Angels, Dodgers, Lakers, & Clippers

As a sports fan living in Southern California with many friends who cheer for the Angels, I was pleased to see a SoCal team at the top of ESPN’s list of best sports franchises. Even though the Dodgers are my favorite team, I have to admit we enjoy an Angels game in Anaheim every year or so. They have a great relatively new stadium and the food and drinks are really affordable, and of course, the Angels seem to be fighting for 1st place every year.
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I should also acknowledge I still think that the Angels should be known as the Anaheim Angels or Orange County Angels of Anaheim rather than the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. If ESPN had created a list of the worst names for sports franchises, the Angels would have topped that list too. The Angels left Los Angeles 40+ years ago and Anaheim is 45+ minutes south of L.A.!

lakers-logoAccording to an L.A. Times article:

“Other Southland teams on an ESPN survey of the four major North American sports leagues include the Dodgers at No. 50 and the Lakers at No. 51. The Clippers are last at No. 122.”

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Even if food and parking are expensive ($15 for far away & $35 for much closer) and the stadium is 40+ years old, the Dodgers are still #1 for us! With Manny Ramirez back, the rest of the season should be fun to watch.

Even though I cheer for the Clippers, I’m not upset they are last on this list. I am just glad they even made it on there at all! Now that the lottery ball bounced our way letting us draft Blake Griffin, maybe we are ready to turn things around.  Nowhere to go but up!

All we need now is an NFL team!

The Dodgers, Manny, and the Steroids Era

If you have been following my posts for any length of time, you have probably realized we are big Dodgers fans.  For the past two years, Debbie has purchased a 12 game pass for the 4 of us.  My birthday is in January and the games begin in April and go through September, so we celebrate my birthday all year long!

We are excited about the fast start for the Dodgers this season, and we have a couple of games coming up next week.  I love they are continuing to do so well in spite of the suspension of Manny Ramirez.  I am disappointed in Manny as is the rest of L.A., but you know how sports fans are: I imagine we will forgive him when he hits a game-winning home run after he returns.

I have thought of often of our steroids era and posted on the subject before.

See “Barry Bonds – The Greatest Home Run Hitter Ever?”

Also, “The Steroids Era”

I cannot help but lay most of the blame on our inflated numbers on Major League Baseball.  Yes, Manny, A-Rod, Bonds, and too many others have been linked to performance enhancers, but many did so when they were not banned by baseball.  It seemed that MLB officials had a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy for way too long.

For many fans, the problem is that the statistics are now suspect.  I don’t think we should put an asterisk next to all the wins Roger Clemens received or all the home runs hit by Mark McGwire.  We would end up with an asterisk next to every “record” we have on the books over the last 10 to 20 years.

Other eras have been tainted as well.  I can’t help but wonder if Babe Ruth’s numbers would have been less remarkable had he been playing in an era when African Americans were allowed to play.  The records of the 1970s could be tarnished by the fact amphetamines and doctoring the ball were way too common.  Finally, even the home runs being hit in the steroid era were probably being hit off of pitchers who were also on “the juice.”  For example, remember that amazing stretch of saves that Eric Gagne had?  We have since discovered he had medicinal help.

Is baseball finally cleaning up it’s act? I hope so.

Go Dodgers!  Keep winning without Manny, so we can win the whole thing with him.  🙂