Buh bye, BCS!

Hey! Look, folks, another college football bowl season has ended and I'm back here at Throwing Cookies to talk some smack about sports. It's been a while, but not as long as the break I took for all of 2012 when I didn't post anything between the Ducks' Rose Bowl and Fiesta Bowl wins because of that darn baby. And look at that, Oregon won their bowl game again. What bowl did they play in again?

I have no excuses for my lack of sports writing. There was no torn Achilles' tendon, no newborn baby, no book tour. I just haven't written about sports aside from the occasional tweet or Facebook, or instagram post even though there was plenty to write about. We made our first trip to Dodgers Spring Training this

The family at spring training...

year and to a handful of Dodgers games. Our Emerson girls and boys flag football teams both brought home city titles. It was a great year in sports, but I didn't write about it. So, for 2014 I vow to post at least once a month, maybe even more. Yep. I know all of my 10 readers just gave me a virtual high five.

So, tonight I watched the final BCS championship game between Florida State and Auburn. If both could have lost, that would have been awesome, but at least it was an entertaining game. No SEC field-goal contest like in 2011. But Oregon's last loss in a bowl was to Auburn. I don't like Auburn and I don't like the SEC. So, yeah, how does it feel, Auburn. War damn eagle, family all in.

But what a great game to finish on: SEC loses in a great FSU comeback. But 2010 Auburn team that beat us and this FSU team were both led by Heisman winning quarterbacks who made and make me cringe. I'll take some Marcus Mariota for another year. Oh, and that Seminole chant is terrible. It was terrible when the Dodgers were beating the Braves in the playoffs and it was painful to hear it through the whole game tonight.

So long BCS. I can't wait for 2015 to see how this playoff thing works...

And until then, go Dodgers! Go Ducks basketball, baseball, and softball. And go Niners! Yep, I'm still on the Kaepernick bandwagon which I wrote about last January when all that Manti Te'o drama was unfolding and the college hoops season was just underway. I even got that Oregon run in the tourney that I hoped for.

So, here's to another great year in sports. 

March Madness! Go Ducks!

Told You So...

KEMvP! KEMvP! KEMvP!

Not sure if you've noticed, but as long as I've been alive, no baseball player has won baseball's triple crown. It's actually rare for someone to even come close. So during a season when Dodger fans have had very little to cheer about, I just have to point out that I called it. Like Babe Ruth calling a shot I saw that Matt Kemp was different this season (here's a link to that blog post in case you don't believe me). He might end up falling a few points shy of the triple crown, but I've been stalking him all season and during innings when I was able to make eye-contact, I'm pretty sure he hit over .500. If any other MLB players would like to book my stalking services for next year, please leave a comment including stats and your off-season training plans.

Going Back After 9/11

D and I joke that we belong to the church of baseball, but in September of 2001 baseball, like the rest of the sporting world, came to stunned halt. The attacks on 9/11 left so many of us shocked and scared and in the need of healing. So when baseball started up again, D and I made our way to Dodger Stadium.

From the stands above the field on that cool fall night, we watched the familiar palm trees sway in the outfield. We looked out on the sage hills of Chavez Ravine as the sky glowed like stained glass. Vin Scully’s voice cracked and echoed into the stadium and a hush spread across the crowd.  That steady, familiar voice calmed me as Vin's put the week's event in perspective.

Then, LA firefighters and police officers joined Dodger and Padre players unfurling a flag across the length of the outfield. We took a moment of silence and in that quiet, a quiet like none I’ve ever heard in Los Angeles, void of helicopters or planes in the distance, words, whistles or coughs, I saw how our country, our world, could come together again.  Among the crowd of 42,000 under empty LA skies, the ruffle of the American flag served as the backdrop to all the images of the past week and that night, I looked down through the twilight and thanked God for baseball.

Matt Kemp Redeux

At my first preseason game at Dodger Stadium this spring I noticed something different. First I noted the things that hadn't changed: the beauty of Chavez Ravine, the smell of garlic fries and Dodger Dogs. But then I noticed something different: a player, warming up away from fray. He was on his own and focused. He didn't join his teammates when we stood for the National Anthem. He simply removed his cap, watched the flag and then resumed his warm-ups. Huh. That's different, I thought. Hopefully Matt Kemp will be different this season.

So far, he has been. He's stealing bases, running out infield ground balls and hitting walk-off homers. Welcome back to baseball, Matt Kemp. We've missed you. 

It's Time for Dodger Baseball!

A Dodgers tagxedo for opening day.

ESPN's 30 for 30 Series: STILL Required Watching

I wrote about this documentary series this past October, but since then I've had the chance to see a few more and so here are five more worth watching:

Little Big Men: The story of a little league team from Washington State and where they are now.

Into the Wind: A kid gets cancer and decides to run across Canada on a prosthetic leg.

The Fab Five: Relive the magic of CWebb, Jalen, Juwan, Ray and Jimmy.

Fernando Nation: The man who brought Latinos back to Chavez Ravine. "If you've got a sombrero, throw it to the sky." Vin Scully

Winning Time: Trash talking at it's best. Reggie Miller v. the Knicks.

Oh, and even though it's not part of this series and instead is part of The Year of the QB, The Color Orange about Condredge Holloway breaking the QB color barrier at Tennessee is awesome.  

---original post from October 2010---

I know there's a whole lot of sports to watch right now with the MLB LCS, along with college and NFL football, but if you are a sports fan and you haven't started recording ESPN's documentary series 30 for 30, you should.  I arrived a little late to the show and still have a few to catch up on, but here are my favorites so far.

Run Ricky Run A thoughtful look at the complexities of Ricky Williams.

June 17, 1994  I'm sure this date rings a bell.  The Knicks were playing the Rockets in the NBA Finals, the US was hosting the FIFA World Cup, and Arnold Palmer was ending his career, but none of us could turn away from OJ Simpson's white Bronco. This film has the footage to prove it. 

The Two Escobars  This is the film I imagine Entourage's fictional Medellin could have been.  It illuminates the lives and deaths of Columbian soccer player Andres Escobar, and the drug lord Pablo Escobar.

Guru of Go  LMU, Paul Westhead, Hank Gathers, Bo Kimble, and a left-handed free-throw that still brings tears to my eyes. 

Four Days in October  Remember when the Red Sox were a team of playful, lovable idiots, cursed for 80-some years?  Remember when you felt for Red Sox and sympathized with their bad luck before they became almost as annoying as Yankees fans? Here are the four unbelievable days that changed Red Sox Nation forever.

Wait 'Til Next Year

Even though the Dodgers haven't won or played in a world series since I've lived in LA, I'm realizing how spoiled I've been over the past few years.  We've been to the stadium a couple of times this past month and D still has tickets to a couple of games this September.  We'll go, enjoy Chavez Ravine, eat some Dodger dogs and peanuts, but we know what we've known since the start of August-- it's over.

There will be no Steve Finley play-off clinching grand-slam like in 2004, no magical September evening with back-to-back-to-back-to-back homeruns topped by a Nomar walk-off like in 2006.  No win streak is coming from Manny being Manny (at least not in LA) and Andre Ethier's late inning heroics will be unable to salvage this season.

So this Dodger fan, like so many generations of Brooklyn and Los Angeles fans before me, will be heading for the ballpark knowing once again we'll have to wait 'til next year.

"I believe in the Church of Baseball." ~Annie Savoy

I don't usually go to the ballpark alone but with D busy at work I wasn't about to let tickets to a day game (with seats in the shade) go to waste.

As I walked toward the stadium by myself on a perfect LA day, I felt a little like Susan Sarandon's character, Annie Savoy, from Bull Durham.

It was a Sunday afternoon and a parking attendant asked how I was doing. "Couldn't be better," I told him. "It's a beautiful day for a ballgame."

Because even if there weren't the same number of stitches in a baseball as there are beads in the Catholic rosary, I'd still believe that "the only church that truly feeds the soul, day in, day out, is the Church of Baseball." Amen.

I met friends for the game and got to experience their 10-month-old son's first Dodger game. The baby napped through Furcal's homer and Loney's 2 RBI single in the fifth, but he woke up to see the Dodger's leave them on the field in the tenth and he never shed a tear. I love LA!

Top Five Memorable Moments at Dodger Stadium

D and I have seen a lot of amazing games. Many of these moments happened on the road. In 2002, on our honeymoon tour, we watched Dodger pitcher Odalis Perez throw 6 1/3 perfect innings in New York against the Mets. In Milwaukee, we saw a walk-off hit from young Prince Fielder. But we've witnessed some remarkable baseball moments in our home ballpark. Here are my top five.

5. Chan Ho Park giving up two grand slam home runs in the same inning to Fernando Tatis. Not a proud one, but I still remember sitting in the stands saying, "Two grand slams in one inning, that has to be some kind of record."

4. The end of Eric Gagne's consecutive saves streak. I was there with D and my sister and niece who were in town from Oregon. Dodgers ended up winning but as we left the ballpark I had a hard time explaining to my niece why D and I were so sad.

3. It was a warm September evening in 2001. I don't remember who the Dodgers played or if we won or lost. I do remember the American flag stretched across the outfield by members of the LAPD and LA Fire Department. Airspace remained closed so the sky was still as Vin Scully asked all gathered in Chavez Ravine to take a moment of silence. In the quiet of Dodger Stadium, we started healing.

2. One of Nomar's many walk-off hits, but it wasn't a homer, it was a little squib up the first-base line that stayed fair. Then he ran and put on a poncho to kick off Los Doyer's Cinco de Mayo celebration.

1. Four consecutive home runs in the bottom of the ninth and a Nomar walk-off in the bottom of the tenth to beat the Padres. It was fleece blanket night but most of the fair-weather LA crowd left with the Dodgers down four in the ninth. Those of us who stayed belted out "I Love LA" and gave high fives to strangers because we were there to see that game.

Welcome to Dodger Stadium

There are so many great things about going to the ballpark and this past week I got to spend two consecutive nights in Chavez Ravine at Dodger Stadium. It's early is the season but the Dodgers are off to a rough start. They've lost every road series and head back to LA after dropping 2 of 3 to the Nationals and being swept by the Mets.

They're happy to be home and I'm happy to be driving to the Stadium for the first time this season. I sit with students, families and colleagues from the Emerson Sports Academy high above left field as the wind whips through the stadium. The Dodgers, however, continue to play like they're still on the road. The Pirates score 2 on a Matt Kemp error in the first and neither team scores for the rest of the night. All of those zeros lined up on the scoreboard depress me but for many of my middle school students, this is their first Dodger game and even though the home team loses 0-2, being there is enough.

The next night a friend hooks us up with field level seats just behind the dugout club. It's UCLA night at the stadium so I get to look over Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's shoulder at the Dodgers warming up in the on-deck circle. The wind dies down and before the sun sets the Dodgers score two and don't trail for the rest of the night.

I'm off to the Ravine for another game tonight and the great thing about baseball is that anything can happen. You never know what might happen on any given night, on any given pitch. It's what keeps me watching even when my team hovers below .500. You never know what you're going to see so you better pay attention or you just might miss something amazing.

MLB Salutes Jackie Robinson

It helps that #42, Jackie Robinson, was a Dodger, but I'm pretty sure he'd top my favorite all-time ballplayer list (along with Roberto Clemente) because I'm a sucker for athletes who stand up for their beliefs both on and off the field.

Tonight Major League ballplayers will don #42 but some major league ballplayers epitomize Mr. Robinson more than others.

He won't be playing tonight, but I love how Carlos Delgado stood up for what he believed in by not standing for God Bless America at the start of the Iraq War.

Today I think the player who captures Jackie Robinson's spirit the most is James Loney. Not only is he a Dodger and an RBI alumni, but he continues to give back. He was granted the club's Roberto Clemente award for his community service project which brought young RBI players to Dodger Stadium.

Who is your modern-day Jackie Robinson?

Opening Day

D isn't worried about getting to bed on time tonight. He's sick and tomorrow he won't be able to show up to work. This seems to happen to him most opening days at Dodger Stadium. D gets sick every year around this time. Poor guy. Imagine the luck?

Me? Thanks. I feel fine. I'll be at work, dreaming of green outfield grass, the smell of Dodger Dogs and garlic fries and the dust of dry-roasted peanuts between my fingers as our boys take the field.

So, Dodger fans, have fun at the game and catch a foul ball for me.