I started this blog about a year and a half ago and this is my 100th blog post. I've spent a lot of time thinking what I should do for the 100th post. I have been working on one blog post that I really like, but it's very different from what I usually do on this blog, so I'm saving that for later (it has to do with movies, look for it some time between November and April). I've been to two Notre Dame football games this season. The Oklahoma game certainly wasn't worth blogging about. The Arizona State game in Dallas was worth blogging about, but I'll get to that later. My last post was about Juan Uribe after he hit three home runs in a game in September. I ended that one by saying, "I have a feeling he's going to help make this season even more special in October." Well I was right, but Uribe's not done yet. Last night was awesome. If I hadn't needed to be at work early this morning, I might have drunk dialed Cousin Sal, and it would have gone something like this:
[In the drunk Bill Simmons voice] "Cousin Sal, Jimbo Slice here. I just watched the most amazing professional baseball game. Things weren't looking too good for my beloved Dodgers, until This Little Yasiel Puiggy led off the bottom of the eighth inning with a double with the Dodgers down by one. Then Juan Uribe came up and Don Mattingly wanted him to bunt. That made about as much sense as Brian Kelly going with an empty backfield for the 59th straight time on third and four. But then Juan Uribe purposely fouled off two bunts so he could swing that bat and hit a ball 650 feet over the left field wall to give the Dodgers a 4-3 lead. He just moved up to 24th on my list of favorite post-Cold War baseball players. Right now I'm celebrating the Dodger win, but if you'll excuse me, I have to get to work on a 11,375 word blog post that 10-20 people will read about how you would have to give me approximately $9,392,524 to get me to miss Games 4-7 of the World Series if the Dodgers are involved. Jimbo Slice, over and out."
I love the Bill Simmons drunk dials to Cousin Sal. They get me every time. Anyway, when I started the blog, it was going to be about how I would spend my time if I didn't have a job for a year. I was determined to make the most of it. I was going to spend my time going to as many sporting events as possible and traveling the country. There aren't many things I value more than sports and living in the greatest country in the history of the world. So in short, the blog was going to be about my values. There's nothing better in sports than my favorite teams winning, so that's what this post is about. It should really be called "The Value of the Chance of Victory," but that doesn't sound nearly as good. I love watching my teams win, but I can't guarantee that they win. So how much do I value the chance of victory?
On June 17, 2008, the Celtics beat the Lakers to win the NBA Championship. Last year, Notre Dame beat USC on November 24 to make it to the National Championship Game. Those were easily two of the best days of my life. I went to the National Championship Game in January. The ticket for the game was the most expensive ticket to a sporting event I've ever bought by about a factor of 8 or 9. I would have been willing to pay about twice as much as I did. Obviously, the game didn't go my way. But I never regretted it for a second. If we had won, it would have been by far the best day of my life. Of all the teams I root for, I care about the Notre Dame football team more than any other. Being there to celebrate with thousands of Notre Dame fans would have made it even more amazing. It was worth the risk.
Back in 2009, when Dodgers-Yankees was a World Series possibility, I planned to go to Game 6 of the World Series if it got that far. I had a number in mind for how much I would have been willing to pay. It was a good amount less than what I paid for the National Championship Game, but I think I would have been able to do it. I wanted to go to Game 6 because my choices were 1, 2, 6, and 7. Somebody would have a chance to win the World Series in Games 6 and 7. Game 7 is obviously less likely to happen than Game 6 and it also probably would have been more expensive than Game 6. So that's how I decided on Game 6. Of course, I never got the chance.
I've made it my goal to get to every Major League Baseball stadium. Whenever I can, I try to see the Dodgers at whatever stadium I'm visiting. For my first 21 years of going to baseball games, the only team I ever saw the Dodgers play against in person was the Mets. Since then, I've seen the Dodgers play in eight different cities. Now, the only stadiums where I've seen more baseball games than Dodger Stadium are Shea Stadium, Old Yankee Stadium, and Citi Field.
So I've spent a lot of money to watch my favorite teams. But what would it take to get me to not watch my favorite teams. When I can't be there in person, I want to watch on TV, which is significantly less expensive. I can count on one hand the number of Notre Dame games I haven't seen in person or on TV since I was a student. In 2007, I didn't watch the UCLA game only because we were 0-6 and it wasn't on TV here. But I listened to the game online. Yes, I spent a Saturday night listening to an online radio broadcast of an 0-6 football team. It was worth it, we got our first win of the year. Then I missed the first half of the Stanford game that year because I was out. I would have made a point of not being out if we hadn't been 2-9 going into the game. Again, we won. In 2010, I missed most of the Notre Dame-Pittsburgh game because of events surrounding my friend's wedding (I was in the wedding party). I had my friend Jon texting me updates and we won. And that's it. So I've kind of (but not totally) missed three Notre Dame football games in nine years.
When the Celtics won the NBA Championship in 2008, I estimated that I watched 90+ of their 108 games that season. It was an awesome year. My dad and I had tickets for the last Dodgers-Mets game at Shea Stadium. I definitely wanted to go to that, but it would have been the night of Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals. I was completely convinced that it was going 7 because it took the Celtics 14 games to win the first two rounds. If there had been a Game 7, I would have skipped Dodgers-Mets. Fortunately, the Celtics took care of business in six. This year, I definitely won't be watching 90+ games, mainly because the Celtics will only be playing 82 games since they won't be making the playoffs. This will be the worst Celtics team in a while, so I'll watch as much as I can put up with.
As for the Dodgers, I don't really have a good estimate for how many games I've watched this year. I went to five in person (two against the Giants, one each against the Mets, Yankees, and Phillies). You can't watch all 162 regular season games, but I did try to watch every Clayton Kershaw start (because I don't want to miss the start when he throws his no hitter). I mentioned thinking about going to the not-to-be Dodgers-Yankees World Series in 2009. The Yankees won't be in the World Series this year, so I almost certainly can't go to a World Series game. The one possibility would be Dodgers-Red Sox. Going to a World Series game in Boston a very long shot, but I would at least explore the possibility if we do indeed get Dodgers-Red Sox. I'm really really hoping for the Dodgers to beat the Cardinals/Pirates winner in four or five. I'm flying out to Chicago the night of the potential Game 6 for the Notre Dame-USC game, which would be at the same time as the potential Game 7. If it wasn't Notre Dame-USC, I'd be inclined to skip it. Or if I had seen us beat USC in person before, I almost certainly would skip it. But that game means a whole lot to me (even if it doesn't have the same luster as it usually does) and hopefully, the Dodgers will still have four more games to win after that. But yeah Dodgers, in the words of Bill Lumbergh, if you could win the NLCS in four or five, that would be great.
What if the Dodgers get to the World Series? I'm not missing a game, especially not Games 4-7. If they win the World Series, it would probably be the best day of my life. What would you have to do to get me to miss a game? I've thought about it. It's going to take money and a lot of it. The conversation would start at six figures, but that's probably not enough. I don't know the exact number, but it would have to be enough that I could just not work for the foreseeable future. And even that's not enough. I'd need enough money so that I could have a place to live on both coasts and become a Dodgers season ticket holder. I think being there for every Dodger home game that I wanted to go to for the next decade or so would be worth giving up seeing the Dodgers with their chance to win a championship. But nobody's making that offer, so I'm looking forward to watching eight more Dodger wins in 2013.
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