean higher than the editorial department — are reportedly trying to figure a way to get around some no-compete contract clauses that would allow them to install Mariotti as a columnist on the print side. Already a done deal is Mariotti joining the Trib's web site. An announcement could come as early as Monday.

http://deadspin.com/5048707/mariotti-to-tribune-apparently-just-a-matter-of-when-not-if

Worst moments in sports:
1965 UCLA 20 USC 16
1966 Orioles
Tom Niedenfuer
Don Nelson
1969 Vikings 23 Rams 20

Good God. They're selling naming rights to the Coliseum:

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-coliseum12-2008sep12,0,1206016.story

Lynch says he expects to finance more work by selling naming rights for an estimated $4 million to $6 million annually, a deal that could be finalized in a year or so.

Great moments in Rose Bowl history
1/1/66
1/1/76
1/1/86

Notice a pattern here.

Fav Teams
1) NY football Giants
2) Dodgers
3) University of Portland Basketball
4) Clippers
5) Kings

Faves:
1) US MNT
2) UNLV hoops
3) Dodgers
(loads of room here)
4) Celtics (I remember someone in here stating once that Celtics-Dodger fans seemed incongruent somehow -- in my case, it's a product of coming of sports age in the early 80s and first paying serious attention during a big Celtics year)

Lowest sports moments:
1) (can barely even type this): Duke over UNLV, 1991
2) Czech Republic 3, US 0 (traveled to see the opener of the '06 WC, witnessed the carnage in person)
3) Niedenfuer!
4) The baby hook

Bit surprised to see the Clippers showing up so often. We should do a Clipper DT game, they will be a bizarre team with 85% turnover but they got some players and the Baron back in LA should be fun.

335

Let's see-
Wal Mart Coliseum
Microsoft Coliseum
General Electric Coliseum
Honda Coliseum

None of these sound right.

317 - he vastly overstates his case (if he said anything like that here he'd be chided for a rule 5 violation) but he's on to something. Manny is not a five-tool player and in fact may only be a two-tool player at this point in his career. That is, Manny is a DH on a National League team, a situation that will only get worse over time and something of vital importance to remember when the Dodgers are trying to re-sign him. Of course, they won't.

317 - probably because in the 60's UCLA basketball was crazy good with John Wooden running things.

Favorite teams to root for?

1. Dodgers
2. AC Fiorentina (italian soccer)
3. Marlins
4. Jets/Chargers/Seahawks
5. Azzurri (most of the time...)
6. underdogs.

341

Dude, Manny is putting up a 1.264 OPS and a 2.02 RF/.910 ZR for the Dodgers right now.

It's your call, but sometimes it's nice to stop and smell the roses for a moment.

344 If Manny were to go 2-4 with a double tonight his OPS would go down. Crazy.

341 Of course. Do you still not care either way if the Dodgers were 3.5 GB or 3.5 games ahead?

Who wouldn't take 3 Manny's in their OF for the rest of the season?
3 Manny's in the clubhouse could be a problem but you would score a lot of runs.

340 Trojan Stadium

344 - Manny is hitting out of his mind at this moment. He has a 221 OPS+ as a Dodger. Am I insane to observe that (a) this is WAY over his career highs, and (b) will not, therefore, last?

It's not that I don't appreciate Manny. I do. It's that this isn't the Manny the Dodgers OR ANYONE ELSE will get going forward. He will cool down.

Spearmint Rhino Coliseum
Bandini Coliseum
Jack Stephan Coliseum
King-Drew Coliseum

Is it some new revelation that Manny isn't a very good outfielder and/or baserunner? Is it also some revelation that it doesn't matter so much when he has a career 1.003 OPS?

346 - What I want is for the Dodgers to have an actual Plan and to stick to it. They don't and they haven't. It's Kevin Malone all over again, with a slightly better winning percentage.

350
Jack Stephanino Coliseum?

352 I'm not trying to be sarcastic or egg you on with this question. If the Dodgers were to make the world series this year would you still wish they hadn't made either of the trades?

1.Dodgers
2.UCLA Basketball
3.Lakers
4.UCLA Football
5.England (rugby and football)
6.SMU football (i hope this jumps 5 someday)
7.Tottenham Hotspur

There's a future Dodger mainstay featured on Baseballamerica.com right now.

Personally, I'd love to see what this team could do for a full season if they re-sign Lowe, Saito and Manny. With another year of devolpment with all our young guys and Manny and Lowe I don't see why this team can't win 90+ games for a couple season just with those two moves.

356

What does the article say!

349

Insane, no.

But when a future first-ballot Hall of Famer is playing some of the best baseball of his career for your team, it may not be the worst thing in the world to just sit back for a moment and enjoy it.

352 - Rob, as I've argued before, the Dodgers do have a plan. Their plan has been to populate the lineup with kids and a few veterans. The fact that they've made some bad choices/had some bad luck in the execution (with regards to signings, trades and allocation of playing time) does not mean they haven't had a plan.

Pierre, Schmidt, Jones, Kuroda, Manny - these are not zigs and zags. They're all part of the same plan. The main problem is that it has taken Colletti three attempts to fill one outfield spot and at least two attempts to fill one starting pitching slot.

But the plan has been consistent: develop young talent, supplement it with veteran talent.

I'd argue this is a good plan. There's no law that says your team has to be 25 home-grown players. The problem is that they've often made some obvious mistakes in going outside the organization.

This might be a semantics argument, but that's how I see it. I think it's fair to seriously worry about the future of the Dodgers. But the biggest problem with the Dodgers under Colletti has been judging what talent is. In the case of Manny, he (or he and McCourt) did get it right. Yes, it came at a price, but still, at least it wasn't flushed down the drain with no reward. I think we can be happy about that and still worry about the future.

358 I don't subscribe, sadly.

Is there a plan for the Cubs-Astros series or are they just taking it a day at a time?

RIP, George Putnam.

That will test a few of the youngins here.

The Cubs-Astros are like Andre Dawson and the rest of us.

Day to day.

354 - the only way you justify those kinds of trades is if the Dodgers win the World Series. And frankly, I'm not a big fan of after-the-fact justifications.

There's a 22-year-old coming to the States - Junichi Tazawa - who throws in the mid-90s and has a forkball + slider.

He's skipping the Japanese leagues completely.

Billingsley
Kuroda
Kershaw
Tazawa
???

My favorite teams Age 10-13 - 1970-73:

1. Lakers (West & Goodrich my first sports heroes)
2. UCLA Basketball (Wooden coached purity and excellence-enough said)
3. Rams
4. Dodgers (Still catching the fever)
5. USC Football

By age 20 - 1980-81

T1 - Lakers (Showtime era With Magic-best team Basketball I've ever seen play)
T1 - Dodgers (fully engrossed in Dodger tradition-glory and heartbreak)
2. UCLA Basketball(struggles after Wooden retires-Larry Brown almost pulls off miracle in 1980)
3. Rams Football (Reach Super Bowl finally - but bad days ahead after owner Carroll is killed off)

Currently:

1. Dodgers (Now an obsession)
2. Lakers (Still love them-but NBA image has lost its luster with me)
3. UCLA Basketball (revived with Howland)
4. USC Football (Carroll has made USC fun to watch again)
5. Angels (former Dodger catcherScioscia - one of best field managers in the game. Malone's biggest blunder as GM)
6. NFL Football (No favorite teams technically-root for great QB and consistent teams that have a plan and execute well-enjoy watching exciting competitive games)

Worst moments:

1. Magic's press conference 11/7/91 (I was in a depressed state for weeks). The next worst day that has happened since in the world to me was 9/11!)

2. Dodger's loss in 78 WS to Yankees thanks to Reggie hip in game 4 changing momentum of the series.

3. Lakers '84 series loss to Celtics that the Lakers gave away in games 2 and 4 with leads late in games.

4. Dodgers '85 NLCS loss to Cards Game 6 - Jack Clark - "Why did you pitch to him, Tommy"?

5. USC's loss in the Rose Bowl to Texas when they could not defend Vince Young.

That is my list!!

366

Wouldnt he need some seasoning in the minors?

It probably doesn't help to realize what we already owe Andruw and Pierre ($45,000,000)(?) would probably buy Manny for two more years. Add Schmidt and Penney and we could get him for three years!

360 - The evidence is convincing otherwise. The Dodgers keep introducing new holes at key positions (third base, anyone?), barricading young position players from their positions (Andre Ethier -- the team's best hitter and the Dodgers' last resort in the outfield behind Andruw Jones and Juan Pierre in the first half!)... where is this plan of which you speak? Their plan is fairly meaningless if, as you later mention, they cannot properly identify good talent.

368 Yeah, maybe. But I hear he's really advanced (probably more than McDonald) and might help right away.

370 - I shouldn't say "last resort" about Ethier, as he had more at-bats (307) than either Jones (165) or Pierre (297) in the first half. But the fact that they felt it necessary to sign Jones in the first place ... well, as I said at the time, the only charitable thing you could say about it was that they at least recognized the Pierre signing was a failure. That decision eroded Ethier's playing time, and Kemp's.

I should say a couple honorable mentions on my worst moments list:

The 2-3 Rams playoff losses to the Vikings in the 70's that were played in Minnesota in 1970, 74 and 76 I believe. Each game turned because of a referee's blown call at a critical juncture and the Rams lost despite dominating the statistics of the game. The Vikings became one of my two most hated football teams because of those questionable losses. My other hated team was the Oakland Raiders due to some of the cheap late hits they took that they seemed to relish even if it ended someones career (See Darryl Stingley). You would think the Cowboys of that era would have been the other hated team but the beat the Rams fair and square in those playoff games, in fact clobbered the Rams in LA 37-7. No complaints there about referees, the Cowboys came in and layed a butt-whooping that day. The Vikings always needed the referees help and that is why they were always overmatched when they got to the Super Bowl and got thumped. They didn't belong in the first place.

The plan is good, the administrator of the plan, Flanders, is probably the worst GM in baseball. Even if the Dodgers win the World Series (hah!), Colletti still should be fired, they won despite him, not because of him.

374 If they win the world series the Manny trade will go down as the best trade in LA sports history. It'd be hard to fire the guy who made the best trade in LA sports history.

If the Dodgers win the WS does anyone think Torre will retire?

375 How about the trades for Jabbar and for a draft pick named Kobe?

377 Ok, maybe rule 6 violation.

377
If Laker Thoughts existed back in the early 1970s, there would be some guy complaining that he missed Elmore Smith.

376

He has a great contract. Unless he is not a fan of the LA area, I can't imagine walking away from that.

I had to look up who the Lakers gave up for Jabbar. (Elmore Smith, Brian Winters, Junior Bridgeman, and Dave Meyers)

I'm with Rob, sort of. I've said before that I'm opposed in principle to trading prospects for rentals. The only way it's worth it is if the season ends with a World Series title. Anything short of that, then the trade has to be viewed as a failure.

Obviously, Manny for LaRoche/Morris has been an amazing deal for us so far. But it's only mid-September. We've clinched nothing, and if the Dodgers end up getting bounced in the first round, then what? Is the trade still a success? As soon as the season ends the proceeds from the trade will look like this: no Manny, no LaRoche, no Morris, no title. At least the Red Sox will still have Bay next year, entering his prime years. That's the kind of player you want to trade prospects for (Josh Beckett was another).

Even if we re-sign Manny, we get his decline years instead of him HoF years, and we get to pay a premium for it. But I don't trust Colletti to be able to competently replace that offense using the free-agent market, so for Dodger fans, our hands our tied and whether or not to re-sign Manny. We need it to happen.

380 He's 68 years old. He's been a great player, took the Yankees to 12 straight playoff appearances and got dissed by them. What a great finish to go to LA, win the WS and the Yankees, in their first year without him, don't make the playoffs. You can't go out much better.

382 - I don't necessarily disagree with you. But Rob is saying, "Where's the plan? Why don't they stick to a plan" I'm saying that getting Manny is evidence of them sticking to a plan - the plan being that you don't win without a combination of young and veteran talent.

We can all argue the merits and execution of that plan - I sure have, plenty of times - but I don't know how you can say that there isn't any plan at all.

383 Torre also has another 9 million on his contract. Living in L.A. isn't that cheap and Torre isn't the guy of guy to break a contract.

Actually, there's one scenario I can see Torre retiring and moving in some sort of Lasorda type limbo position in the front office, if he can assure that Donnie Baseball is the next Dodgers manager.

1. Dodgers
2. Newcastle United Football Club
3. Lakers (was #1 when I was a kid and Chick was alive)
4. Cornell Hockey
5. Longhorns Football
6. Cowboys
7. Oregon Basketball/ Longhorns Basketball
8. Kings (was #2 when I was a kid)

I am also not someone who judges someone for making a trade after it's over. I stand by my initial takes: Pierre was a bad move from the start, Jones was a worthy gamble, and Manny was somewhere in between because of the rental aspect. I had no idea that Jones would be so bad or Manny would be so good.

If the Dodgers win the World Series, I'll be thrilled, but I'll still have a mixed at-best evaluation of Colletti. I'll still feel some people could have been worse than him and some (more) could have been better.

363 - I'm not sure I knew he was still alive.

382 I don't think that the Manny trade will be a failure if we don't bring home a title this year. Qualifying for the postseason, making a little bit of noise in October and getting our young players playoff experience will all be an improvement from the norm for the past 20 years. I have been a Dodger fan for 22 years and have seen a total of 5 playoff wins so winning a playoff series actually means something to many Dodger fans. Anything short of winning some playoff games would be viewed as a failure IMO.

382 Perhaps it's this: the Dodgers may have a plan, but the lousy execution of the plan keeps forcing its alteration. I'm thinking of the mess that Colletti (and his predecessors) made of CF. They let Victorino, Werth and Lofton go, and signed two disasters to replace them. That necessitates changes in "the plan."

390 oops, I mean 9 playoff wins (forgot the '88 NLCS).

363 I remember visiting the news set at KTLA with a journalism class in 72 or 73. We talked with Putnam about broadcast news but the talk soon turned into a political debate and one of my classmates really ticked off Putnam. After the newscast ended, he almost ran us down in the parking lot driving a huge Rolls Royce. Bob's right. Most of the young ones here don't even know the name, but he was as big as Jerry Dunphy (another name the kids won't remember) in local news in his day.

390 That's wrongheaded, wronghanded. Getting the young players playoff experience is nice, but it shouldn't be a goal in and of itself. It's meaningless if we don't build a championship-caliber team around them immediately, which will be harder to do beacuse we traded future building blocks for a rental like Manny.

Martin, Kemp, Ethier and the rest of them will be hitting their free agency years before we know it. They grow up so fast...

270 . Noel, where are you in Arkansas? I'm in Nashville.

394 You're assuming that we won't be able to sign several of the younger players to extensions that would eat up a couple of their FA years.

I think we can do it with Loney, Kemp, and Ethier. Martin already expressed an desire to test his arbitration years, and eventually FA, not that the Dodgers can't resign him, but he likely won't accept an extension. I think that's one of the bigger problems I have with Ned. He'll sign expensive Free Agents but doesn't see the value of cost control for younger players. Especially when big years like Ethier is currently experiencing will jack up their arbitration numbers.

Bad day in Sports 9/18/07
Dodgers go to Denver with a record of 79-70 and send Bills to the mound vs Francis.

Also add Bills and Kershaw to the list of signing youngsters buying out their arbitration years. We'd be looking at Bills making $13 to $15 million in his last year in his arbitration years otherwise.

362 The plan for Cubs-Astros is that Sunday's game is still currently "on", subject to weather changes, and then they'll have a double-header on Monday, previously scheduled as a day off for both teams, to make up the canceled Friday and Saturday games.

If things are still bad Sunday and they have to cancel that too and Monday's doubleheader, there's been no announcement yet of what would happen. Since there are no more days off during the season, and only a couple of days at the end before playoffs - and, who knows, a one-day playoff between Cubs and Brewers might also have to be scheduled if they tie and Mets or Phillies manage to become the wild card (unlikely, but you never know) - I'd guess that they'd have to relocate the Sunday and Monday games in another city, on schedule. But no one knows.

397 But 9/18/06 sure was a great day (4+1). Think about that one instead.

360 . I agree. They haven't done a great job of implementing "The Plan" , which is why they're where they are now, barely in first place in an historically bad division race. But the fact that they're doing as well as they are is testifies to them following a reasonable plan in the first place. I don't know if that makes any sense.

365 . We gave up a somewhat wobbly prospect to turn us into a pretty-darned solid team for the rest of the season. What's so heinous about that?

When I was growing up, the Rams were my favorite team, followed closely by the Dodgers and then the Lakers. I also loved UCLA football and basketball.

Perhaps my greatest high was the 1966 Rose Bowl where Bob Stiles knocked himself out stopping Michigan State from scoring and preserving the 14-12 victory. They were huge underdogs.

One other highlight I still remember was when my Dad took me to a game at the Sports Arena between the Lakers and the Cincinnati Royals. The Royals had Oscar Robertson and Wayne "The Tree" Embry. At halftime, the Lakers were down about 24 points. They came back in the 2nd half with West and Baylor both scoring over 40 points. West hit a jumper at the buzzer to send it into overtime. Baylor drove for a layup at the buzzer to send it into double overtime. They won it in the 2nd overtime. It was the greatest game I've ever been to.

The 1988 Dodgers still remain one of the great highlights.

Now, my favorite team is the Dodgers. I no longer follow the NFL. I really don't care that much any more about the Lakers, and only casually follow UCLA and USC football.

So it's not so much the glass is half empty, as the glass is broken, the liquid has spilled out, and there are children dying of thirst in the third world because of it?

Real life is depressing enough without working at being bummed out.

363
How many people remember Putnam on his horse riding down Orange Grove Avenue in the Rose Parade? Despite his ultra conservative views he was my Grandmother's favorite broadcaster.

335 - I have to say, the one development that I really despise in the last 15 years was the introduction of naming rights. First, because there's no creativity in the naming (the Great Western Forum was probably the greatest tie in ever; though I would have moved it to second if Honda would have decided to call the Pond the "Honda Civic Center"). But also because it destroys the history of the buildings. They just sound artificial now. Comisky Park, Jacobs Field, Jack Murphy Stadium, Joe Robbie Stadium... those names mean something.

368 - 22 would be similar to a college senior. A lot of guys spend very little time in the minors when they play 4 years in college - Bonds, McGwire, the younger Weaver. I'd like to see what he has though. Oh, and the ??? in 366 should be pronounced: McDonald

407 A lot of good College players only need a couple of years in the majors. It'll be interesting to see if Tazawa gets the kind of bonus that other high draft picks gets (I'm guessing around $6 million, which around the amount Hosmer, Posey, Alverez got) or he'll get that ever mythical $20-22 million that gets bandied about if top college players could get if there wasn't a draft. I suspect it'll be the former, but I wouldn't be surprised by the latter.

396

Is their a plan with bad execution or is their no plan is a question I asked quite a bit last year and the start of this year. I tend to side with Jon's explanation, but do wonder if Ned is capable to really make the plan work and start to buy out some of the FA years of the young players. If in the next year or two the core of our young talent is not signed we could take a large step back. IMO many of the young Dodgers are special, but not all young players develop into Ethier or Kemp or Bills.

401 - in fairness, 3.5 games up with 16 games to go is a pretty substantial lead, especially when the top two teams don't play each other and the Dodgers have a lighter schedule down the stretch, albeit with more road games.

NPUT

407 - of course, and that's why I said, "I'd like to see what he has". Maybe he's the next big thing, and maybe he's not. My point was only that after 4 years of college ball, a lot of players are able to make the jump almost instantly (Tulo is another, more recent example)

396 I'm more concerned about the next wave of young players, to prop up the current players as they get very expensive. Will the current guys (Lambo, DeJesus, etc.) be able to do what Bills, Martin and Kemp did two years ago?