New York's College Football Team

Notre Dame is one win away from the College Football Playoff.  I attended my first Notre Dame football game in over two years (the longest I’ve gone in between games).  My last game was the disaster against Duke in 2016 (I had no interest in writing a blog post about that one), so the last win I saw was three years ago at Fenway Park.  This was my fifth Shamrock Series game (Yankee Stadium in 2010 and FedEx Field in 2011 before the blog, JerryWorld in 2013, and Fenway Park in 2015).  It was the third Notre Dame game at the New Yankee Stadium (Army in 2010 and the Pinstripe Bowl in 2013).

I drove the the game with Megan (a St. Mary’s alum), her husband Pat (a Notre Dame alum), and her cousin Ben (a Syracuse alum, he also kind of looked like Wilhelm).  I met up with and sat with my former assistant principal’s husband and sons who are all Notre Dame fans.  Getting into the stadium was a total disaster.  We went to go in around 2:00.  Other gates probably would have been better, but where we went in was barely moving.  We ended up getting separated and I got in first.  I made it just in time for kickoff around 2:40.  I don’t get why it was so bad getting in.  Yankee Stadium gets big crowds for Yankee games (not all the time, but somewhat frequently, they were second in the Majors in attendance with an average of 42,998).  My other complaint with Yankee Stadium was that they didn’t make good enough use of the video board and the ribbon boards.  They showed plenty of replays and during timeouts they had stuff about the history of Notre Dame at Yankee Stadium, so that was cool, but they could have provided more information during the game.  They gave you score, time, down and distance, and timeouts remaining.  They could have shown a lot more stats and scores from other games They did that a couple of times during timeouts, but not nearly frequently enough.  Of course, it was a pretty bad weekend of games (our game was easily the best match up of the weekend), but Ohio State almost lost to Maryland and Alabama struggled against the Citadel for more than a half (by the way, that game never should have been played, the SEC teams playing games like that in November is a joke).

As for the game, I admit that I was a little nervous.  I definitely thought that we were better than Syracuse and that we should win.  But it’s hard to win all your games and Syracuse turned out to be the second best team on our schedule this year (they might not be in the top five opponents in terms of talent, but they’ve clearly had a better season than all of our opponents except for Michigan).  And they score a ton of points.  At least they had been scoring a ton of points.  It was a little bit of a frustrating first half.  Syracuse couldn’t cover our receivers and we were moving the ball through the air, but we were having trouble finishing drives.  We scored our first touchdown on a pass from Ian Book to Dexter Williams.  We settled for field goals on our next two drives.  After that, we had a fourth and goal on the one.  Ian Book stumbled on the snap and just threw it up and it was picked off.  So rather than going up 20-0 or giving the ball back to Syracuse on their own one, Syracuse had the ball at their own 20.  Jon texted me, “If this half somehow ends 13-7, that would be tragic.”  But there would be no tragedy.  After an interception, Jafar Armstrong scored a touchdown on a beautiful misdirection play.  We went into halftime up 20-0.

Fortunately you can't tell how terrible our uniforms were in this picture.

The band makes a batter hitting a home run during halftime.  As always, we had the better band.

Our first two drives in the second half resulted in a field goal and a touchdown pass from Book to Miles Boykin.  With a missed extra point, we were up 29-0 and in total control of the game.  Syracuse drilled the upright with a 23 yard field goal.  Who kicks a field goal down 29-0?  They deserved to miss that.  Brandon Wimbush got to play in the fourth quarter and made some nice plays with his legs.  There were some frustrating aspects of this game.  We had four false starts (if I remember correctly) and we struggled to get the running game going.  But on that Wimbush drive, we did it all on the ground.  Dexter Williams finished it off with a 32 yard touchdown run to make it 36-0.  I was really hoping for a shutout, but Syracuse kicked a 28 yard field goal with 10 seconds left.  Congratulations on not getting shut out.  Kicking those field goals was the football equivalent of sacrifice bunting down 8-0 in the ninth.  What’s the point?  If you show some guts and score a touchdown to break up the shutout, congratulations, but kicking field goals was lame.  I figured out after the game that I’ve never been to a shutout.  It would have been cool to see.  With the win, Notre Dame is now 30-12 with me in attendance.  There was a Beat SC chant at the end.  We definitely should beat them.  But they did beat Washington State so we have to go take care of business.

A rare I-formation play for Notre Dame.  We had a touchdown called back because of holding on this play.

The Alma Mater after the game.

The defense was outstanding.  We had six sacks and three interceptions.  Jalen Elliott had one of the interceptions and Alohi Gilman had the other two.  The second one by Gilman was a beautiful play where it looked like a completion, but Gilman separated the receiver from the ball and then picked it off.  While there were some frustrating aspects of the game, we totally dominated the 12th ranked team.  Syracuse isn’t great, but it’s November and they deserved to be ranked 12th.  This wasn’t beating an overrated team in September.  This was domination against a good team.

I’ll finish up with some thoughts about the Shamrock Series.  Some fans hate it.  I disagree.  If we’re going to play seven games on NBC, we can play seven at home or six at home plus a neutral site game.  The problem with playing seven at home is that you’re only playing five away so that means you have to play two games against teams that you’re not giving a return game.  That means you’re getting the likes of Ball State, New Mexico, Bowling Green, Western Michigan, etc.  This year Vanderbilt was one of those games.  That’s about as good of a game that you can get without having to return it.  If I was scheduling those games, I’d try to get them against Vanderbilt, Oregon State, Rutgers, and bad teams like that from Power 5 conferences.  Or I’d go with Boise State and other Group of 5 teams that have had some success in the last couple of decades.  I’d be willing to do two home games and one away game with BYU, Air Force, Army, and some Power 5 teams.  My worst case scenario for those extra home games would be evening up some scores with teams like Tulsa, UConn, and USF.

I can live with the Shamrock Series not being every year, but I definitely wouldn’t get rid of it totally.  I just think we need to fix it.  First of all, stop wearing stupid uniforms.  Please, stop.  We’re Notre Dame, we’re not Maryland.  I was expecting this year’s version to be bad, but I wasn’t prepared.  I was thinking like a blue jersey with white pinstripes.  No, it was much worse.  I could actually live with the jersey (you know, if we’re going to be wearing stupid uniforms, which we shouldn’t be).  But the pants were pretty much the Yankees’ pants.  And the helmet needs to be gold.  But just stop with all the stupidity.  Just wear the regular uniforms.  The gold and blue is beautiful.  Speaking of uniforms, they also messed up the green jerseys.  I don’t like the shade of green that we used, but I can live with it.  The biggest problem is that Notre Dame and Under Armor insist on pairing the green with blue numbers and letters (this isn’t just a football issue, they do it in other sports as well).  It doesn’t look good.  If you’re wearing green, get rid of the blue.  The numbers should be gold with white outlines (or the other way around, but I like gold numbers better with green).

The other issue to fix is who to play and where.  Some fans hate playing in baseball stadiums.  I disagree.  Of course it’s not the same Yankee Stadium, but we have history at Yankee Stadium (we’re now 17-6-3 at either version of Yankee Stadium).  I would take playing in Yankee Stadium over that big sterile stadium in the Meadowlands a million times out of a million.  Yes, some of the sight lines are weird (I’ve actually really liked my view for all three games that we’ve played at the new stadium), but it’s still better than playing in a big NFL stadium with no personality.  I’d be fine with playing in Yankee Stadium once every ten years.  The only other baseball stadiums I’d consider playing in are probably Fenway Park (I’d say once every 20 years because of its smaller capacity), Busch Stadium, Petco Park, Target Field, Nationals Park, AT&T Park, and Dodger Stadium (a long shot because I’m not sure if you can fit a football field in there and we play at USC every other year anyway).  I’m not saying we should play in most of those stadiums, I’m just saying I’d be willing to play there because they’re cool stadiums and either they don’t have an NFL stadium in those cities or I wouldn’t want to play in them (I don’t want to play in a dome in Minneapolis).  I wouldn’t play at Wrigley Field because the last time they played college football there, they couldn’t fit a full field and we could easily fill up Soldier Field anyway (another spot where I’d play once every ten years).  And the opponent needs to make sense.  We could play anybody at Soldier Field.  I’m cool with playing Army at Yankee Stadium because of the history, but we shouldn’t be playing them or Washington State in San Antonio (especially when Washington State was terrible).  I’d be cool with giving 50-50 ticket splits to get some better opponents.  That’s what we’re doing with Wisconsin at Lambeau Field in 2020.  That was the one NFL stadium that I really wanted to play in.  And we got a really good opponent for that game also.  I don’t like how we’re playing them in Soldier Field in 2021 also.  I would have greatly preferred to have a three-game series with a game at Lambeau, a game at Notre Dame, and a game at Wisconsin.  And then we could play anybody else at Soldier Field for the Shamrock Series in 2021.

Anyway, now I have to go to work for three days this week when we have our biggest game in six years coming up on Saturday.  I’m going to be entirely focused on the USC game.  I’ll be wearing a Notre Dame tie all three days.  Go Irish!  Beat Trojans!

1955 Is Coming

It wasn’t to be this year for the Dodgers.  Like last year, their season ended with a 5-1 loss at Dodger Stadium in the World Series.  But it was a very different season.  Last year, the Dodgers were a great team.  Unfortunately, the Astros were also.  It could have gone either way (total runs were 34-34 in the World Series), but the Astros came out on top in a best of seven series.  If they had played 25 games, the Dodgers might have won 13.  This year, the Red Sox were a great team and the Dodgers weren’t.  If they played 25 games, I doubt the Dodgers would have won 13.  Knowing that the Dodgers just weren’t as good as the Red Sox makes it a little bit easier to take.  But on the other hand, it’s disappointing that they moved in the wrong direction this year.

I thought the Dodgers had a chance (and they did).  They weren’t as good as they were last year, but they had a knack for winning when they had to.  It looked like the playoffs were slipping away in late August.  The Diamondbacks, Rockies, and Cardinals all stood in the Dodgers’ way.  At one point in late August, they were four and a half games out.  They lost the first game of a four game series against the Diamondbacks on August 30.  Then they won each of the next three games by a score of 3-2.  They won five out of six against the Rockies in September.  They won three out of four in St. Louis against the Cardinals in September.  In mid-late September the Dodgers were looking good.  The Diamondbacks had been eliminated and the Dodgers had just swept the Rockies.  But the Dodgers lost two out of three in Arizona (meaningless games for the Diamondbacks) and suddenly it looked like the Rockies were in control.  The Dodgers swept the Giants in San Francisco on the last three days of the season to force a tiebreaker with the Rockies for the NL West Championship.  And the Dodgers won that game.  In the NLCS, the Dodgers fell behind 1-0 and 2-1.  They came back and won Game 7 in Milwaukee.  Then they lost the first two games of the World Series.  Once again, they needed to win and they won an all time classic World Series game on Max Muncy’s home run in the bottom of the 18th in Game 3.  They went up 4-0 in Game 4 and it looked like they were going to win another game they needed to win.  And then it all fell apart.

Christopher “Mad Dog” Russo had a good rant about Game 4.  I’m reminded of another famous Mad Dog rant:

He got three.  I’m still looking for one.

I don’t feel like diving into the poor performances.  Their bullpen was great against the Brewers, but terrible against the Red Sox (except for Game 3).  Dave Roberts didn’t manage a good series.  Clayton Kershaw didn’t pitch well.  They got two great starts from their starters and only managed to win one of those games.  They couldn’t hit (16 runs in 54 innings).

I’m interested to see what changes next year brings.  Hopefully Corey Seager is back and healthy.  They should definitely pick up David Freese’s option.  I absolutely want to see Clayton Kershaw back (Jon Weisman explains it better than I can).  I have no interest in seeing Manny Machado or Yasmani Grandal wearing Dodger uniforms again.  We’ll see what free agents they go after.

It’s tough because baseball is so different from basketball (another sport where they play best of seven in the playoffs).  I grew up watching Michael Jordan and you knew what you were getting.  Jordan was going to dominate every game and the Bulls were going to win every year.  In baseball, the best players have games where they do nothing.  Each game is totally different from each other because the starting pitcher changes every day.  The Red Sox were the best team, but would you have been shocked if they lost to the Yankees or Astros in the playoffs?  I wouldn’t have been shocked if the Dodgers had lost to the Braves in the first round.  Weird things can happen in the playoffs and teams that you didn’t expect to do anything in the playoffs can win it all.  Hopefully the 2019 Dodgers are more like the 2017 Dodgers than the 2018 Dodgers, but even if they are, that doesn’t guarantee anything.

Kind of going along with how you don’t know what’s going to happen, playoff baseball is usually so stressful to watch.  Basketball isn’t like that when you have a good enough team.   One of the hosts of my favorite Dodger podcasts usually doesn’t watch their playoff games live because he can’t take it.  I could never not watch, but the games can be tough to take.  The regular season isn’t as stressful, but you have games almost every day.  I’m glad that I can relax and not have to worry about baseball and schedule my sleep around it anymore (I’ll be scheduling which mass I go to around football for the next few months).  But don’t worry, I’ll be ready to go next spring.  As Rogers Hornsby said:  "People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring."

So the season is over.  It ended in disappointing fashion, but it could have ended much earlier than it did.  There was a lot to enjoy.  They won all those games they needed to win until the World Series.  Max Muncy was a lot of fun.  Walker Buehler has a very bright future.  Clayton Kershaw had two great starts in the playoffs and he finished off Game 7 against the Brewers.  They kept that cheater Ryan Braun from reaching the World Series.  But the Dodgers haven’t reached their goal yet.  Since the Dodgers won their first World Series in 1955, their longest World Series drought had been 16 years from 1965-1981.  They’re now at 30 years.  The Brooklyn Dodgers were the team that never won anything.  When they signed Jackie Robinson, that started to change.  They made it to the World Series in 1947, 1949, 1952, and 1953, but they couldn’t win it until 1955.  It’s a different world in baseball now.  Back then, you just had to finish with the best record in your league to get to the World Series.  Now you have two rounds of playoffs before the World Series.  But we’ve gone back to those Brooklyn Dodger days.  The Dodgers have won their division and made the playoffs six straight years.  They’ve been to the NLCS in four of those years.  And now they’ve been in the World Series the last two years.  They’re close.  They’re going to do it.  1955 is coming.  Hopefully next year.  It’s going to be great.

Late Hour Max Power

Game 3 deserves a blog post.  It was an amazing game.  First of all, Walker Buehler’s performance kind of gets lost.  He pitched seven amazing innings and then there were 11 more innings after that.  Buehler would be in line to pitch Game 7.  That could change if they use people on short rest or whatever.  But if it gets to Game 7 with Walker Buehler pitching, I like the Dodgers’ chances.

One of my concerns going into the postseason was Kenley Jansen.  He was shaky for much of the regular season, but he had been good in the playoffs until he blew the save last night.  He blew the save in Game 2 of the World Series last year.  The Dodgers lost that game, and that changed the momentum of the series.  But the Dodgers won this game.  If you’re going to blow a save in the World Series, it doesn’t mean too much if your team can find a way to win.

You had Mary Hart making fun of Craig Kimbrel.  That was fantastic.  He does look ridiculous with that pose on the mound.

After Jansen, the bullpen pitched nine innings and gave up one run.  Cody Bellinger saved Pedro Baez in the 10th.  It was a shallow fly ball and I thought Bellinger had a good chance to throw out the runner at the plate.  His throw was so far off line that my dad and I both reacted when it was still in the air like the runner was going to be safe.  But the throw was so strong that it didn’t matter how far off line it was.  The run the Red Sox got in the 13th was pretty silly.  The Dodgers got a silly run in the bottom of the 13th to stay alive.  With Max Muncy on second, Puig hit it sharply up the middle (Cora should have walked Puig to face Barnes).  Off the bat, my dad and I thought it was a hit, but Ian Kinsler was there.  He stumbled and made a bad throw that allowed Max Muncy to score.  If not for that, the game is over and the Dodgers are down 3-0.  Kenta Maeda made a huge play when he got the force out at third on the sacrifice bunt attempt in the 15th.  He had to whirl and throw to third all in one motion and he made a perfect throw.  In the bottom of the the 15th, Max Muncy hit a long fly ball.  Off the bat, I didn’t know if he hit it hard enough.  But as it was in the air, I could tell it had the distance.  I said something like “It’s gone” when I realized it had the distance.  I didn’t think it was going to be foul, but it was just barely foul.

Max Muncy got another chance in the 18th.  He drove it out to left center.  Off the bat, I didn’t know if it had the distance, but it just kept going.  It was gone and it was awesome.  Former Dodger Nathan Eovaldi was outstanding.  He pitched six scoreless before giving up the home run to Muncy.  And now he’s out of the picture for Game 4.

If the Dodgers lost, they would have been in big trouble.  Nobody has ever come back from down 3-0 in the World Series.  I have no idea what is going to happen.  Red Sox in five, Dodgers in six (ideally), something else, anything is possible.  It was the longest World Series game ever.  It took more time than the four combined games of the 1939 World Series.  Since 1908, it was the third longest game by time at 7 hours and 20 minutes (three minutes off from the second longest and 46 minutes off from the longest).  If it doesn’t go the Dodgers’ way, at least they didn’t get swept and they won a classic World Series game.  But thanks to last night, it can still go the Dodgers’ way.  They are alive.  Three more to go.  Let’s Go Dodgers!

World Series Ramblings

I didn’t post anything about the World Series last year on the blog.  I don’t know how coherent this post is going to be.  The Dodgers are back in the World Series.  They’re taking on the Red Sox.  The Red Sox are due for a World Series loss, right?  2003 Jim would think that sentence meant that they hadn’t been to the World Series for a while so they were due to get there and lose because that’s what the Red Sox do in the World Series.  They are the favorite, but anything can happen.  Here are a bunch of random thoughts about the World Series:

I’m the rare Dodgers/Celtics fan.  The Celtics have been in the NBA Finals six times during my lifetime.  I only remember two of them, but five of the six have been against the Lakers.  The two that I remember were against the Lakers.  I love Boston (as in the city, not just the Celtics) and I hate the Lakers.  When the Celtics beat the Lakers in 2008, it was one of the greatest days of my life.  When they lost to the Lakers in 2010, it was one of the toughest losses I’ve ever had as a fan.  If we compare it to other games where my favorite teams had a chance to win a championship, I’m pretty sure it’s the worst loss I’ve ever dealt with as a fan.  The Celtics had a chance to win that game.  And it was a loss to the Celtics’ biggest rival, but at least they had won it two years before.  Notre Dame football is the team I care most about.  When we lost to Alabama, it was over early.  It didn’t hurt nearly as much as Celtics-Lakers in 2008.  Game 7 last year of the World Series hurt a lot too.  I’d rank that in between Game 7 of the 2010 NBA Finals and the BCS Championship Game.  The Astros jumped on the Dodgers early and it was never really competitive.  But the Dodgers and Astros were evenly matched for the series (total runs were 34-34 for the series).  And it had been 29 years since they had won the World Series.  But still Game 7 of the 2010 NBA Finals is my worst loss as a sports fan.  A Dodgers-Red Sox World Series is pretty weird for me.  I’m not conflicted in any way, but it’s still weird to be rooting for the Los Angeles team against the Boston team.

Besides sports, I love beer.  I own one share of stock in the Boston Beer Company.  Sam Adams Summer Ale is my favorite beverage.  Clayton Kershaw is my favorite baseball player ever.  I try to drink a Summer Ale whenever he pitches.  But much like I won’t drink Sam Adams when the Patriots are in the Super Bowl, I can’t drink Sam Adams when the Dodgers are playing the Red Sox in the World Series.  So I went to get some World Series beer yesterday.  Blue Bell had some California beers, but most were from Northern California.  There was one from a brewery about halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco, but the beer was called Union Jack IPA.  That definitely didn’t seem appropriate for watching the World Series.  So I went back to the Dodgers’ roots and picked up some Brooklyn Lager.  The Brooklyn brewery used to make a Pennant Ale 55 in honor of the 1955 World Series Champions, but they don’t brew that one anymore.  So I will be drinking Brooklyn Lager during the World Series.

I've had Brooklyn Lager before, but I hope this six pack tastes like a World Series Championship.

Dave Roberts vs. Alex Cora.  They were teammates in Los Angeles.  Dave Roberts drove in 71 runs as a Dodger and 23 of them were Alex Cora.  I liked Alex Cora when he was a Dodger.  Of course he had the 18-pitch at bat that ended with a home run.  And of course, Dave Roberts had the most important stolen base in baseball history with the Red Sox.  I was mad that the Dodgers traded Dave Roberts that year because they totally could have used him as a pinch runner when they got to the playoffs (they lost to the Cardinals in the first round).  But Red Sox fans can’t be mad if Dave Roberts beats them in the World Series, right?

The Dodgers and Red Sox haven’t played in the World Series since 1916.  That was before the Star Spangled Banner was played at baseball games (the first time that happened was the 1918 World Series, which was before the Star Spangled Banner was the national anthem).  The Red Sox won in five.  The Dodgers were known as the Robins then.  Babe Ruth pitched a 14-inning complete game in Game 2 (that game was 2 hours and 32 minutes).  Will any pitcher pitch 14 innings in this year’s World Series?  Even if it goes seven games, it’s possible that nobody pitches 14 innings.  In the 1916 World Series, the Red Sox played their home games at Braves Field because it had a bigger capacity than Fenway Park.  And I’m a traditionalist.  I know interleague play isn’t going away, but how cool would it be if these games were going to be the first between the Dodgers and Red Sox in 102 years (which would then also be the Dodgers' first ever games in Fenway Park)?  But the Red Sox are one of the three teams other than the Dodgers that Clayton Kershaw has never faced (the Twins and the Orioles are the other two).

I’ve seen the Dodgers play at 12 different stadiums (that includes Fenway Park).  I’ve spent plenty of money going to Dodger games around the country.  If the Dodgers had played the Red Sox in the World Series last year, the Dodgers would have had home field advantage.  That would have meant that the games in Boston would have been on the weekend.  I think I would have tried to go to Game 4 if that had happened.  Of course the Yankees were one win away from playing the Dodgers last year.  I would have definitely tried to go to a game if that had happened.  But it looks like I’ll be watching from home again this year.

Speaking of stadiums, Fenway Park and Dodger Stadium in the World Series.  I've been to 31 stadiums.  Other than the Dodgers, I root for teams to make the playoffs based on what stadium they play in because I want to see good stadiums on TV in the playoffs.  Based on my stadium rankings, here are the teams that I'd want to see in the playoffs:

NL West:  Dodgers
NL Central:  Pirates
NL East:  Nationals
NL Wild Cards:  Padres and Cubs

AL West:  Mariners
AL Central:  Royals
AL East:  Red Sox
AL Wild Cards:  Twins and Yankees

And here's how I'd want the playoffs to go:

NLCS:  Dodgers over Pirates
ALCS:  Red Sox over Royals
World Series:  Dodgers over Red Sox (I do have Fenway ranked number 1 and Dodger Stadium ranked number 2, but there's no more baseball after the World Series so it's totally cool if Fenway is eliminated in the World Series)

Unfortunately Notre Dame has a night game against Navy in San Diego next Saturday, which is Game 4 of the World Series.  The World Series will be on TV and Notre Dame will be on the iPad.  The good news is I can go to the vigil mass and pray for wins before the games (I don’t know much about St. Vibiana, but I do know that she’s the patron saint of Los Angeles).  The last time the Dodgers won the World Series was 1988.  The last time Notre Dame won the National Championship in football was 1988.  Maybe the 30th anniversary is going to be a good one.

Anything can happen.  Nothing will surprise me.  Either team could win in a sweep and it could go seven games.  I’ve seen the Celtics win a championship.  I need to see the Dodgers win one.  And I really hope they win one with Clayton Kershaw on the team.  If they lost this year and then won one in a few years when Kershaw wasn’t on the team anymore, I’d still be excited, but it wouldn’t mean quite as much.  This can be the year.  My one prediction is that Matt Kemp will get the biggest hit of the World Series.  Because that makes no sense.  So why wouldn’t it happen?

Let’s Go Dodgers!

Oh Hi Clayton, Oh Hi Playoffs

This is a long overdue post.  If you don't want to read about my trip to Los Angeles, you can skip down to my thoughts on baseball and the playoffs at the end. Anyway, after Sean’s wedding in August, I was on my own in Los Angeles for a couple of days.  I was hoping to see Pete, but circumstances prevented that from happening (fortunately I got to see him and Katie in New York a couple weeks later).  So I switched from the nice hotel where the wedding was to the Super 8 down the street from Dodger Stadium.  I don’t mean to imply that the Super 8 was bad.  It’s fine (I had stayed there before so I willingly went back to it this time), but it’s really just a hotel that gets the job done rather than being a nice hotel like the Hilton in Woodland Hills.

I dropped off my bags because I was too early to get into my room.  The first thing I did was take a walk down to Philippe’s.  It was on Man vs. Food and I had been there on my first trip to Los Angeles back in 2011.  They’re known for their French dip sandwiches.  I got the beef dip, double dip with blue cheese (unfortunately the clip with Kramer telling Elaine to try the beef because that’s real au jus sauce isn’t on YouTube).  It was really good.  I didn’t remember how good it was.

It's not the most exciting food picture, but this was really good.

My next stop was Dodger Stadium for a 1:00 tour.  It was the third time I’ve done the Dodger Stadium tour.  I had done it in 2011 and 2013.  Our tour guide was pretty confident that we would see some players at that time of day.  You start at the top of the stadium (one of the coolest things about Dodger Stadium is how you can enter the stadium on any level).  Usually you work your way down to the field.  Because of the time of our tour, the tour guide wanted to get us down to the field as quickly as possible because it was going to be closed to anybody other than players and coaches soon.  So we went down the elevator and that lets you out in this hallway where they have a bunch of awards that players have won throughout the years (I think most of them were replicas because the players have the real ones).  So the tour guide is explaining about those awards (I knew Greg Maddux won a bunch of Gold Gloves, but I didn’t realize he won 18, every one from 1990-2008 except for 2003) and then the elevator doors opened and out walked Joc Pederson, Clayton Kershaw, and Yasmani Grandal in that order.  Every was quite awestruck at the sight of Kershaw.  I recognized Pederson.  I recognized Kershaw, of course.  I did not recognize Grandal, which is weird because he is pretty distinctive looking, especially with all the tattoos on his arms.  But after seeing Kershaw, I didn’t really care who the third person was.  And apparently I wasn’t the only one.  Somebody asked the tour guide later who the third person was.  The tour guide told us that Dodger Stadium Security’s codename for Kershaw is Elvis.  A couple minutes later Kenley Jansen came out of the elevator.  Also later on we were on the elevator going up and Justin Turner was standing outside when the door opened, but unfortunately I was standing in the corner of the elevator and didn’t have an angle to see him.  I’m pretty sure we saw Sandy Koufax the last time I did the tour.  As somebody who definitely does not look like a Major League Baseball player anymore, he was able to just kind of blend in without anybody noticing, but my Dad thought it was Koufax as well.  So we got to go to the field and then we went up to the press box and a luxury boxes.  It was a very good tour.

Joc Pederson, Elvis, and some other guy

He took the loss that night, but it was still good to have him back.

Me in the Dodgers' dugout

For the game, I spent a little more on a ticket than I usually would (I mean, why not when I’m going to one game all year at one of my favorite places in the world?).  I was on the loge level (one level up from the field level) right behind home plate.  That’s a good location if you want a chance for a foul ball.  I think you’d have a better chance if you’re a little off to the side a little rather than directly behind home because there were a lot that went to each side, but there was one that landed two rows in front of me (a few seats to the right of landing directly in front of me).  I walked all over the field level before heading back up to my seat.  By the way, since you can enter on any level, Dodger Stadium restricts access.  If you’re on the top two levels (which is where I’d usually sit at a Dodger game), those are the only levels that you have access to.  If you’re below that, you can access the whole stadium.  I would definitely change that.  Of course at every other stadium, you’re entering on the lower concourse and you’re free to walk around wherever you want.  Give all the fans access to the field level.  That’s one way to improve the fan experience. I would say that my ideal seat for a Dodger game would be low on the reserve level right behind home plate (kind of right above the press box) if I had access to the whole stadium. It's a great view and it's not a crazy price.

Anyway, when I was back up on the loge, I got two Dodger Dogs and a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.  When I’m at a baseball game outside of New York, usually I like to go for something more exotic than a hot dog, but when I’m at Dodger Stadium for my only game of the year, I have to get Dodger Dogs.  And I like Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, but I wish there was a bigger selection of good beer.  I can get Sierra Nevada anywhere.  I’d like a wider selection of southern California options (there were some, but none that really interested me).  So there’s my other suggestion for improving an absolutely great stadium otherwise.  The good beer was quite expensive (I think it was $17.50, I used a Visa gift card that I had from my students to pay for my food and drink so whatever).  But as somebody who believes in the free market, I can’t complain.  I would have had one beer even if the price had been $9 or something not so crazy.  But I would say that if I went to ten games at Dodger Stadium per year (like I probably would if I lived out there), I would not drink a beer at every game (which is something that I would do if they were more reasonably priced).

The game was interesting.  It was Alex Wood against Austin Gomber.  Jose Martinez hit a solo home run in the first.  The Dodgers loaded the bases with nobody out on two singles and a hit batter.  Then Cody Bellinger fouled out and Matt Kemp lined into a double play.  No good.  The Cardinals scored two more in the fifth.  Manny Machado singled home a run and Cody Bellinger brought home a run with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the fifth to make it 3-2.  Max Muncy tied the game with an RBI single in the seventh and it felt like all the momentum was on the Dodgers’ side.  Kenley Jansen made his return from the DL in the ninth with the score tied.  The fans were excited because the bullpen was figuring out how many ways they could lose games when he was out, but it did not go well.  Jedd Gyorko and Matt Carpenter (one of my least favorite players) hit home runs and the Cardinals won 5-3.  The Dodgers had their chances.  They went 2-for-13 with runners in scoring position and left 14 men on base.

This is a really good view, but I would prefer to be a little higher (if you're not too much higher, I think it's actually a better view) for half the price.

The next day I had a really late flight so I went to Santa Monica.  My first stop was Bruxie, which was on the Los Angeles episode of the new Man vs. Food.  I had the Southern BBQ chicken and waffle sandwich.  As I saw people getting their food, I was a little upset that I didn’t order fries.  But then my food came and the sandwich was so big that I definitely didn’t need fries.  The sandwich was amazing.  I would totally go back to Bruxie whenever I’m in Santa Monica.  I took a walk to the beach and stopped at Pinkberry.  And that was my trip to California.

This one was as good as it looks.

Shortly after returning to New York, I got to another Man vs. Food spot.  The original Man vs. Food had New York, Brooklyn, and Long Island episodes and I’ve never been to any of the places that were on the show.  I got to a place that was on the New York episode of the new version of the show.  Kyle and I got dinner at Clinton Hall.  I got the fondue burger, which is what Casey had on the show.  The presentation is excellent and it was tasty, but there were a couple of issues.  First of all, who wants to eat a burger with a knife and fork?  And the cheese is great at first, but it quickly loses its value as it cools off.

After it cools, this one isn't as good as it looks.

I’ll finish up with some thoughts about baseball.  It was a very weird season in the NL West.  The Dodgers got off to a bad start.  They’ve done that before, but this one felt different.  There were a lot of injuries and it just didn’t seem like things were going to get turned around.  Then they did get it turned around and I thought that everything was back to normal.  Once they got to first place, I thought it was over for the other teams.  But it wasn’t.  The bullpen was generally good, but it was terrible when Jansen went on the DL.  Shortly after the game I went to at Dodger Stadium, the Dodgers found themselves four and a half games out.  It seemed once again like this wasn’t going to be the year.  But they did a great job against the two teams they were competing against late in the season.  They went 11-3 against the Diamondbacks, Rockies, and Cardinals from the end of August through September 19.  But they lost series against the Mets, Reds, and Diamondbacks after they were eliminated in September.  And after being swept by the Dodgers to fall two and a half games out, the Rockies went nuts.  They went 9-1 for the rest of the season.  The Dodgers had to sweep the Giants in San Francisco to force a tiebreaker.  And it was still complicated.  If they beat the Rockies, they would have home field advantage against the Braves.  If they lost, they’d have to play the Wild Card Game on the road against the loser of the NL Central tiebreaker game.  Fortunately they won that won fairly easily to win the division for the sixth straight year.

What will happen in the playoffs?  I have no idea.  They definitely have enough talent to win the World Series.  Kenley Jansen hasn't been as dominant as usual this year, but the Astros figured out a way to win a World Series without a great bullpen. Since the middle of May (I was there the weekend they turned their season around the first time), the only team that won more games than the Dodgers is the Red Sox.  But they could definitely lose in the first round against the Braves.  Playoff baseball is stressful.  Last year it was pretty stress free for the Dodgers until Game 2 of the World Series.  My first sports memory is being aware of Kirk Gibson’s home run and the Dodgers winning the World Series in 1988.  But I was four years old.  I’ve experienced the Celtics winning an NBA Championship (I was 24, and that’s going to happen again soon).  I need to experience Notre Dame winning a National Championship in football (that also last happened when I was four, but I have no memory of that, basketball would be great too, but I’ll settle for just football) and the Dodgers winning the World Series.  It really broke my heart that the Dodgers got so close and lost.  It’s so hard to get to the World Series (it’s not like the NBA where if you’re good enough, you know you’re going to get to the Finals).  I wasn’t looking forward to the prospect of having to do all the work to get to a point where they had a chance to win the World Series again.  But here we are.  The Dodgers are 11 wins away from being World Series Champions.  Maybe this will be the year.  Let’s Go Dodgers!

Mystery Runner

After seeing the Somerset Patriots last summer and the Brooklyn Cyclones two years ago, Adam and I made the trip to Staten Island for the Staten Island Yankees on Thursday.  Getting to Staten Island is kind of a hassle.  I had no interest in driving there.  The Staten Island Ferry is free so I wanted to take the ferry to the game.  But taking the ferry back to Manhattan after a night game and then take the Subway to the Long Island Railroad would mean getting home at a pretty ridiculous hour.  The Staten Island Yankees play some late afternoon games on the weekends, but that would most likely interfere with watching the Dodgers.  So I targeted a weekday afternoon games (or late morning/early afternoon games).  They had a couple of 11:00 starts where they have camps there and stuff.  That worked for our purposes.

So I met Adam by the ferry.  We took the 10:00 ferry to Staten Island.  We had a good view of lower Manhattan, Ellis Island, and the Statue of Liberty.  I don’t think I had ever been on Staten Island for any reason other than driving through it before, but the Staten Island Ferry is worth doing even if you had no reason to go to be on Staten Island.  It’s about a five-mile ride with some cool views.  You could just take the ferry and then take it right back to Manhattan (I’m pretty sure some people were doing that).  Richmond County Bank Ballpark is maybe a ten-minute walk from where the ferry lets you off.

This made me think of a Seinfeld bit.

It was a good day to take the ferry.

The stadium has a great location.  Beyond the outfield wall we could see the water and lower Manhattan.  The food and beverage selection left something to be desired.  I ended up getting a hot dog and a Flagship Pastime Summer Ale.  I’ve stated my theory on summer beers before:  Sam Adams makes a great one, and most breweries make a pretty underwhelming summer beer.  I got it because there wasn’t much craft beer available and Flagship is a Staten Island brewery.  It wasn’t really what I expected from a summer beer, but it was pretty good.  I’ve had beer from three of the five boroughs.  The two that I’m missing are the two where I’ve spent the most time (by far):  Manhattan and Queens.

The Staten Island Yankees were taking on the Lowell Spinners, a Red Sox affiliate.  Staten Island scored one in the first.  Lowell tied it in the fifth.  And that was all the scoring through nine.  That meant it would be my first minor league extra inning game with their silly rule of starting the inning with a runner on second base.  In the top of the tenth, Lowell had their leadoff hitter sacrifice bunt.  He reached on an error by the pitcher.  With the infield in, the next batter singled and drove in a run on a line drive that probably would have been caught if the infield hadn’t been in.  The next batter hit a home run to make it 5-1.  That inning would have been totally different if they didn’t start with a runner on second base.  Staten Island scored one in the bottom of the tenth and that was it.

This was our view for the game.  We were in the shade for most of the game.  It was hot in the sun, but very nice in the shade.  A hot dog, beer, and day baseball when the weather is good is tough to beat.

So I wanted to discuss some differences between the rules in the Majors and Minors.  You have the starting extra innings with a runner on second in the Minors, which is totally ridiculous, but it’s the Minors, so whatever.  In the Minors, each game of a doubleheader is only seven innings.  I can live with that.  And you have the pitch clock in the Minors, which is probably coming to the Majors.  I’m fine with the pitch clock, but I don’t know if it’s going to work to increase the pace of play.  I would definitely get rid of starting extra innings with runners on (at least in Double-A and Triple-A, I would just say whatever for levels lower than that).

After the game, we took the ferry back to Manhattan.  We went to the Dead Rabbit, which was named the best bar in North America every year from 2013-2016.  In 2016, it was also named the best bar in the world.  I don’t know who was bestowing these honors.  But it was a good bar.  I had a Dead Rabbit Irish Red, which I hoped might be a Manhattan beer, but it was brewed in Brooklyn.  There was a fire there in July that damaged their kitchen so they are still operating with a very limited food menu.  We didn’t have anything to eat.

Our last stop was the Federal Hall National Memorial.  It’s at the site where Federal Hall stood, which is where Washington was inaugurated in 1789 and the first Congress met.  That building stood until 1812.  The building there now was completed in 1842.  It was the US Custom House for the Port of New York and later a sub-Treasury building (that started when Lincoln was president).  There’s a big statue of Washington outside and it’s a little museum on the inside.

Down the street was the Trump Building (which is different from Trump Tower).  Donald Trump is no George Washington.

This is what Federal Hall looked like.

This is the Bible that was used in Washington's inauguration.

That was probably my last minor league game of the year, so I should update my minor league/college stadium rankings:

18. Arm & Hammer Park in Trenton
17. Dehler Park in Billings
16. Arvest Ballpark in Springdale
15. Autozone Park in Memphis
14. TD Bank Ballpark in Bridgewater, New Jersey
13. Memorial Stadium in Boise
12. KeySpan Park in Brooklyn
11. Newman Outdoor Field in Fargo
10. Isotopes Park in Albuquerque
9. TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha
8. Daniel S. Frawley Stadium in Wilmington
7. Greater Nevada Field in Reno
6. Richmond County Bank Ballpark on Staten Island
5. Dickey-Stephens Park in Little Rock
4. Four Winds Field in South Bend
3. Joseph P. Riley Jr. Park in Charleston
2. Dunkin Donuts Park in Hartford
1. Regions Field in Birmingham

The Five D's on the Ocho

Dodge, duck, dip, dive, and dodge.  It’s the Dodgeball World Cup from Madison Square Garden on ESPN8, the Ocho.  Since this is the World Cup, I'm assuming that this event is sanctioned by the World Dodgeball Association of the World (rather than the American Dodgeball Association of America).  I got a promotional email for tickets to this and I briefly thought about going, but it was more expensive than I figured it would be.  So I’m doing a running diary instead.

8:02- We’re underway.  Mas is playing Eng.  Eng is England.  I don’t know who Mas is.  But we do know that these two teams won Regional Qualifying Matches.

8:03- We have a two-player swing as Mas caught a throw from England.

8:04- I just found out that Mas is Malaysia.  They just took the first set from England.  I have no idea how this works.  There’s a clock for the first half and a clock for the first set.  And Mas is up 2-0.  My guess on that is because they won the first set with two players remaining (I’m not even sure they had two players remaining when they won the first set).

8:09- They’re back from commercial and we’re tied at 2.

8:10- Malaysia just took a set.  It looks like you just get two points for winning a set.  I’m still confused about the scoring.

8:11- We have a man down for England.

8:18- I just came back from moving my car and taking out the garbage.  Malaysia is up 8-4.

8:20- The first half just ended with both teams having one player left.

8:26- So this is the semifinals but they’re the top two ranked teams in the world.  I don’t know who’s playing in the other semifinals.

8:27- England has tied the game at 9.

8:28- The referee just came out on the court for some reason.  One of the best parts of the movie Dodgeball was the referee and all the signals he had.  There was that little string that he dangled for some reason.  They must have had fun writing that part of the movie.

8:29- England takes the lead.

8:33- Malaysia just tied it.  There was some quality ducking and dipping by both teams in that last set.  There also seems to be a lot of jumping involved, but of course, that isn't one of the Five D's of Dodgeball.

8:34- The broadcasters aren’t as good as Cotton McKnight and Pepper Brooks.

8:36- Malaysia takes the lead with less than a minute and a half to play.

8:37- We have a timeout.  England is in trouble.

8:38- England tied it.  Is it time for Sudden Death?  No, apparently, it’s a one-minute set and then Sudden Death.

8:40- Malaysia wins in a shocking upset.  I feel shocked.  I was hoping for Sudden Death.

8:47- It’s England vs. Austria in women’s dodgeball.  This is the final for the women.  We still have another men’s semifinal and the final.  At least I think we do.  Maybe the men’s final isn’t tonight.  Because I don’t think there’s enough time to fit all those games in.

8:49- England took the first set from Austria.

8:51- An Austrian player got hurt on a great effort to make the catch, but it looks like she trapped it.  I wonder if dodgeball has some crazy catch rules like the NFL.

8:54- “Austria now have four [balls.]” I hate this silly British English.  You hear this in the World Cup also (one of the many reasons not to watch soccer).  Austria is a singular noun.  Austria now has four or the Austrians now have four.  I really can’t stand British English.  My favorite student insisted that the past tense of “to spell” is “spelt.”  I made fun of her for wanting to be British because in America the past tense of “to spell” is “spelled.”  And we don’t put unnecessary U’s in words (color, favorite, etc.) and Austria is a singular noun.

9:00- There are people who feed the players balls after they have been thrown.  I don’t like that.  You should have to go pick up the ball yourself while paying attention to other balls that could be thrown at you.  That should be part of the game.

9:02- I’ve come to the conclusion that dodgeball isn’t a great TV sport.  There’s a lot going on at once.  Unlike baseball, football, and basketball, you have several balls to pay attention to.  Also, they’ve used several different camera angles, but it doesn’t seem like any of them are ideal for showing you everything that’s going on.  But cornhole has been on ESPN a lot lately.  If you can show cornhole, why not dodgeball?  And of course, dodgeball is a much better sport than soccer and there’s way too much soccer on TV these days.

9:06- We go to halftime with England leading 6-4.

9:10- We just came back from commercial and England is leading 8-4.  I don’t know how that happened.

9:12- Is there any reason why this isn’t an Olympic sport?  I mean, if equestrian is an Olympic sport, dodgeball definitely should be one also.

9:16- England is leading 10-6 with five minutes left.

9:18- Austria was down in this set, but now they have a two on one advantage.

9:19- Austria has cut the lead to 10-8.  We have two and a half minutes left.  Once again, I’m rooting for overtime and Sudden Death.  If we ever got something like the Helsinki Episode of 1919, that would be something.  It’s been 99 years, we might be due.  By the way, I think I might be out of Youtube clips.  There are other good scenes, but I can't find them on there.

9:22- England finishes it off 12-8.  No overtime.  Nuts.

9:25- It’s Malaysia against Austria in the men’s final.  So apparently they were only showing one of the men’s semifinal games.

9:29- Austria takes the first set.

9:30- They just explained the scoring system.  It seems like they should have done that an hour and a half ago.  I figured it out maybe an hour ago.  Also, they say that the balls are thrown 70-75 miles per hour in men’s dodgeball.  Wouldn’t Yasiel Puig be the best dodgeball player in the world?

9:32- They just explained that at the start of the set, each team has two balls on its side and there’s one ball up for grabs.  But I don’t know, it looks like they’re all on the line in the middle.  They also said a couple of minutes ago that whichever side has more balls has to throw at least one within five seconds (I think it was five seconds).  Again, these are the kinds of things that they should have explained at the beginning of the broadcast.  See, this is why we need Cotton McKnight and Pepper Brooks.

9:34- Austria is up 6-0.  Malaysia is taking a timeout.

9:37- 8-0 Austria.  This is domination.

9:40- Malaysia is on the board.  8-2 Austria.

9:47- We’re in the second half.  Austria leads 10-4.

9:48- So one side of the court has a net behind it and the other side has a hard wall.  That makes a pretty big difference.  You hit that wall and there’s a pretty good chance that the ball is coming back to you.

9:50- I thought we just had a tied set, but Austria got two points.  So maybe I wasn’t paying close enough attention.  It’s 12-4 Austria.

9:52- Malaysia takes a set to make it 12-6, but they’re running out of time.  I think I figured out how they start the set.  All five balls are on that line in the center, but it looks like each team is entitled to the two on one side of the line and then the one in the middle is up for grabs.

9:56- We have less than a minute to play and Austria is up 13-7.  This is over.

9:58- It’s official.  Austria wins the World Cup.  This one was a bit anticlimactic.  But we did get one overtime game.  It sounds like the Dodgeball World Cup is every two years.  My final verdict on dodgeball is that it’s not great on TV, but there should still be more of it on TV.