Thinking Ahead To 2013

The Dodgers recently emailed an order form to purchase mini plan ticket packages.  The ticket packages are available for between 10 and 30 games.  They also offer packages that include the bobble head games.  The Dodgers are going with 10 bobble head giveaways this year.

After the end of every Dodger season, I always proclaim that I will never go back to Dodger Stadium.  I say that I will just watch the games at home and listen to Vin Scully.  I have a bunch of different reason why I say things like this after the conclusion of the Dodger season.  None of those reasons have to do with what transpires on the field.

I have been buying mini plans from the Dodgers since the horrid 2005 season.  Jason Phillips got over 400 plate appearances that year.  I still happily renewed in 2006.

Since getting the email notice from the Dodgers to renew my tickets, I have pondered whether or not to go back to watch games in person.  The seats in the Dodger Stadium pavilions are made of solid wood and are long benches.  Sometimes you are crammed tight with complete strangers for 3 hours.  The food also needs to improve at the ballpark.  The selection in left field is pretty much a Dodger Dog or overly salty nachos.  Those picks get boring after a while.

Also, not hearing Scully while I am watching a Dodger game is painful at times.  We, Dodger fans are so spoiled hearing him call a game that to see baseball being played without his pleasant voice is a lesser product.

Those are just some of my reasons for contemplating getting a ticket package for 2013.

Even with my whining, of course, I am going to renew.  I am addicted to baseball.  I am willing to put up with a bunch of crap at the ballpark that is off the field to watch my beloved Dodgers.  I probably could never go through a baseball season again without going to Dodger Stadium a bunch and patrolling the left field pavilion with pride.

2013 is going to mark the year, where I stop kidding myself and happily buy tickets for Dodger games months in advance.  No more saying that I will never go back.  I will always go back.

Matt Kemp plays for the Dodgers.  He came up through the team's minor league system, signed a long term deal last year to stay in LA and Kemp is really good at baseball.  Kemp is our guy.  He can take over ball games for weeks at a time.

Clayton Kershaw will be our opening day starter.  It is not even a question who will be on the mound for the Dodgers against the Giants on opening day.  I enjoy the stability and knowing that Kershaw can crush his opponents any game he enters.  I will be wearing my Kershaw jersey in Dodger Stadium on opening day.

The baseball addiction will never go away.

The Dodger Stadium jumbo tron doesn't show enough replays.  The replays they do show seem to be a few minutes after the play took place.  That seems way too long in our fast paced times and the television audience probably saw that same replay five times with Scully narrating it.

I can deal with that.  I usually watch the replay of the game after I get home from watching the game live.  If I feel I missed a play or had an obstructed view, the game will be on by the time I get home and I could re-watch what I missed.

I love seeing a big moment happen while I am in the stadium.  The roar of the crowd is enjoyable and feeling the nervous, anticipation that a stadium audience gets when something good or bad is about to happen.

I also don't want to miss watching Andre Ethier hit a baseball.  He always seems so angry and focused while out on the field.  Kemp smiles a lot and seems to have a relaxed swagger.  When Ethier makes an out he seems pissed at the world.  That is the same anger that I have watching him make an out at the plate.

I love that passion that he brings to his job.  I will feel like I am disappointing Ethier if I wasn't sitting in the outfield cheering him on.  He is too angry a dude to disappoint even though he may not even know that I exist or that my praying to the baseball gods help him get base hits.

I am in desperate need for baseball and am having major withdrawals.  Hockey season looks doomed and football only has one game a week that I care about.

The Dodgers have Kemp, Kershaw, and Ethier.  I will continue to ride the journey with them for our quest for a title.  Dodger Stadium will be my part time home on several nights in 2013.

  
The Dodgers also have Aaron Harang.  I love seeing the terrified look that kids have on their faces when they see Harang's face in person.

Hurry up baseball season.  I miss you!