Say It Ain’t So
And then there was one. The end of the 2012 baseball season will end on the road tonight for the Dodgers in an indoor stadium in what once was a desert in Arizona where coyotes once howled at the moon.. The Diamondbacks are going to the playoffs. The Dodgers are not. Those who know me know I’m a Dodger fan. I know what is like to win the division but I also know what it’s like to sit in The left field Pavilions as Jack Clark drilled his pennant winning home run off of Tom Niedenfuer in the 9th inning to knock the Dodgers out of the of the 1985 NLCS. I also know all to well what it is like to have a losing year. Even though the Dodgers will finish with a winning record, this was a losing year. The Dogers lost their innocence. A Giant fant was beaten into a coma in the Dodger Stadium parking lot on opening day. Then there were the usual excuses for losing- injuries, a new manager, some players getting old. But the clincher was on June 27 (my birthday) when the Dodgers filed for bankruptcy and the owner’s dirty laundry started stinking up Dodger Stadium. We started to find out that this billionaire from Boston knew more about expensive homes, lavish vacations, having psychics on the payroll, and paying his former wife (who maintains she is a co-owner of the Dodgers) 1,000,000 a month in spousal support and knew nothing what it’s like to be a fan. How can a guy spending $80,000 to go to the Superbowl know what it’s like to be a Dodger fan? There was a couple of weeks that went by when I didn’t even turn on the radio to listen to the game.
The Boys of Summer
It’s getting harder and harder to to watch this great game of baseball. It’s getting harder and harder to explain to my kids why some stadiums change their names every few years and, why Manny isn’t on the Dodgers this year and what an owner lock out is. The simple answer is greed. And you try to teach your kids that it’s not okay to be greedy but at the same time try to explain to them that it is okay to hit a guy with a pitch in the ass if he deserves it. Preserving the innocence of the game is our duty as parents (and owners). You sing (not just lip sync.) “Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” during the 7th inning stretch with your kids. You tell them that Helen Dell used to play  ”The King of the House” on the organ when Orel Hershiser did his warm up tosses, and you show them Vin Scully through binoculars in a suit and tie in the Dodger press box on a blistering hot Sunday day game. You tell them, “Wait till next year.”
All Star Game, Pizza and Root Beer
The boys at dinner
The MLB All Star Game is synonymous with pizza and root beer in our house, as is Debbie going out for dinner and or a movie with friends.
an all star catch, photo by Sam
The American League won for the 13th straight year and was highlighted by an amazing catch by Tampa Bays’ Carl Crawford. Us gentlemen made and ate 2 pepperoni and 1 cheese pizza, all washed down by bottles of root beer.
Simon chugging
It don't get much better than this
This year Henry recorded most of the game with his Flip camera Sam gave him for his birthday last month. He would download between innings and after the game while I was doing the dishes I heard him overdubbing the play by play with his own voice. I’ll try to link a clip up for everyone.
una pizza pepperoni
The dishes are done, Sam is playing Scott Joplin’s The Enertainer on the piano, the littler guys are asleep, Debbie is still at her Johnny Depp movie and the Dodgers are still in first place- all is well in Mudville.
Dawn Patrol
The Tudor
If you surf you know what Dawn Patrol is. Somehow the alarm clock went off at 4:00 am instead of 5:00 am. Sometimes you surf this early to beat the crowds which have made surfing frustrating at times lately. But mostly you surf this early to watch the sun coming up through the pier on your left and the moon setting on your right as you paddle out.
Malibu, early
Today was real nice, 2′-3′ with an occasional shoulder high set and offshore conditions. The kind of day where you catch long waves and paddle back to the line up with a big smile on your face.
Sam, surveying and suiting up
What else can you say. Nice small crowd, warm water, nice waves- a nice morning.
Time to go
Circles and Holes
Taking Aim
Debbie brought home doughnuts from Bob’s Donuts this weekend and I swear that the holes are looking larger. Could this be an effort to cut corners? My favorite story from my childhood is The Doughnuts by Robert McCloskey. If you haven’t read it, read it it’s great.
Child's View
Surfing is something I do that really slows the world down. I really like that. There’s something about the coldness of the water, timing the paddle out to the line up and the view looking down a wave which is indescribable and something I’d like all my kids to experience.
Hangin' Ten
Have any of you done yoga on the beach? It’s hard to do. The sorftness of the sand, the slope of the surface and if there’s waves I want to be in the water.
The Amphibious Breakfast
Speaking of organisms adapted for life both on land and in water, it’s the first day of vacation for 3 of our kids and that means Toads in the Holes. This means a dozen eggs, a dozen pieces of toast and a pretty big mess.
Perfect Circle
For me however, the perfect breakfast is the heel of a baguette with butter and an espresso.
Water and Arrows
Morning Shadows
Sam and I try to surf once a week. We surf Malibu, Topanga and Sunset, but usually end up at Bay St. It’s a beach break with shifty sandbars. There’s lots of room to spread out. It’s a fun wave with a very mellow crowd. We get to the beach before the parking lot attendant so we never pay for parking. I don’t like to pay to surf- it doesn’t feel right. I actually saw my Pali High photography teacher today in the parking lot. I hadn’t seen him since I graduated in 1978. Sam sometimes complains about Bay St. He says that he doesn’t like beach breaks. I used to kid him when he asked about how big I thought the waves were. I used to say, “chest height for me but overhead for you.” On this December morning the waves were chest high for both of us.
Last sliver of wax
After surfing I took Theo, Henry, Sam and their friend to The Rancho Park Archery Range. On Saturday mornings at 11:00 they give an intro. class to which enables you to use all the archery equipment and shoot bows and arrows for free. The range was built in 1984 for the Summer Olympic Games. We all had a blast shooting arrows into targets mounted on telephone books. I learned that I am left eye dominant.
My first bullseye
