Packers In San Diego Is Quite A Deal!

A $260 ticket for $20! Are you kidding me?

Club level seats give you a great view. Is it worth $260? For any game?

Waiting for the Trolley which makes going to Charger games so easy!

    Sometimes you just have to go on a road trip. Even if it means budgeting your gas money down to the final penny and making sandwiches for your hotel room.  Or should I say "motel room" as in what I affectionately call the Chateau Seis.
    A couple weeks ago I drank my morning coffee and suddenly realized it was August. Which meant the NFL preseason was about to start.  I looked in the paper and saw The Packers were coming to San Diego for a Thursday night ESPN tilt.  I hadn't been to a Packer game in 10 years.  They rarely play on the West Coast and when they do its always a tough ticket. So I figured a 5pm kickoff on a weeknight in August would be my best chance to see my favorite team.
    It turned out to be a wise decision.  I spent three hours in the motel pool on a hot summer day before taking the San Diego Trolley to the stadium which I still call "The Murph."  The Trolley makes Charger games so easy to get to and saved me at least $20 in parking fees.  That $20 was given to a scalper in the parking lot for a killer seat on the Club Level! I arrived just in time to see the Navy Jet fly over.  Then Ryan Matthews of San Diego broke his clavicle on the first play!  The Chargers always seem to have the worst luck in football.  They ended up winning the game 21-13 but losing their top running back for at least six weeks.
    In the first quarter Aaron Rodgers of the Packers threw a rare interception. It reminded me of the last time I saw him play in San Diego.  At the Holiday Bowl in 2004 Rodgers looked shaky as his Cal Bears lost to Texas Tech 45-31.  This time it was a meaningless game but Rodgers still seemed irritated by the pick.  The Charger fans on the Trolley after the game could only talk about the injury to Matthews.  So it goes for the pre-season. Injuries count more than touchdowns.
    Still, the NFL is the damn NFL!  I enjoyed the action and especially my club level seat. When I made it back to my room I looked at my ticket.  The face value on it: $260!  I paid $20 making it "the greatest bargain in sports history!"  That was the face value of the Super Bowl game I attended at the same stadium 15 years ago! Of course, its ridiculous that the NFL makes season ticket holders pay full price for pre-season games.  Then again, $260 for a regular season game is also absurd.  $12 beers, $10 hot dogs, I mean who can afford the NFL? For one night I could!      

Staples Center Hosts Three Playoff Series, Unfortunately

Lakers will host OK City Thunder in Round 2

Clippers and Grizzlies Battle At Staples

Last row for a Kings playoff game, is it worth going?

I hate the Staples Center.  It should be called the Stupor Center, or Soulless Center.  It has the aura of a private golf club where only the wealthy are entertained.  The Occupy Wall Street slackers picked the wrong place to stage their protest against the wealthy.  At a typical Staples Center event 99% of the crowd are the 1 percenters everyone hates.  The other 1% of the crowd probably won their tickets on the radio.  If that happened to me I wouldn't go, not even with free tickets.  They are going to be in the upper deck, perhaps the worst seats in any arena in the USA.  You are so far away you need a telescope, forget the binoculars.  The upper level is so high each seat comes with an oxygen mask.  The pay phones in the top level have a different area code than the ones on the bottom.

I've been to this big barn and had some good times to be sure.  I was there opening night Oct. 17, 1999 for the ribbon-cutting Bruce Springsteen show.  The one where he had to ask people to come out of their luxury boxes to watch the show.  Since that engagement Bruce has never returned, opting to play the decrepit Sports Arena just a few miles away in the bad part of town.  I had comp tickets in the upper level, so far away I needed someone to show me where to find the stage.  I snuck down to the floor which was the only way I could enjoy the Boss and the E Street Band.  Since then I've turned down free seats in the top level.  its just not worth going.  The reason is those damn luxury boxes.  I understand the need for a row of them to generate extra revenue, but the three tiers of luxury suites is unprecedented in American sports arenas.

I am not whining about the rich people who sit in those boxes.  I've sat there a few times and its nice to be pampered.  Its just that their presence creates such a huge divide between the "lower bowl" seats and the upper deck that it reminds me of ancient Rome.  There's no middle ground at the Staples Center.  You either have great seats or crappy ones.  The escalator taking you to the top level doesn't even stop at the lower levels.  You rise past glimpses of sumptuous buffets and silver dessert carts that you'll never taste or even smell.  In the past such extravagance was behind closed doors.  Now its thrust in your face before the escalator dumps you above the ozone layer in the top deck.

The Pac 12 basketball tournament is moving from Staples Center to the MGM Grand in Las Vegas where there's truly not a bad seat in the house.  I will make the 300 mile drive to root for UCLA.  I live 20 miles from the Staples Center but have never been to the tournament at Staples.  That place is the antithesis of what college basketball is all about.  Judging by the empty seats for most of the games there are others who agree with me.

So the fact that the Lakers, Clippers and Kings are in the playoffs at the same time leaves me with mixed feelings.  There will be six games played at Staples Center in four days.  Obviously a good thing for the people who work there and the businesses in downtown L.A.  The building will be filled with people who have enough money to afford expensive playoff tickets.  Even the upper deck will be filled.  I don't know why.

Dodgers Look For Magic, Marlins Find It In Miami!

I read the news today, oh boy! The Dodgers were sold to a consortium fronted by Magic Johnson. For two freaking billion dollars! I'm not exaggerating! Frank McCourt took the money so he could pay off his divorce settlement. Good riddance! Because of McCourt I have gone two years without seeing a game at Dodger Stadium. A place I've been visiting since 1965, maybe a 1000 times overall. I missed the experience but promised myself not to give that guy a dollar, even if the tickets were free! So now what?

It seems too good to be true. After all I share a memory of note with Magic Johnson. We were both at the last World Series game played at Dodger Stadium. Game 2 in 1988 when Orel Hersheiser shut out Oakland with his arm and his bat! I was waiting in a beer line on the field level when I heard a rustle of commotion and turned to see a towering figure heading to his seat. People were applauding and giving Magic high-fives. It was such a sweet time in Los Angeles, both the Lakers and Dodgers winning championships in 1988. It seems so long ago.

My happiness about the sale is tempered by the news that McCourt has a partial stake in the land surrounding Dodger Stadium. If it's developed (see my last piece about an NFL stadium site) he will make even more money. Are you kidding me? That's like getting married and your wife says: "Oh yeah, my ex-husband lives next door. Don't worry, he won't bother you." Anytime McCourt's named is mentioned, its going to bother me.

Meanwhile across the country something truly wonderful is happening. The Florida Marlins have become the Miami Marlins (nice ring to that!) with new uniforms and a new retractable roof ballpark that makes me want to get on a plane and check it out. No more rain outs for the franchise that won the World Series in 1997 and 2003. That's right, a team that began in 2003 has won two championships in the same time the Dodgers have won zero. I've always liked the Marlins, who won a dramatic Game 7 in extra innings to beat Cleveland in 1997 and vanquished the mighty Yankees in 2003, becoming the last team to win the Series at old Yankee Stadium. Those playoffs included the infamous Steve Bartman inning vs The Cubs, one of the wildest baseball games ever played.

Miami's new stadium looks incredible, like something out of Star Trek and the new uniform looks great on their big free agent signing Jose' Reyes and new manager Ozzie Guillen. I'd like to think this is the year for the Dodgers, but the McCourt hangover is going to last until Magic and his partners completely take control. Until then, I think a team doing all the right things should win it all, and that team is the Miami Marlins.

McCourt's Parking Plans Leave Dodgers Idling

"Ding dong the witch is dead!" was the triumphant cry of the Munchkins when the Wicked Witch was killed by Dorothy's falling farmhouse. Yet their worries were not over because another Wicked Witch would seek revenge. That's the way I feel right now about the Dodgers and their upcoming sale. The wicked Frank McCourt has been forced by Bud Selig's falling fist to sell the Dodgers and that's cause for great celebration. However, McCourt somehow figured out how to keep the Dodger Stadium parking lots separate from the sale of the team. Whoever buys The Dodgers will have to lease the lots from McCourt. Somehow this wicked witch has cast an evil spell on the Dodgers which will outlast his ownership!

I've been going to the stadium I once loved since 1965. I've probably attended 1000 events there. Yet McCourt's mismanagement of the team and their resources have kept me away for the past two seasons. I have turned down free tickets simply because I don't want even a dime of beer money to go to McCourt. Many other Dodger fans feel the same and in 2011 the team failed to draw at least 3 million fans for the first time since 1992.

My biggest concern is that McCourt might try to use the parking lots to attract an NFL team to Dodger Stadium. There's a perfect spot to build a football stadium behind center field. Its called Lot 5 and it sits in the original Chavez Ravine, surrounded on three sides by steep hills that lead to a flat surface almost exactly the size of a football field. Looking at the spot its easy to imagine a football stadium nestled into those hillsides. With all the talk of building a new stadium downtown (where there's no parking at all) or out in the City of Industry (really?), this has always seemed to be the perfect spot.

Peter O'Malley wanted to build a football stadium there in 1996 before Mayor Richard Riordan asked O'Malley not to pursue an NFL team. He wanted to concentrate on bringing a team to the historic LA Coliseum. Historic, yes but also an aging dump with notoriously bad parking. O'Malley was so disappointed he ended up selling The Dodgers and since then the team's fortunes have gone downhill.

Just when I thought it was safe to go back to Dodger Stadium, it may be even worse. McCourt has already ruined the Dodgers. The thought of him ruining a chance to bring NFL football back to L.A. is too much to handle. The thought of him owning the new football stadium makes me sick!

Tim Tebow's Positive Energy Beats My Negative Vibes

Yesterday I stuffed envelopes with my holiday cards while watching NFL football. That's when I witnessed a Christmas miracle. Since the Packers were destroying the Raiders I turned my attention to the Broncos vs Bears match up. After all, Tim Tebow has everyone talking about Denver and their big turnaround since he took over as quarterback. They'd won 5-in-a-row and many of them in thrilling fashion. So when I saw The Bears leading 10-0 with five minutes left in the game I stopped everything and focused on the action.

What I saw cannot be described with mere words. The Bears went to their prevent defense which gave Tebow plenty of time to pass the ball. The guy had completed only 8 out of 23 passes until then but suddenly completed seven in a row including a touchdown pass to make it 10-7 Bears. Divine intervention? No, bad idea to change from an aggressive defense to a conservative one.
Now it was starting to look like a Hollywood movie and I knew how it would end. The Bears would run out the clock because Denver had no more time outs left. Instead, Chicago running back Marion Barber ran out of bounds to stop the clock. Inexcusable since he would have won the game by sitting down and letting time expire! Tebow gained enough yards to put kicker Matt Prater in line for a 59 yard field goal and he made it to send the game to overtime.

Divine intervention? No, just perfect conditions in the thin air of Denver to boom one through the uprights. So the Bears get the ball and only need a field goal to win in sudden death overtime. Except the mistake-prone Barber fumbles the ball and Denver recovers it! Almost looked like Marion was throwing the game on purpose! Tebow made a couple of plays before Prater drilled a 51 yard field goal to win the game for the Broncos 13-10. Even the Packers helped out by beating the Raiders and putting the Broncos in first place in the AFC West.

Divine intervention? Maybe! I cannot explain why Tim Tebow looks like Clark Kent for 55 minutes and suddenly transforms into Superman seizing victory when defeat seems so certain. Someone said he is in such great physical shape he gets stronger while opponents get weaker. Teammate Eric Decker says Tebow radiates positive energy. That doesn't explain why Denver's defense has stepped it up or why the offensive line gives Tebow consistent protection. No one on TV knows the answer and neither do I.

I just know I'll be watching next Sunday...when there's five minutes left in the game.

The Greatest Night In Baseball History

I went to my first baseball game in 1965. For nearly fifty years I've been a fan of the game. I've never seen anything like the night of September 28, 2011, the greatest single evening in baseball history. Eight teams playing four games with two playoff berths on the line on the last day of the regular season with two of the match-ups going extra-innings. It was something I'll never forget.
One month ago I was like most fans. Bemoaning the lack of a close pennant race as the Yankees and Phillies dominated their respective leagues. Even the wild card playoff berths seemed pre-destined. The Atlanta Braves had a 8 game lead over the St. Louis Cardinals, while the Boston Red Sox claimed a 9 game margin over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. But the month of September was cruel to Boston and Atlanta who found themselves tied for the two wild card spots with the teams who finally chased them down..
My TV clicker almost blew up as I went back and forth between the four games on two ESPN channels. The Red Sox took an early lead over the Orioles and the Yankees had a 7-0 lead over the Devil Rays. If the Red Sox held on they were going to the playoffs and Tampa was going home. Then it started raining in Baltimore (as if the night needed any more drama) and Tampa rallied to make it 7-6 in the bottom of the ninth. With two outs they sent to the plate a guy named Dan Johnson with a .108 batting average. In the type of pressure situation every kid dreams about he knocked out a solo home run to send the game into extra innings.
Meanwhile the Red Sox game resumed and they quickly wished the rain had never stopped. Baltimore, a team with nothing to play for but pride, scored two runs in the 9th to win the game 4-3. Now the Red Sox had to root for their fierce rivals to beat Tampa. The Yankees had clinched top seed in the playoffs a week earlier so they also had nothing to play for and I'm sure they did not want to play extra innings. They held on until the 12th when Evan Longoria hit his second homer of the game, winning the wild card for Tampa and completing the epic collapse of Boston.
While all of this was going on there were two important games being played in the National League. One of them had St. Louis romping over Houston 8-0 . Then the Cards turned their attention to the Atlanta Braves vs. Philadelphia Phillies marathon. The Phils, like the Yanks, already had the best record in the National League and thus had nothing on the line. I'm sure they were not happy to go extra innings but they kept their best players in the line up until finally beating the Braves 4-3 in the 13th. That sent the Cardinals to the playoffs and the Braves into the record books for their historic choke job.
The Red Sox and Braves are two of baseball's heritage teams. When September started they looked like wild card winners. But the Sox won only seven games and the Braves won only nine while the Devil Rays and Cards never gave up hope. It took the greatest night in baseball to decide the ultimate winners and losers. Now its time for the playoffs to see who wins it all. It'll be a tough act to follow.

Champions League Final Brings Back Memories!

There's something in the air, can you feel it? Do you smell the fresh cut grass and hear the kids cheering on their teammates? Its spring time and that means balls are flying through the air down at the local...soccer field? That's right, I'm talking about that funny little game that most American adults claim to dislike yet somehow all their kids are playing nearly every day. I used to be one of those haters, turning up my nose at the mere thought of watching a match and clinging to my love of a real sport, like baseball. Now the Dodgers are a disgrace and I'm embracing my love for football, the kind that's really played with the feet, not the kind with helmets and bone-jarring tackles.

It took a long time for me to see the light. Back in 1994 when the World Cup final came to the Rose Bowl, I joined up with some fellow skeptics to watch the match between Italy and Brazil at a local pub. The game ended 0-0 and Brazil won the title on penalty kicks. In other words, the perfect example of why most Americans don't like soccer. Low scores, deliberate play and lots of flopping around on the field. It would be ten years before I watched another match.

By then I had a new job and a new co-worker named Kelly. Her love for soccer rivaled my once-passionate affection for the Dodgers. She had discovered the game late in life and was determined to watch and play as much soccer as possible. In 2004 she and her husband invited me over to watch the Euro Cup final between Portugal and Greece. It was another low-scoring game but something was different about this match.

Portugal was heavily favored to win on its home pitch and I became familiar with the names of such greats as Luis Figo, Deco and Cristiano Ronaldo. Despite the star-power of the host team, Greece kept the game close thanks to the goal keeping of Antonios Nikopolidis. In a few months, Greece was going to play host to the Olympics, and they looked woefully unprepared for the task. When their team won the Euro Cup 1-0 it seemed to energize the country who ended up staging a wonderful Olympics.

Like any sport, it helps to know the players and the more I learned the more I realized I needed a favorite team to sustain my interest in soccer.
In 2005 Kelly and I watched the Champions League Final between Liverpool and AC Milan. I'd been to Liverpool before and toured all the landmarks associated with my beloved Beatles. It looked bad for "The Reds" who were down 3-0 at the half but they staged a furious comeback to tie the match 3-3. Its been called one of the greatest comebacks in sports history and when Liverpool won the title on penalty kicks I was hooked. Liverpool was my team and I was now a genuine soccer fan.

When I discover something new I tend to get a little crazy with my passions. I started out buying soccer movies to whet my new appetite for the game. The one every knows is "Victory" (1981) with Sly Stallone and Michael Caine. Its a fun movie with marvelous footage of soccer great Pele' in his prime. Then came the little known "A Shot At Glory" with Robert Duvall and soccer star Ally McCoist. This one takes place in the Scottish league and I learned a lot just by watching the opening credits. Later I discovered "The Longest Yard" was remade into a soccer movie called "Mean Machine" with former player Vinnie Jones. My favorite turned out to be "Fever Pitch," the original film version of Nick Hornby's book about growing up in England as an Arsenal fan.

One of the things I love about soccer is the brevity of the game. Most matches take only two hours to watch and except for half-time its non-stop action. I read once that an average NFL game features around 12 minutes of actual playing time and it takes over 3 hours to complete! So even if the soccer match turns out to be a boring "prawn sandwich" it doesn't take up an entire afternoon. My favorite time is the 8am Sunday telecast of the English Premier League. In my bed with coffee in hand I cheer for my favorite player, Steven Gerrard, and root against such powerhouses as Chelsea and Arsenal. I'm already looking forward to watching the Champions League final taking place in London on May 28th. This is a rematch of 2009 when Barcelona won the title behind the magnificence of Lionel Messi, perhaps the best player in the world. They beat Manchester United and Ryan Giggs, perhaps the most beloved player in the world, and the Red Devils will be ready for revenge at Wembley Stadium. It should be a helluva match!