July 31, 2007 - Dodgers v. giants

This posting a little late, I know. But give me a break. I just now got home since I was stuck in Dodger Stadium parking lot since Tuesday night. Man, $15 to park. That hurts. For $15 I was expecting my car to be washed and waxed when I got out. Instead I had the luxury of spending 45 minutes inching out of Dodger Stadium at a snail’s pace, or as some would say, a Molina’s pace.

This was a great game to go to. The excitement over the possibility of bonds tying or breaking the homerun record created a playoff-like atmosphere. I admit it. I brought my glove. I’d never done that before. Not even as a kid. Can you blame me? I was in the 8th row in the right field pavilion. My chances were as good as anyone’s right? Besides, that’s an opportunity of a lifetime. I didn’t want to be the guy that everyone saw in video replays for the next however many years having the ball hit me in the hand and bounce to someone else. I guess it didn’t really matter in the end anyway. No HR for bonds. No HR for anyone. In fact, no offense from the Dodgers to speak of whatsoever. They don’t want it. They’re not hungry. There’s nothing ‘magical’ about this team right now. The most positive thing about this season so far is that no other team in the National League is running away from the rest of the league. I suppose that if their pitching gets healthy and if they make the playoffs and if they get hot at the right time, the Dodgers could go a few rounds deep this year. Maybe even get a championship. Who knows? I’m just not feeling it from this team right now.

So, I sat in the gluttonous all-you-can-eat section of Dodger Stadium. I went into this game thinking there was no way I’d ever get my money’s worth. Boy was I wrong. Even if this wasn’t a game with the opportunity to see history, the price tag of $30 was well worth it. Here’s why. The seat alone is what, $6? That leaves $24 worth of food value that you have to consume just to “break even”. While a lot of people I know would have no problem reaching that figure, I simply can’t. Rather, I won’t. Instead, I had a hotdog, nachos, a bag of peanuts and a bottle of water. That’s about 15 bucks worth. But here’s where I made up the difference; NO LINES. Oh sure, there’s a bit of a crowd milling around the concession stands where they distribute the food, but the wait might take all of 20 seconds to get what you want. They have it all there. Prepared. Waiting to be thrown at you the second you ask for it. You can leave your seat, get what you want, and be back in plenty of time to see Juan Pierre ground out to lead off the next inning. I would pay $20 easy just to be able to skip the line experience at Dodger Stadium. Hell, I’d probably pay $30 for it. So you see? The $30 ticket bought me a seat, plenty of food, and the opportunity to see the entire game without missing a single pitch. Beautiful. I’ll definitely do it again. I just hope the next time, the Dodgers show up.