January 4, 2006

Lost in the Frank McCourt courting of the National Football League brouhaha is the notion that the man had the right idea.

Chavez Ravine is the best place for football in Los Angeles. Has been for awhile, is now, and will be for the foreseeable future.

Since McCourt’s plan included the constructing of a football stadium adjacent to the baseball one, and we assume, on the south side of the Dodger Stadium parking lot, let’s refer to the controversy as "Southgate," shall we.

Even with two 55,000 seat-plus buildings in the way, McCourt’s parking is a million times better than the Coliseum’s. A user-friendly shuttle system has been experimented with successfully and can be developed more effectively than can one for the Coliseum. McCourt’s also got textbook 1960s freeway access designs, which trump those 1920s Exposition Park blueprints, laterals down.

And Southgate has a genuine, downtown ball park location, with a picturesque setting worthy of Tinsel Town. You know, like Vinny says, “mountains behind mountains; purple mountains majesty.”

Sure, it’s important to come together to assure L.A. the NFL franchise; just as it is vital to keep a competing town from snagging that incredible tax revenue. And yes, it’s nice when the powers that be can agree on a plan, but it’s certainly not a requirement.

So, McCourt had some conversations. BFD. So, a couple guys smoked cigars and talked turkey. How do you think the Dodgers got here in the first place? A little tea and compromise by Walter O’Mallery? I don’t think so.

And please, enough with the pining for good ole Peter O’Malley, already. Peter had his chance and dropped the ball. Coughed it up, big-time. Does the name Wendell Tyler mean anything to you? When the junior O’Malley pulled out of the NFL sweepstakes in 1998, he wasn’t acquiescing to city fathers. He wasn’t being a team player. He was being a lightweight.

In your wildest dreams, can you imagine Walter O’Malley submitting meekly to a lesser group of men with an inferior proposal? Walter would have had everyone eating right out of the palm of his hands, while not picking up the tab I might add, and thanking him for generations.

So, the McCourts doodled a diagram and took a lunch. They had the superior idea. And it’s just politics. Get over it.

And oh, by the way, it’s not the neighborhood around the Coliseum that’s frightening away the patrons…it’s the landlords…

Los Angeles vs. Anaheim, Year II: Los Angeles has added to the fold four Gold Gloves, three batting championships, 12 All-Star Game appearances, 165 games of postseason experience, and quite possibly, a football team, while losing Paul DePodesta, Jason Phillips and Darren Dreifort.

As Anaheim prepares for a its big PR accomplishment of the winter, a nine-figure lawsuit, and the banishing of evil-doers Bengie Molina and Steve Finley, city marketing gurus boast their best thing since sliced ciabatta – Motocross. Bully for Motocross. And L.A. shivers with envy…

Trivia: Name the only Dodger player, not in the Hall of Fame, to have his uniform number retired? Hint: He played for both the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers…

Happy Bleeping New Year: 2005 was our finest year in just about every way possible, and the entire BaseballSavvy.com staff sends a heartfelt thank you to our readers, and to those who supported us in other ways. Very special thank yous to Malcolm DeMille, Tim Brown, Steve Henson, Tom Hoffarth, Larry Stewart, Jon Weisman, and of course, to our oh-so-reliable, high-ranking Dodger source. We accomplished much of what we set out to this past year, yet some of our goals remain unachieved; most notably the commissioning of a bronze monument to Sandy Koufax at Dodger Stadium. We’ll keep trying.

But dig this list of nations who logged onto the site in 2005. After the United States (go figure), the Netherlands, European Union, Iceland and Slovenia round out the top five. The baseball-feverish states of Burkina Faso and Cayman Islands checked us out, along with every country in the Middle East except Iraq, plus Slovenia, Romania, Macedonia, Micronesia and Estonia…but not Freedonia…

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“Mythical” National Championship: Oohh, there’s a phrase you don’t hear enough, huh? Not as much as “mercurial outfielder Milton Bradley,” but still.

Whatever. All the game means to me is that we’re another day closer to pitchers and catchers reporting. That, and it gives me a chance to try out the line, “on any given Wednesday.”

Talkback: If you like what you see here, tell a friend. If you don’t like what you see here, tell two friends. Or talkback.

Trivia Answer: Jim Gilliam, and the number 19. The others: Pee Wee Reese (number 1), Tommy Lasorda (2), Duke Snider (4), Don Sutton (20), Walter Alston (24), Sandy Koufax (32), Roy Campanella (39), Jackie Robinson (42) and Don Drysdale (53)…

Statue for Sandy: The Koufax in bronze campaign continues, so please scroll back to the upper right panel of this page and vote yes on 32. 2006 is the year…

Remember, glove conquers all….