I became a baseball fan in 1989 when the Athletics won the world series, and that lasted several good years. Henderson, Canseco, McGwire, Eckersley…those were good times. But then in the early 90′s someone new came along.

Mike Piazza.

He’s why I became a Dodgers fan. I always thought that if I’d paid attention to baseball in ’88 when the Dodgers won it all, I might have skipped the Oakland phase altogether. But it was a pack of 1992 Bowman, and a Piazza rookie card that started my love of the Dodgers. I watched him win the ROY (followed by Mondesi, Nomo, and Hollandsworth), and I was well on my way to being a dedicated Dodgers fan.

For nearly 20 years (wow, that’s a long time), I stuck with the Dodgers regardless of whether they won or lost. There were lots of great moments, and even some playoffs, but success didn’t matter, I was a fan. My greatest memory is being there for Fernando’s no-hitter, on my birthday. The last few years especially had been great watching guys come up through the farm system and produce.

But something that has nagged at me for a while is the experience of going to a game. I used to go to multiple games a year when I was younger, and for the most part I enjoy myself when I go, but over the last 10 years that feeling has slowly been changing. My experience has been that the crowd at Dodger stadium is getting increasingly obnoxious, ghetto, intimidating…however you’d like to describe it. And for the most part, I put up with it. I’d go with some friends, and if we happened to get some drunk idiots behind us, we’d suffer through it.

But then I had a son.

This is where I see a big divergence in opinions. There is no way I would take my son to a Dodgers game. Maybe if I had $500 seats, and I knew the people around me would be nice, but the $50 seats have become a total crapshoot. I’ve found that people with kids absolutely know what I’m talking about, and people without don’t see the big deal. Yes, I’m generalizing all the opinions I’ve heard, but that’s been the common theme.

As a dad who wants to take his son to baseball games growing up, I’m now faced with a dilemma. The team I’ve grown up rooting for is in a crappy part of town, with a crowd that is becoming increasingly like a Raiders game (and from what I’ve heard, I wouldn’t take my son to one of those either). I’ve had to make one of hardest decisions of my adult life.

I am divorcing the Dodgers.

I’ve never gotten divorced, and never will, but I imagine this is exactly what a real divorce feels like. I don’t want to do it. I have all these great memories of a wonderful relationship we used to have…but things have changed. I’m not even sure it’s anyone’s fault. It’s almost natural considering the Dodgers location, and changing demographics over the years. When everything around you is turning into a ghetto, don’t be surprised when the seedier parts of society start dominating the attendance at games.

So for that reason alone, I don’t blame the Dodgers as an organization. I don’t even care about the McCourts…they’re an owner, and they will be gone someday. It’s not even the players fault. There are a ton of crappy guys on this years team that I could use as a scapegoat for why I’m leaving, but that’s part of being a fan. You root for the team through thick and thin, winning or losing.

But I will not take my son to a game. Maybe someday when he’s older I’ll take him to a game to show him the stadium I grew up in. But for his sake, and mine, I am changing my allegiance.

I am now an Angels fan.

This is not an easy decision. I have nothing against the Angels (except the DH), but changing the team you root for is the strangest feeling. I don’t know that many of the players, I’m not used to their announcers, and I don’t know their history. But I’ve been to games there, and it is night and day compared to Dodger stadium. Is the crowd perfect? Of course not, but I would feel comfortable taking my three year old son to a game now.

I’m still very much in transition. I bought an Angels hat (old school one with lots of blue), and I’ve been wearing it everyday. It’s helping me get used to things…slowly. I’m excited about some of the young players on the Angels that I will hopefully be able to follow for a while.

Over time, it will start to feel like my team.

I did it…I went a whole month without a post…how sad. February was a short month though, so if I add an extra day to that month, then today would only be March 16th, and I wouldn’t be dead yet. Makes perfect sense.

Luke is three now! On one hand it feels like it has gone by fast, but on the other we see pictures of him at 6 months old and I can barely remember it. We’re getting the hang of going potty, which is great. We love Bob the Builder and fixing things!

Otherwise nothing too exciting is going on (guess that’s why I haven’t posted!). Now for some quick hits:

• I have 29 unique Androids now between series 1 and 2. I’m missing two from this new series, but they’re chases, and will easily cost me $75 a piece on ebay. Meh.
• I’ve been playing FF13 for 83 hours (and yes, I’m finally getting bored.) But I’ve got one or two trophies I’m soooo close to getting, haha.
• Can’t wait for baseball season to start.
• Running got a little sidetracked. Tweaked my back painting ceilings, so I wasn’t running as much as usual. I’m really going to have to push, but I think I can still reach my goal.
• Almost done with Dexter – Season 1. Enjoying it very much.

Guess that’s all for now!

At my first Dodgers game of the season. Looking for Kershaw to bring home a win.

I haven’t always loved to watch baseball. When I was younger I always loved to play it, but sitting in front of a TV for 2.5 hours was impossible. Now that I’m older and have a little more patience, I love it beyond any other sport. I can watch an entire game and enjoy each pitch.

This appreciation actually stems somewhat from watching a little basketball recently. I’m not trying to hate on basketball, but in some ways it’s absolutely annoying to watch. I remember watching Jordan as a kid, but I never remember the game being so physical. How the refs call the game I have no idea, because it’s almost ridiculous to watch these guys hit and run into each other constantly. It seems like getting away with just enough contact without drawing a foul is a more important skill than shooting a basket. Watch a game from twenty or thirty years ago and the game is completely different, and I think worse.

This brings me to why I love baseball so much. Everything is cut and dry in baseball. If the ball gets to first before your foot, you’re out. If the outfielder catches the ball, you’re out. You hit it over the fence, it’s a home run. Even balls and strikes (which are subjective) are rarely a problem. Strike out on a pitch on the corner? That means you had at least two shots before that one, you should have known borderline pitches need to be defended, and the game never hinges on one pitch because you have 9 innings to get the job done. It’s so cut and dry, and for the most part the game is identical to the way it was played 50+ years ago. Not to mention all the strategy I love about the game and the batter/pitcher battle.

Watching basketball and Kevin Garnett dropping f-bombs on national TV make me proud to be a baseball fan.

Today our little guy turned one month old! It’s hard to believe it’s been that long. I’ve got a full 60 minute tape for the last 3 weeks, so his youth should be well documented. Once I get to editing that I’ll be sure to post links. For now though, here is his monthday picture!

Dodgers: They put up another high score tonight, so I expect a week or so of doughnuts. Andruw Jones did have two hits…in the SAME game, so that’s a positive. Four games in a row on TV this weekend/Monday.

Book: Took me about 3 weeks (since baby came home) to finish the most recent chapter I was on. I started a new one last night and made good progress, so I’m hoping things speed up. Sometimes the words just shoot off the finger tips and you know exactly how the scene should unfold, but other times it could go a bunch of different ways. Most of the time you just have to plunk away at it, and in the process you usually figure out where it’s supposed to go. I’ll wait until I have more exciting news to say more.

Videogames: I’m currently batting about .325 at AA Jacksonville in the Dodgers minor league organization. I’m a shortstop trying to rise up the ranks, and it’s a stacked position for the club, but I’m giving it my best shot. I’m riding a 9 game hitting streak right now, so hopefully the higher ups notice me.

At least the Dodgers are going out in a blaze of suckiness.

Over at ESPN.com a baseball player’s blog said there should be more minorities in little league (which means there are too many white kids!). It was the perfect opportunity for me to jump in and add to the conversation. Feel free to add yourself, but you have to register first.

Lately I’ve been playing a lot of the baseball game I have on PS3, and mostly online. There is something about playing a human opponent that is so much more satisfying than playing the computer. The game still has some network related kinks, but the gameplay is downright solid. All you need to see is me pumping my fists after getting a groundout in the bottom of the 9th to secure a 2-1 win. It’s awesome.

The game is ultra-realistic when you’re playing another human because you can get inside their head. For example, early on you can start to figure out what type of player they are. Some people have zero patience and swing at everything. Even if the pitch is in the dirt, they still swing. In my most impressive outing yet I struck out a guy 22 times in a game. It’s so advanced that you can fool people. Sometimes I’ll throw a fastball pretty far outside so that it’s unhittable, and a decent player will lay off the pitch. But then the next pitch I’ll come back a little closer to where the ball is just outside the zone, but the previous pitch makes it look like a strike. Usually people will swing, and if they don’t miss, they get horrible wood on the ball and make an out.

In addition to the batter/pitcher duel, sometimes games are downright intense. In my last game I went down 1-0 early to the Phillies. I was putting men on base, but I was having a horrible time capitalizing. I eventually put a run across on a double-play ground out and made it 1-1. Lowe had pitched a good 7 innings for me, so I brought in Olmedo Saenz to face the lefty with 1 out and nobody on. He left a pitch out over the plate and the Killer Tomato put the ball over the fence, 2-1 Dodgers. Billingsley held it in the 8th, and Saito came in for the 9th. Everything was great in the 9th until Ryan Howard doubled with 1 out. Next batter grounded out and Howard took 3rd on the play. With the tying run at third and 2 out Saito was able to induce a groundout to win the game 2-1. It was awesome.

So far I’m 19-6. You can see my online profile here. Unfortunately you can’t see all the fun statistics that you can in the game, like ERA, k/9, HR/game, etc, but they do show your average. I’m batting .318 as of this posting, which is pretty good if you ask me.