Well, not much has changed in La-La Land. I'm not a betting man, but if I were I might wager that every Giants/Dodgers game from LA ever played has been televised in the Bay Area since the teams moved west in 1958. I vividly remember growing up in the 70's watching all those games from Chavez Ravine. Every one of those games had something completely amazing in common. Game after game, series after series, year after year for decades. Giants TV announcers have been awe-struck. Giants fans have been bewildered. And to be a Giants fan and be there to witness it in person is the most shocking. And just what is this?
It's the uncanny ability for Dodger fans to not be there most of the time. The only fans in baseball able to show up late for a game in the 6th inning and to simultaneously leave early in the 5th inning. All those years we've been told that the games were sold out, or had at least 45,000 fans, yet at no time were more than a third of the seats filled. The Giants camera crews would always show a shot of the parking lot exits in about the 7th inning. Brake lights for miles.
The score never mattered. I've been to numerous games in LA and I've witnessed it myself. Once, I was at a game in August in the middle of a pennant race and the score was 1-0. At the end of the sixth inning a group of people in the row in front of me stood up and said to their friends, "we'll see you tomorow" and headed for the exits. About a quarter of the fans that were there left as well. Totally unbelievable. Then, each succesive inning, another high percentage of fans left, until finally the game was over.
Is it la-la-laid-back LA attitude? Do you people need to go to the beach? If you need to leave that early to beat the traffic, why even go?
At first I thought you were going to be dedicateing this post to the other Dodger Stadium sacriledge -- the beachballs. Is there anything more frustating, not just for the fans but even more so for the players, than the daily 2-4 stoppages as some speedy teenager shags beachballs in the outfield? I submit that there is not.
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