The evidence is beginning to mount.
It’s not the Arrive Late, Leave Early thing, for which Dodgers fans are (justly) infamous.
That’s a violation of “real fan” behavior, at both ends … but given the freeway system in SoCal it’s almost understandable. Talking about 30-45 minutes of your life you can save, coming late or (especially) leaving early. (Though Dodgers fans will be mocked forever by video of the Kirk Gibson home run in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series, when you can clearly see, in the background of the TV shot, the red lights of people streaming out of the parking lot.)
It’s the other stuff Dodgers fans do that is truly embarrassing.
Buying season tickets for a bad franchise. Why encourage or reward mediocrity? The beach balls in the second inning. The boos accorded every intentional walk of a Dodger, even when it makes perfect strategic sense. No sense that anything approaching a majority of the people in the stands have any real idea of what they are watching.
And after 50 years of ball here in L.A., there’s no excuse for that.
Another indication of Dodgers Fan Doltishness, just now:
Top nine, 2-2 game, Todd Helton at-bat with Rockies runners at first and second.
The game is on the line, kids. Helton singles, and the Dodgers are three outs from losing.
And what are Dodgers fans doing? Biting their nails? Cheering every strike for all they are worth?
Heck no. What do you think this is, Boston? St. Louis? A real baseball town? Are you kidding?
With the game on the line, Dodgers fans are … doing “the wave.”
I kid you not. It’s a 1-2 count to Helton, here comes the wave. Ball 2. Now it’s 2-2, the tension ought to be mounting … and the wave is making another circuit of the stadium. Ball 3. Can we get some attention here? Uh, no.
The wave didn’t stop until Helton put the ball in play, lifting a fly ball to left. End of inning. Did anyone notice?
Serious fans don’t do that. People who know the game. People paying attention. And, sadly, that isn’t Dodgers fans. Never has been and, if anything, it’s getting worse.
6 responses so far ↓
1 DPope // Apr 28, 2008 at 7:50 AM
I theorize that fans of teams in St. Louis and Boston are so passionate about their teams because they treat (the Cards, Saux, baseball) like a treasure. They OBSESS over their teams, live and die with the results. This permeates the culture over the course of 100 years and you begin to have fewer and fewer marginal fans. The obsessiveness is probably borne through long winters devoid of warmth, and the connection between the warm seasons (Spring and Summer) and baseball.
On the other hand, in SoCal it never gets colder than 50 degrees so making sure the Dodgers’ game gets in before that wicked harsh SouWester storm hits, well it has never factored into fans’ thinking. This, I argue, is the root of their urgency, or lack thereof.
2 nickj // Apr 28, 2008 at 9:18 AM
Angel stadium (or Edison) is a much better place to enjoy a game. just a much better vibe, and the team is exciting. the dodgers whole franchise to me seems corporate, but poorly managed. the angels management seems to get it–entertainment and success all at once.
beyond the traffic and often non-helpful attendants at dodger stadium these days, it just isnt a nice vibe unless its a day game. in anaheim, for me, night or day is nice.
3 Mike Rappaport // Apr 28, 2008 at 9:42 PM
I think the corporate vibe is just about everywhere these days. Last week when I was home for my dad’s funeral, my brother and I caught a game at the new Nationals Stadium between Washington and the Mets.
It was fun — baseball always is — but they even had “caught stealing” sponsored — by an alarm company.
4 Damian // Apr 29, 2008 at 1:40 PM
Here’s the thing. Most Dodgers fans (allegedly), from what I can gather in the pavilion and second and third decks, don’t exactly strike you as those who have their lives put together solidly, let alone knowing the protocol of how to act like a pure Dodgers/baseball fan. Most of these fans are more interested in getting drunk, hitting the beach ball, or hitting another fan wearing the opposition’s gear, than paying attention to the game.
Most people sitting between the first- and third-base bags on the field level and in the field box seats — your season ticket holders — are there to be noticed as if it’s some sort of LA status symbol to have primo Dodgers season ticket access. (this concept is similar to those who have Lakers season tickets courtside and in the first few rows). So these people are more concerned with talking and texting on their cell phones to let everyone know that they are at the game, or that they get in the background of the camera shot from the dugout well when it is focused on a batter at the plate, and there’s just simply no time to dedicate an attention span to what’s going on in the game.
From my experiences, some Angels fans can be just as guilty as this but Angels games seem to attract slightly more families than at Chavez Ravine.
Because this is the culture of many of the Dodger/Angel fans, they will never, ever reach the same level of collective fever that Cardinals/BoSox fans have about their teams in their respective cities.
Yet, the reason why Cards/Sox fan is so passionate and caring is because, unlike in SoCal, those people have nothing else to do in their home city apart from live vicariously through their sports stars.
What else is there to do in St. Louis? You can go to East St. Louis and get shot, or you can go for a nature walk. There’s nothing to do in downtown St. Louis and you can only see the arch so many times. StL is land-locked in the middle of nowhere and you are locked in with a bunch of pasty dudes that wear tablecloths for shirts.
What else is there to do in Boston after you’ve done the history tours? And if you live there, you’ve taken all the tours you can stomach by the age of 7. You have to stay inside 4 months a year there because it is freezing and rainy. You can only play golf from May-September.
Why do you think New Yorkers and Bostonians come out to live here, or they have homes in Florida that they live in during the fall and winter? Because even they get sick of their crappy lifestyle when the Red Sox are out of season. I don’t think there are too many SoCals looking to move to the Northeast.
In SoCal, entertainment options are numerous. Unfortunately, that affects our fan style. I don’t mean to generalize that all fit into this category but many, if not most, from SoCal do.
5 George Alfano // May 1, 2008 at 12:23 PM
People in the New York area have more entertainment opportunities than people in southern California. More museums, ethnic parades just about every weekend from March until October, more parks and, oh yeah, there’s a street called Broadway where there are real actors who work without getting a second take.
Yankees fans are more passionate about their team and are passionate about everything, including pizza and restaurants. I can guarantee nobody in New York could call what Domino’s sells pizza without getting laughed at.
People come from the Northeast mostly for employment opportunities – if it’s a question of getting away from winter weather, they will go to Florida or Arizona. It’s the same reason people from other countries come to southern Calfiornia.
As a biased Jersey guy, I would have to say that people in California know baseball as much as if not more than people in New Jersey or New York. I think the difference is that people in California tend to believe “the company line” about the teams.
I remember when I moved out here in 1992 and would listen to Dodger Talk programs – I called them Dodger Propaganda. The Dodgers were losing 99 games that season, and people would talk about how important it was that the Dodgers do things “the right way” not signing free agents and developing people through a farm system which had dried up several years earlier. I won’t go thru the stereotype “arrive in the second inning and leave in the seventh inning” because Atlanta fans are worse.
the other thing southern California fans don’t do as well is to hate other teams. You have to not just enjoy your own team’s success, but take pleasure in other teams going through misery.
6 cindy robinson // May 2, 2008 at 12:18 PM
Are Dodgers fans idiots? that is a rhetorical question, right?
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