Improving Dodger Stadium

I took my first trip of baseball season last week during my Easter vacation.  The original plan was go to to San Francisco.  But then I thought about my first trip last year, which started with Opening Day in Los Angeles and finished with a game in Milwaukee.  I left Dodger Stadium last year not knowing when I'd be back again.  But I decided that if I was going to fly across the country, I might as well get to more than one baseball stadium during the trip.  When I realized that going from New York to Los Angeles to San Francisco and back to New York for only about $40 more than a round trip to San Francisco, it was an easy decision to make.

For my first game of the season, I got to Dodger Stadium last week for Dodgers-Phillies, which happens to be the same match up as my last game of the 2013 season.  Unlike last time, the result was not good.  There were some good things.  It was Clayton Kershaw bobble head night, which brought in a crowd of 51,699 on a Thursday night.  Juan Uribe and Adrian Gonzalez hit home runs for the Dodgers.  Dan Haren pitched well for the Dodgers.  But the fielding continues to be poor (Gonzalez made a costly error and he's usually one of their better fielders) and I'm beginning to suspect that Brian Wilson is the mole.  The Dodgers lost the series against the Phillies 3-1.  If they had been up in the series 2-1 going into the game I went to, they would have had a shot at the franchise's 10,000th win, but it turned out they were stuck on 9,998.  Actually there's debate about the count since apparently they won 13 games with an illegal player in 1899.  But if all those wins with Barry Bonds count for the Giants, then I'm cool with counting those 13 wins for the Dodgers.  Anyway, it's not worth blogging in much detail about my game experience at Dodger Stadium when I've done that before (here and here).  Hopefully I'll get back to Dodger Stadium when I go back to California for an Angels game (most likely next year).  I'm going to spend the rest of this post focusing on how Dodger Stadium has improved since Mark Walter, Stan Kasten, and Magic Johnson liberated the franchise from Frank McCourt.

This is definitely the coolest thing I've ever gotten for free at a baseball game.

My view from the loge last week at Dodger Stadium.

I love Dodger Stadium.  I've now gone to five games there (two in 2011, two in 2013, and one in 2014) and two stadium tours (2011 and 2013).  I sat in the loge for this game, which means I've now sat on every level of Dodger Stadium except for the Dugout Club (the seats in front that didn't exist until somewhat recently in Dodger Stadium's history).  I also haven't sat in the Pavilion seats in the outfield, but I've been in the top deck twice (2011 and 2013) and once each on the field level (2011), reserve level (2013), and the the loge (2014).  So I have plenty of experience with Dodger Stadium.  I have it ranked as the second best stadium in baseball (a detailed explanation here and an updated ranking here).  Much has changed since my first visit in 2011.  I loved it when I first got there three years ago and the new ownership group has made it even better.  First, let's go over some of those improvements:

1.  Atmosphere.  The atmosphere is so much better.  Before the new owners took over, the team had stopped trying to contend because Frank McCourt had no money.  Fans stopped coming to games because they hated McCourt so much.  Average attendance dropped by 7,743 fans from 2010 to 2011.  They finished 11th in attendance.  The Dodgers should never be out of the top five in attendance and if they're good, they'll probably be number one since they have the biggest baseball stadium in the world in the second biggest city in the country.  Within two years, the Dodgers were back to number one in attendance and increased their average attendance by 9,980 fans.  Dodger Stadium was dead when I was there in 2011 (entirely McCourt's fault).  Dodger fans have a bad reputation, but I don't think it is deserved.  I've never seen/heard a crowd like the one on Opening Day last year when Kershaw beat the Giants (pretty much by himself).

This is from my second game at Dodger Stadium in 2011.  The official attendance was 35,537.  The actual attendance was nowhere close to that.

2.  Honoring the history of the team.  They added the retired numbers outside the top deck, which was nice.  They added big Cy Young baseballs last year.  This year, they put big World Series rings in right field.

Jackie Robinson's number outside the top deck.  They have all the retired numbers out there.  On the side of the number is a little paragraph about the player or manager.

Clayton Kershaw 2011 Cy Young baseball

This is a nice addition to Dodger Stadium.  They need to add another one of these soon.  Like after this season.

This painting is on the top deck.  I kind of want to have this framed and put in my house.

3.  Scoreboards.  They put in new scoreboards last year.  My brother Sean heard on a tour before last season that Dodger Stadium used to have the world's largest standard definition TV.  Not anymore.  Dodger Stadium doesn't have the biggest scoreboards, but they are now HD and they honor the team's history with their unique hexagonal shape.  Also, I was impressed with the amount of information they had considering they aren't the biggest.

4.  Merchandise availability.  I remember wanting to get a Clayton Kershaw jersey shirt back in 2011.  For some reason, they weren't available on the website (I think they only had Ethier).  I figured I could get one at Dodger Stadium.  When I went there, the entire stadium was sold out of Kershaw shirts.  My next choice was a Matt Kemp shirt.  They had those, but not in my size.  This is what went on when Frank McCourt owned the team.  The team stores throughout the stadium are well stocked now.

5.  More food options.  I'm not going to turn down a Dodger Dog.  They're great and I've only been to Dodger Stadium for five games in my entire life.  But if I was able to go to several games per year, I'd want more options and now they have them.  This season, they added a barbecue restaurant in left field and Tommy Lasorda's Trattoria with Italian food in right field.

I love Dodger Dogs (they do taste different from any other ballpark hot dogs that I've had).  And this beer was fine, but they need more good beer options (hold on, we'll get there).

If I had gone to more than one game this year, I would have gotten something to eat here.

6.  360 degree field level access and outfield improvements.  Dodger Stadium used to have one similarity with Shea Stadium.  If you were in left field and you wanted to get to right field, you had to walk all the way around home plate to the other side of the field.  There wasn't much in the outfield anyway.  Now, you have a lot of stuff out in left and right field as I mentioned and you can just walk around the outfield on the lower level like you can at most of the newer stadiums in baseball.

There are no tickets for these seats above the bullpen, which were just added this year.  You can just sit in them if they're open.  It's not a particularly good look at the field, but it would be cool to stop there before the game and watch the starter warm up.

So they've made some great improvements in a short time.  However, they can still make it better (and I believe they will).  Here are my recommendations:

1.  Honor the history of the team more.  As I mentioned, they have done a better job with this, but they can still do more.  If you take the tour, you can see a lot about the history of the team on the press box/suite level.  I don't think that's accessible to most fans during games.  You also have the World Series trophies (or bats from the old days) and Cy Young Awards and stuff down by the Dugout Club.  I think fans sitting in the Dugout Club are the only ones that can see this stuff during games.  My brother Tom loves the Yankee museum at Yankee Stadium.  The Dodgers could have something like that.  Also, I would build two statues.  Two Dodgers deserve to be honored above all others, Robinson and Koufax.  They have all the retired numbers, but they're all the same (except the blue and white are reversed on Robinson's compared to the other retired numbers).  Next year I would put a statue of Jackie Robinson in left field and I'd put a statue of Sandy Koufax in right field the following year.  Jackie Robinson was the most important player in the history of baseball.  Sandy Koufax was the greatest left-handed pitcher ever and the greatest Dodger ever.  That would also honor the two eras of Dodger history.  Robinson played his whole career in Brooklyn.  Koufax started in Brooklyn, but he wasn't particularly good (9-10 with a 4.00 ERA in three seasons) and all of his great seasons were in Los Angeles.

I showed this picture to my kids this week since John Paul II was canonized on Sunday.  The largest crowd in the history of Dodger Stadium came to see him.  This is on the press box/luxury suite level.

The World Series trophies are near the Dugout Club, which I think you only have access to if on the stadium tour or if you have tickets for the ridiculously expensive Dugout Club seats.

One of Sandy Koufax's Cy Young Awards.  Also near the Dugout Club.

2.  More merchandise for the former players.  This is related to the first one.  I wanted to buy either a Jackie Robinson or Sandy Koufax jersey shirt during my visit last week.  I checked a few of the team stores and couldn't find anything down low in the stadium.  The best team store is on the top deck.  I finally got up there and they did have Mike Piazza, Tommy Lasorda, and Jackie Robinson shirts.  So I got what I was looking for (but I didn't see Koufax), but there should be more of that and it shouldn't be so hard to find.

3.  Beer.  Dodger Stadium needs better beer.  I had a Point the Way IPA (which is apparently a Los Angeles beer) and it was pretty good, but it was hard to find.  I saw it on the top deck and nowhere else.  Maybe I missed it somewhere, but I did look around lots of places and couldn't find much other than the usual stuff (crappy mass-produced American beer and Blue Moon and stuff like that).  Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia gets beer right.  They have the usual stuff at most of the concession stands, but then they have several small stands around the stadium that only have craft beers.  That means good beer is easy to find and you don't have to wait on a long line to get it.

They added these bars in the outfield.  There should be lots of good beers available on tap here.

4.  Dodger Stadium traffic.  It needs to get better.  I can dream.  Traffic after Opening Day last year was horrendous.  We spent more than an hour in the parking lot trying to leave the game.  There's not much that you can do about traffic when you have a weekday afternoon game that's sold out and very exciting (meaning everybody stays for the whole game).  Actually, ownership has done some things to improve traffic.  They've done stuff to encourage carpooling and they added a drop off/pick up spot for the Dodger Stadium Express bus from Union Station.  I actually stayed close enough to the stadium to walk this time, so I really couldn't tell you if it's gotten any better.  The main reason for this problem is that Los Angeles traffic is horrendous all the time.  But like I said, ownership has tried to do things to make this better, but I don't know if there's really any solution.  And it's not their fault, so I won't hold this one against them.

Dodger Stadium is fantastic.  I just want it to keep getting better.  If the Dodgers want to hire me, I'm willing to help.  Actually, I just gave them all of my ideas for free.  But they should still hire me to work for them.

A Yankee Fan in Red Sox Nation

I just completed my first baseball trip of the year.  I went to games at Dodger Stadium and AT&T Park.  I didn't really know how to feel about going to a Giants game.  I've always heard good things about the stadium, but they're my least favorite team in baseball.  I thought about my good friend John.  He's one of the biggest Yankee fans I know and he's been living in the Boston area for several years now.  Besides living there, he's been working at Fenway Park for the last few years.  John gave me the idea to start this blog two years ago and I asked him to write the first ever guest blog post here.  I wanted his perspective about what it's like spending time in the ballpark of his favorite team's biggest rival.  I'll let John take it away:

Opening Day 2014

When I told my mom that I got a part time job at the Red Sox she was not thrilled.  She actually carried on a bit like I joined up with the Taliban, I might as well have in her eyes.  I come from a family that has been rooting for the Yankees for four generations now and we have a strong connection to the team from the Bronx where my grandfather grew up.  So when I got the job as a Ticket Taker at Fenway in 2011, my mom got offended.

So why would a guy who cried in 2004 and who wanted to name his son Joseph DiMaggio Mullady work for the Sox? I like baseball. I know its a cheesy answer but its the truth.  I have an opportunity to work for a baseball team who wouldn't take it? I'm grateful to be able to sit down for a half hour and watch batting practice on a summer afternoon and be getting paid to be there. 

Don't get me wrong there are plenty of times when it is awkward for me or even straight up uncomfortable. When a fan comes up  to me and says, "Go Sox" and expects me to give a similar response instead they will get a blank stare. I hate hearing "Sweet Caroline" and at times I will tell the fans of other teams that I am from NY and rooting against the Sox.  When people hear that they sometimes laugh, Yankee fans will often give me a high five or a "you gotta be kidding me" look.  I hate the Sox.  But I do love working at Fenway and I try not to take the experience for granted. I've met people who have traveled from all over the U.S. and the world to watch a game at Fenway Park.  A lot of first timers will have a nervous/excited look on their face when they approach the gate. That enthusiasm is contagious.

I did not work Opening Day last year.  I felt funny taking a personal day from work and sometimes it's more work to make sub plans than its worth.  I was really shocked when my Assistant Principal encouraged me to take the day and to work the game.  With my son in day care and the encouragement from my AP I kind of felt that the decision was made for me.

Friday morning I dropped Jack off at daycare and headed into Boston for the game. I drove past the ballpark at 8:30 and there was already a line  of 15 people to get into Game On, one of the bars near Fenway.  The sign on the door indicated that they would be waiting until 11:00 before they could get in.

It was pretty clear that the Sox were going to pull at all the stops for this year's Opening Day.  One of the ticket takers said she saw rehearsal and that the 2004, 2007, and 2013 World Series Banners would be all placed over the Green Monster at some point. I saw members of the Boston Pops getting ready as I went into the locker room and I wondered what else would be in store.

At 10:00 one of the Red Sox executives for Event Operations helped pin a rose to my jacket.  All the Ushers, Ticket Takers, Security Guards were wearing a rose on their uniforms. As I was getting pinned I asked the exec if her two kids were going to the game.  She never allowed her kids to miss school for baseball games until today.  Her son was six and had been begging for weeks to be at Opening Day and letting him go was a surprise for him.

I was working Gate A on Yawkey Way, one of the busiest gates at Fenway. The line was already back up to Brookline Ave.  There is a new security measures at Fenway that required that every fan go through Security with a metal detector wand. When the gates opened up it quickly became clear that the new method would be frustrating and time consuming and not that efficient.  

Fans came in for the most part smiling and unfazed by the long security process.  Some came in dressed like they were skipping work early they looked like fans who would come in to watch a game from a different time with their suits and ties.  Some fans came as if they were coming from a costume party. I gave out Red Sox bracelets and baseball cards until I ran out.  You would never think that a J.D. Drew card could make a person so happy but the looks on some of their faces was so amazing.  I can't wait for Jack to be old enough to go to a baseball game and get excited for it. 

When it started to slow down a woman approached me and asked where the will call at Gate D was.  I told her that I would walk her down there myself and let her through my turnstile.  She told me that she needed to go to the Player's Will Call.  I asked her who she was here to see and she told me that Logan Schafer was her son.  He was an outfielder for the Brewers and that she hated Ryan Braun.  I told her I did too and she hugged me. I ended up seeing her the next day as well and we chatted for a few mins.  I showed her a picture of Jack and she said that Logan was not really pushed into baseball but he just always enjoyed it.  She encouraged me to support whatever Jack ends up enjoying and not to force him into sports.  I'll take the parenting advice from a MLB mom anytime. 

There is a Ticket Taker named Ian that I have gotten pretty close with over the past few years.  During the playoffs we snuck up to the Green Monster and had some beers. On Game 6 we ended up sneaking into a luxery suite that was occupied by Dennis Leary.  Ian was headed to the bathroom when I bumped into him in the Main Concourse.  It did not take him much convincing to sneak down and try and get a good look at the festivities.  

I was not especially interested in seeing the players get their rings, there are guys on the roster that I openly root against when I am down there.  When some of the victims from the Boston Marathon bombings came out from behind the 2013 banner to give the players their rings while the Pops preformed classical music I will admit I got chills.  It was almost like something out of a Spielberg movie the way it was done.  After the bombings Red Sox players were visiting victims at the hospitals for weeks and the team did some great things behind the scenes.  Working the first game after the Marathon I felt like I was part of something big, part of the healing process. 

A few days before Opening Day there was a fire in the Back Bay that killed two fire fighters.  The men left behind wives and children and the funerals had brought firemen from all over the U.S. to the city.  To honor their sacrifice the Red Sox had their families and the members of the fire house come in and lower the American flag to half mast.  Each member of the Red Sox players lined up and shook the hands or embraced the firemen and the families before they left. 

The whole scene was surreal to me and moving and I feel really fortunate to have been there.

Finishing Up

We're coming up on my second blogiversary.  I'm overdue for a post since I haven't posted since baseball season began in the United States, but first I have a two-part rant about last night's Dodger game:

1.  I watched nine and a half innings of last night's twelve-inning game, which apparently ended after 3:00 in the morning east coast time.  I'm normally not one to complain about umpires (I don't like replay, I think we should live with some crappy calls like we did for well over 100 years), but I thought Mike Winters was terrible behind the plate last night.  It seemed like all of the borderline balls and strikes calls were going in favor of the Giants.  However, that's not the reason Kenley Jansen blew the save.  There were plenty of calls I didn't like, but I can't think of any in the bottom of the ninth.  Jansen didn't get the job done.

2.  Juan Uribe has gone from being easily my least favorite player on the Dodgers (perhaps second only to Andruw Jones as my least favorite player ever) to being probably one of my five favorite Dodgers currently on the team (Kershaw, Ethier, Kemp, and Ellis might be the only players I'd put ahead of him).  He was the best player on the field for the Dodgers last night (a triple short of the cycle, the only two runs of the game for the Dodgers, and excellent in the field).  So it totally wasn't his fault that the Dodgers lost, but his performance made me think of an issue I have with the stat head community.  They like to say that RBIs don't matter.  That's just silly.  You win games by scoring more runs than the other team.  As I said, Uribe played a very good game, but I would trade the home run and double he had for a double in another at bat.  Let's take out extra innings and go through his at bats.  During the first nine innings, Uribe hit a solo home run in the second, struck out with the bases loaded in the fourth, doubled and later scored in the seventh, and grounded out in the eighth.  If Uribe goes 1-4 and doubles with the bases loaded, all three runners probably score and if everything else stays the same, the Dodgers win the game.  Baseball is a situational game (probably more so than other sports).  The stat heads ignore context when they say RBIs don't matter.  Ordinarily, you'd take a home run and a double over just a double.  But if Uribe had just doubled with the bases loaded and not had the two hits that he actually had, that's probably the difference between a win and a loss.  Again, my complaint is with the stat heads and not with Uribe.

Anyway, it's just one game and you can't overreact to an April game in a 162-game season.  But I do hate losing to the Giants.  Which brings me to what I really wanted to blog about, continuing my quests to get to every Major League Baseball stadium and all 50 states.  A week from Friday, I'll be in San Francisco.  San Francisco is full of dirty, smelly hippies that like Barry Bonds.  I really don't know how to feel about this.  AT&T Park is one of the most well-liked stadiums in Major League Baseball.  And my least favorite team plays there.  Hopefully I'll get to see the Giants lose.  What I'm probably more excited about is going to Los Angeles again.  I was thinking about going to San Francisco and realized that it wouldn't cost that much more to add a stop to Los Angeles on the trip.  So I'm starting in Los Angeles on Thursday.  This is kind of like last year when I combined Opening Day in Los Angeles and Milwaukee into one trip.

It's going to be a productive spring and summer.  I don't have to worry about missing the Celtics in the playoffs, but I still would like to watch as much NBA Playoffs as possible and I'll get into the NHL Playoffs if the Rangers make a run.  In May, I'll get to Canada and SkyDome for the first time.  And I'll be pretty busy in the summer.

I'm confident that I'll be able to finish the Major League Baseball stadiums in 2015.  Actually, I'll have two left.  I'm not going to Oakland or Tampa until those teams have new stadiums (they both play in dumps).  And in a few years the Braves will have a new stadium.  If Dennis is still living in Atlanta whenever that stadium opens, maybe I'll make another trip down there.  But I'd like to finish with a bang.  If I could get a bunch of people involved in my last trip, that would be pretty cool.  I'll have three stadiums left and I could make each one into a big trip:

1.  Target Field.  It's the second newest stadium in the league.  I definitely won't be going to Minnesota for outdoor baseball during my Easter vacation next year so I'm thinking this will be during the summer.  I have an ambitious plan for this trip.  Fly to and from Minneapolis.  Rent a car and cross off a few states.  The Field of Dreams in Iowa is something I'd definitely want to see.  And I could also go to Nebraska, South Dakota, and North Dakota.  Omaha and Fargo both have minor league baseball teams (if I can't think of any other things to do in Nebraska and North Dakota).  Going to Mt. Rushmore would be awesome, but it's in western South Dakota, which wouldn't really be feasible on this trip.  South Dakota might just have to be a drive through state.

2.  Globe Life Park.  I know, you have no idea what Globe Life Park is, but that's the new name of the stadium where the Rangers play.  If Jon and Kyle want to make up for not going to the Shamrock Series at Jerry World and hanging out with Wilhelm in his native habitat, they're welcome to come.  I'll just have to hope that our government is running so that this time I can get to the George W. Bush Presidential Library (although the museum at Dealey Plaza was really good, I'm glad I got there).  I'm sure there are other cool things to do in Dallas as well.

3.  Angel Stadium.  It's now the fourth oldest stadium in baseball (Fenway Park, Wrigley Field, Dodger Stadium, tied with whatever that horrendous stadium in Oakland is called).  I love southern California.  I wish I had friends that lived there.  There are so many things I'd want to do there to mark the conclusion of my quest to get to all these stadiums.  Obviously, if I'm in Anaheim, I'd want to schedule it so that I could get to a Dodger game as well.  Disneyland would be a thing I'd want to do also (I've been to Disney World a handful of times, but never Disneyland).  It would be fun to take a trip down to San Diego and get to Petco Park again (one of my favorites).  And I'd really like to get to the Reagan Presidential Library (with that and the Bush library, I'd balance the political parties of the presidential libraries I would have been to).  The Reagan Library is 74.3 miles northwest of Angel Stadium, so that's doable.

So if you like the United States, baseball, and Jim (or at least two of those three things), you're welcome to join on any of those trips.  I'm fairly confident that they will happen in 2015.

So I'm going to finish the baseball stadiums.  How will I finish the states?  Here's the map of states I've been to.  I really need to get to the three closest states I haven't been to:  Vermont, Maine, and West Virginia (I've been to all five states that border West Virginia, but not West Virginia).  Vermont has Little Fenway and Little Wrigley.  It would be really really cool to play wiffle ball at either of those places.  Portland, Maine has a minor league stadium with the Maine Monster (they're affiliated with the Red Sox).  That would be cool to see, and it's not that far from my friend John in Massachusetts.  I've got nothing for West Virginia.  I still want to get to Gettysburg.  That's not too far from West Virginia.

But how about the other states I haven't been to?  I'll just go through some of the ones I have a hard time picturing myself going to in the not too distant future.  Ideally, Notre Dame will make it to the Sugar Bowl for a playoff game on January 1, 2015.  If I was ever in New Orleans, I'd have to take a drive through Mississippi and into Alabama and knock off those two in addition to Louisiana (New Orleans and Mobile, Alabama are like two hours apart).

Hawaii and Alaska would both be really cool to go to.  I like to think that Hawaii will happen someday, but I have a hard time picturing myself actually booking a trip to Alaska.

Five states out west will be tough.  If Notre Dame does indeed play BYU in Provo, that could easily be my trip to Utah.  If I did that, I might just have to take a drive to Idaho (although I my former roommate Nick lives in Boise and has offered to host me if I ever go there).  Montana is named after Joe Montana so that's cool (relax, I'm not being serious, but I would name a place after Joe Montana).  If I ever got to Mt. Rushmore, I might have to take a drive to Montana.  Oregon has a college football team that wears horrendous uniforms.  If Major League Baseball ever takes my expansion plan, maybe there will be a stadium for me to visit there.  If not, I guess I could just go to see a Trail Blazers game or something.  And New Mexico?  I've got nothing.  It might win the award for state I have the most trouble envisioning myself going to.  Congratulations, New Mexico.

So I definitely won't be finishing off all 50 states any time soon, but I'll try to keep making progress.  Notre Dame could really help me out by making the Sugar Bowl this season.  Go Irish!

Vin Scully and a Koala

It's one of the best pictures I've ever seen.

This koala will tell his grandchildren that he met Vin Scully.

And then there's this:

The Kershaws and a kangaroo.

Anyway, I had always wanted to blog about my appreciation of Australia, and today seemed like the right day to do it.  I went to Ireland to see Notre Dame open its football season.  Today, the Dodgers opened their season in Australia.  I tried to figure out a way to go, but it just wasn't possible.  I used to say that there were two places I needed to get to before I died:  Dodger Stadium and Australia.  One down, one to go.

Ordinarily, I would be opposed to baseball starting its season in another country.  I stand by my plan to fix Opening Day, but I'm much less opposed to this than I was to opening the season in Japan two years ago.  Why?  A few reasons.  First, this game was on TV live, unlike the last opener in another country.  Second, opening in Australia is less disruptive than opening in Japan.  You might not think so because the time difference is less in Tokyo than Sydney.  When the Mariners and A's opened in Japan, there was a 16-hour time difference for the teams.  For the Dodgers and Diamondbacks in Australia, it was an 18-hour time difference.  When the Yankees and Rays opened in Japan 10 years ago, it was a 13-hour time difference for those teams.  That was the worst.  The worst jet lag can be is 12 hours.  Eighteen hours ahead is exactly the same on the body as six hours behind.  I've done a five-hour time difference twice (England and Ireland) and that wasn't too bad.  West coast teams that go to Japan really have to deal with an eight-hour time difference (24 - 16).  When east coast teams go to Japan, it's really an eleven-hour time difference (24 - 13).  That's almost as bad as it can be.  As far as going to Australia, it's a really long flight, but the jet lag isn't that bad for teams from the Pacific time zone (Arizona claims to be in the mountain time zone, but they're on Pacific time from March until November).  And finally, if you want to grow the game of baseball, you don't need to go to Japan.  They already love baseball.  I think Australia is a place where the game can grow.  Baseball is not big in Australia, but Australians love sports.  And there are a lot of similarities between Australia and the US, so maybe baseball could grow in popularity in Australia (the crowd seemed pretty excited today).

It was a solid Opening Day for the Dodgers.  I woke up at 3:50 to get ready for the game.  The listed start time was 4:00, but I think it wasn't really supposed to start until 4:45.  Rain pushed back the actual start to 5:00.  Once they finally got going, Clayton Kershaw's performance was strong ... to quite strong.  It wasn't quite like Opening Day last year, but one run over six and two thirds is very good (his first ever run allowed in four Opening Day starts, and he would have gotten through seven if not for some poor fielding).  Scott Van Slyke had a double and a two-run home run.  The bullpen was great for the final seven outs.  The only bad news was that MLB Network sent their own crew for the game rather than carrying the Dodgers' broadcast with Vin Scully.  Matt Vasgersian and John Smoltz were fine (and the Australian cricketer that they had as a sideline reporter type guy was a plus), but I'm pretty sure that a very solid majority of the people who were watching this game at a very unusual hour would have preferred Vin Scully.  He doesn't travel east of Denver anymore, but he made it all the way to Sydney.  How many people were watching that game besides Dodger or Diamondback fans?  And there are definitely more Dodger fans than Diamondback fans.  Come on, MLB Network.  So that was the first ever regular season baseball game played in Australia (the White Sox and Giants played there during a world tour in the offseason 100 years ago).  Hopefully the Dodgers will get another win tonight (tomorrow afternoon in Australia) and come back home 2-0.

I guess I've wanted to go to Australia since I was in college.  My favorite professor in college was an Australian priest, Father Bill Miscamble.  I took two classes with him.  The first was US Foreign Policy, 1945 to Present.  The second one was Australian History.  Did I know anything about Australian History before taking the class?  Not much other than that it was once a British prison colony.  In high school, I was on News 12's Long Island Challenge and there was a question about Australia and New Zealand joining a certain organization in the 1950s.  I guessed NATO even though I knew it didn't make sense.  I couldn't think of SEATO.  Mr. Hennessy (my favorite high school teacher) was disappointed, but I felt better when my brother Sean also guessed NATO also when I asked him.  Did I have any interest in Australian history?  Not really.  But it filled a requirement.  As a history major, I had certain history class requirements.  I think I had to take at least two US history classes (I took lots, but one had to be pre-Civil War and one had to be post-Civil war), one European history class (Irish History, 1800-Present for me), one ancient history class (History of the Roman Empire), maybe one Latin American history class (I don't know why else I would have taken Mexican History), and there was a requirement to take one class about any other part of the world.  Australian history sounded more interesting than any African or Asian history class, but the real reason I took it was because Father Miscamble was such an awesome professor.  He would fall behind in class and have us over to the seminary (which served as Rudy's dorm in the movie) at night or on the weekend a couple times during the semester.  We didn't mind going because he was such a great professor and he would offer us dinner (which included "age-appropriate beverages").  The first book he had us read for Australian history was In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson.  It was a travel book about Australia that spent a lot of time talking about all the things in Australia that could kill you (like the box jellyfish), but it still made me want to go to Australia.  I remember him writing about being chased by wild dogs at some point.  I should really read that book again.  The last class I attended at Notre Dame before finals my last semester was Australian history.  Father Miscamble ended class by saying to us, "My friends, get the hell out of here."  Great way to end my college career.  Besides being a great professor, Father Miscamble is also a great guy and I've said many times that he should be the president of Notre Dame.  Sadly, he is not.

Although, I've never been to Australia, I feel like I have a lot of experience with the Australian accent.  My gym teacher until high school was Australian.  There was Father Miscamble.  And I've been listening to Leigh Ellis five times a week on The Basketball Jones/The Starters for about a year now.  The Aussies definitely have the best accent.  I would take the American accent because I love the United States, but objectively, the Australian accent has to be the best accent of all the English-speaking countries.  I've been to Ireland and England, and their accent isn't as good as the Australian accent.  I haven't been to Canada yet, but two of the four guys on the Starters are Canadian.  To me, the Canadian accent is indistinguishable from the American accent except for the fact that they just pronounce certain words wrong (which I covered in this post).  So my English-Speaking Accent Power Rankings go like this:

1.  Australian
2.  American
3.  Irish
4.  English
5.  Canadian

I mentioned that there are similarities between Australia and the United States.  Maybe I'm wrong, but I think Australia is more similar to the United States than Great Britain.  Both the US and Australia are very large countries (geographically anyway, the US has a much larger population).  Both overcame difficulties to become great countries.  For the United States, we needed to defeat the most powerful empire in the world.  For Australia, they overcame a start as a prison colony to develop into a prosperous nation.  Both are Christian nations with Catholics representing the largest denomination (around 25% in both countries).  Both are nations of immigrants that have an unfortunate history when it comes to dealing with the native population.  Sports are a big part of both cultures and both countries have sports that aren't really popular anywhere else (American football and Aussie rules football).

One thing that I've always admired about Australia is their willingness to fight for what is right.  In World War I, 1.38% of their population died.  The only non-European nation with a higher percentage was New Zealand (1.64%).  I have very complicated feelings about Ireland.  There are definitely things that I like about Ireland.  But one of my issues with Ireland is that they refused to fight Hitler because they hated the British so much even when Churchill offered them everything they wanted.  Of course, Australia was there with us and the British fighting to save the world from Hitler.  And I do appreciate the special relationship that the United States has with Britain, but Australia is an even more loyal ally (though probably not as important of an ally as Britain).  The United States and Britain have fought on the same side in several wars, but Australia has always been on our side.  Unlike the Brits, the Aussies were there with us in Vietnam.  Fighting communism in Vietnam was not a bad thing; the bad thing is that we didn't win.  Fortunately, we were able to get past our all-time low in Americo-Austalianian relations in 1995.

Finally, there's the story of Harold Holt.  Can you imagine the leader of any other powerful nation just disappearing without an explanation?  It's fascinating.

So there it is.  I won't say that I love Australia (that word is reserved for the United States), but I strongly like Australia.  If anybody else wants to visit Australia, we need to talk.  I got to Ireland in 2012 and England in 2013.  I'm going to Canada in May.  Australia in 2015?

St. Patrick's Day and My Tournament Power Rankings

Whenever I think of St. Patrick's Day, I'm reminded of the only St. Patrick's Day I spent at Notre Dame.  It was 2005 (I transferred in and I was on spring break in 2006) and it was one of the great random sports days of all time.  Kyle, Jorge, and I had stolen cable a few days before.  We split the cable from the lounge next to our room and ran a cable into our room.  We did this in the middle of the night as if it would prevent anybody from noticing.  It lasted for about a week until we were told to disconnect it, but we had it for St. Patrick's Day.  We had the steroid hearings in Congress where Jose Canseco was the only one who told the truth.  The NCAA Tournament was starting.  Shaquille O'Neal had 25 points and 12 rebounds in 13-point win for the Heat against the Lakers (the second game against the Lakers for him after getting traded).  And there was a lot of day drinking.  Such a great day.  It's hard to believe it was nine years ago.

Anyway, we're now just a few days away from the best four-day stretch of the year in sports (which is made even better this year because of baseball season starting in Australia on Saturday at 4:00 in the morning, I'm definitely getting up).  I've decided to rank all the teams in the tournament by how much I want to see them win.  From number 1 to Michigan, here we go:

1.  Creighton
Doug McDermott has to be the best college player I've seen in person.  I want his college career to end with a championship.

2.  Providence
3.  Xavier
4.  Villanova
The rest of the Big East.  Providence beat Creighton and Xavier gave Creighton a tough game.  Villanova couldn't make it to Friday night for me to see them in person.

5.  Manhattan
6.  Dayton
7.  Gonzaga
8.  Mount St. Mary's
9.  St. Louis
10.  St. Joe's
The other Catholic schools.  There's not much rhyme or reason to the order other than Manhattan (which is in the Bronx) is a local school.

11.  George Washington
My brother went there.  Also, George Washington was a great man.  He liberated Boston 238 years ago today.

12.  BYU
I like Mormons.

13.  UCLA
If I could go back in time and I had to pick a state university to attend, I'm thinking I'd want to go to UCLA.  It's in Los Angeles and they don't like USC.

14.  Cal Poly
15.  Albany
16.  Texas Southern
17.  Coastal Carolina
18.  Weber State
The 16 seeds other than Mount St. Mary's.  Obviously, they have no chance to win the tournament, but I would love to see a 1 seed lose their first game.

19.  Harvard
I don't like the Ivy League, but I respect schools that care about educating their athletes and Harvard obviously does.

20.  North Dakota State
How cool would it be if a team from North Dakota won a national championship in basketball?

21.  Wofford
22.  Western Michigan
23.  Kansas State
These schools are playing teams that I despise in the first round.  If any of them win, I'll be very grateful.

24.  American
I'm an American.  I love St. Patrick's Day as a Notre Dame alum, but when students ask me if I'm Irish, my response is always the same:  "I'm American."

25.  Eastern Kentucky
I was there for a 15 seed winning last year.  That's always fun to see.

26.  Stephen F. Austin
27.  Texas
Don't mess with Texas.

28.  San Diego State
I saw them play a nice game last year in Philadelphia.  Kyle is a fan.

29.  Wichita State
30.  Virginia
My first 1 seeds.  Wichita State going undefeated would be really cool.  And when I was visiting colleges back in the day, I was really impressed with Virginia's campus.  They're an ACC team and they care about academics.

31.  Delaware
One of my favorite former campers is a student there.

32.  VCU
Shaka Smart is a pretty awesome coach.

33.  Mercer
34.  North Carolina Central
Low seeds.  Whatever.

35.  New Mexico
36.  New Mexico State
Two teams from a state that I can't imagine having a reason to visit, which is a problem considering I want to get to all 50 states someday.

37.  NC State
38.  Pittsburgh
Two more ACC schools.

39.  Louisiana-Lafayette
I like the Marquis de Lafayette.

40.  Milwaukee
Our last school that doesn't play big time college football.  The last such team to win was Villanova in 1985.  Milwaukee would have been much higher on my list as a 15 seed if they weren't playing Villanova.

41.  Kansas
Kansas has a very high success to hateability ratio.  And Paul Pierce went to Kansas.

42.  Arizona State
43.  Tulsa
44.  Baylor
45.  Tennessee
46.  Arizona
I would have no problem with any of these teams winning, but I wouldn't be excited either.  I like the warm weather in the state of Arizona, but Arizona is the last of these four just because they're one of the favorites.

47.  Oklahoma
48.  Oklahoma State.
I have no thoughts about these two teams.

49.  Massachusetts
50.  Memphis
Two teams that used to be coached by John Calipari.  I'm not a fan.

51.  Duke
They care about academics.  I don't hate Duke like some people do, but I don't want them to win either.

52.  Cincinnati
53.  Iowa State
54.  Florida
55.  Colorado
Cincinnati is a former Big East school.  Iowa State beat Notre Dame last year.  Billy Donovan is a great coach.  And I'm not a fan of Colorado's drug laws.

56.  North Carolina
I was never a fan of Roy Williams, but this solidified it.  I just want to watch basketball.  I don't need to hear political nonsense from a basketball coach.

57.  Oregon
The only thing I associate with Oregon is terrible uniforms.

58.  Michigan State
Even though I despise the Big Ten, I like Tom Izzo.  Is that allowed?

59.  Stanford
They care about academics, but I can't stand Stanford.

60.  Iowa
61.  Nebraska
62.  Wisconsin
63.  Ohio State
I have nothing in particular against these schools other than being in the Big Ten.  That's enough.

64.  Connecticut
I've always disliked Connecticut.  It's a little harder to dislike them without Jim Calhoun.

65.  Kentucky
John Calipari and his team of mercenaries that probably never go to class.

66.  Louisville
Notre Dame's rivalry with Louisville will resume in the ACC next year and I'll never forgive Rick Pitino for what he did to the Celtics.

67.  Syracuse
Jim Boeheim.

68.  Michigan makes the championship game and it's determined before the game that all of their players are ineligible and so the game is never played.

69.  Michigan makes the championship game and some catastrophic event prevents the game from being played without anybody dying.

70.  Michigan
Nightmare.

Four Nights at Madison Square Garden

This week was the first of back to back weeks where having a job is problematic.  Championship Week in college basketball.  I love the conference tournaments.  If I could stay up late every night and watch games, I would.  If I could go to the entire Big East Tournament, I would.  I almost did.

You have two different types of conference tournaments.  There are the tournaments that really mean nothing.  Does it really matter who wins the ACC Tournament?  Sure, if Notre Dame had won, that would have mattered (not just to Notre Dame fans, it would have kicked somebody else out of the NCAA tournament).  But Duke-Virginia in the ACC Championship Game?  It means nothing.  Both teams were in before the ACC Tournament started and both were going to get a good seed.  On the other hand, you have tournaments that make the regular season totally meaningless.  I did a running diary of the Ohio Valley Conference Championship Game because that game was for all the marbles.  One team was going to be in and the other was going to be out.  It's pretty silly that the regular season is totally meaningless, but it makes games between two teams that I've never seen before totally watchable.  I watched a good amount of the MAAC Championship Game (Manhattan became the first Catholic school to qualify for the NCAA tournament this year).  Yesterday, I wanted to go to the America East Championship Game at Stony Brook, but there were no tickets available to the general public because they were playing in their old gym that holds 1,700 (their newer basketball arena is being renovated).  Stony Brook has been pretty good in the America East for the last four years or so, but they can't get over the hump and win the conference tournament.  It was a back and forth, but Albany pulled away in the last two minutes.

So I really enjoy those tournaments that mean everything.  I also enjoy the tradition of the Big East Tournament at Madison Square Garden.  Usually the Big East Tournament is one that doesn't mean much.  Sadly for me, Notre Dame never won the Big East Tournament, but we had still been in the NCAA tournament six out of the last seven years.  This year was a little bit different.  We had two teams that we knew were in, Villanova and Creighton.  Seton Hall, Butler, and DePaul were definitely out unless they won the tournament.  And Xavier, Providence, St. John's, Marquette, and Georgetown were bubble teams.  It seemed like one or two of those teams would make it, but there was no way to know which ones until the tournament happened.

I bought tickets the day they came out.  Obviously, my seats were high up, but I was pretty happy with them.  I was section 224, row 18.  That's right in the middle of the court.  I purposely picked seats 11 and 12 because there were 22 seats in the row, which makes 11 and 12 the two in the middle.  There was only one afternoon session this year.  I considered taking the day off and going to all four games that day, but my class had a field trip (not my doing, there were several classes involved).  It turns out that session had the best game of the tournament (Seton Hall beating Villanova at the buzzer), but I can't control that.  I sold those tickets and made a profit of $14 on the face value.  So that worked out.

Anyway, it all got started on Wednesday night.  I went with my dad.  I was rooting for a quick game in the first game (Seton Hall-Butler) and a Georgetown blowout over DePaul.  The first game got off to a fast start.  They got to halftime around 7:45.  It slowed down in the second half and ended right around 9:00.  Seton Hall led by one at halftime.  They controlled most of the second half, but then tried to give it away late.  They held on for a 51-50 win when Alex Barlow missed a last second shot.  In the second game, I was rooting for Georgetown for two reasons.  First, my brother is an alum.  Second, I thought they had a chance of giving Creighton a game, but DePaul would get blown out.  Georgetown got off to a good start.  They were up 17-9 less than 10 minutes into the game.  Then they had a lot of trouble scoring for the rest of the first half.  They were up 25-23 at halftime.  Georgetown was playing so poorly that I really didn't care about staying.  We left at halftime and found out that DePaul won.  I wasn't that surprised.  I ended up getting home around midnight.

The beginning of the first game on Wednesday night.  Lots of empty seats, but it filled up a bit.

Thursday was a fun day at the tournament.  Seton Hall pulled off the biggest upset of the tournament after almost finding a way to lose against Butler.  But I missed that and Providence beating St. John's.  After missing the afternoon session, I headed into the city to meet up with Vin for the night games.  He was still at work when I got into the city around 6:10, so I waited for him at Penn Station.  We got in a little bit late for the Creighton-DePaul game.  I expected Creighton to win easily and that's what happened.  But it was worth watching Doug McDermott.  He scored 27 points in the first half, a Big East Tournament record.  He ended up with 35 for the game on 14-22 shooting.  What annoyed me was that a woman in the row in front of us asked us not to talk with about five minutes left in the game.  Maybe were a little loud, but it's a basketball game.  We weren't being profane or obnoxious or anything, we were just having a conversation.  At a basketball game.  This wasn't golf or tennis.  It was a basketball game.  She asked Vin so I didn't hear her, but he said she was British.  We really could have been like, no, we're at a basketball game (that isn't even close, Creighton ended up winning by 22), we're going to have a conversation.  But we were fairly quiet for the rest of the game and then we moved for the second game.  The second game was Xavier-Marquette.  Whatever happened in that game was going to have a hard time topping McDermott's performance.  Vin left at halftime.  I stayed for a little bit of the second half and moved down to the lower level.  It was a competitive game and I would have loved to stay until the end, but I was tired and I had work and Friday night at the tournament to think about so I left at the under 12:00 timeout in the second half.  Xavier ended up winning 68-65 and I got home around 12:30.

Friday night was the last doubleheader of the tournament.  Despite drinking a little bit the night before and getting somewhere between nine and eleven hours of sleep over the previous two nights, I felt pretty good.  I met Tom at Penn Station for the games.  Last year, he came on Thursday night.  Friday night was definitely better for him with the trip he had to make.  Tom pointed out the lack of diversity in the colors of Big East teams.  Every team except for Providence and St. John's has a shade of blue as one of its main colors (and St. John's had blue uniforms this year).  No teams have green as one of their colors.  I hate Syracuse and Louisville, but orange and another red team would be good.  Anyway, it would have been awesome to see Villanova-St. John's, but that was not to be.  Instead, we got Providence-Seton Hall.  That was still interesting as Seton Hall needed to win the tournament and Providence was still not assured a spot in the tournament.  LaDontae Henton had himself a game for Providence with 26 points and 14 rebounds.  Providence was in control for most of the game, but only ended up winning by six.  The second game was the main event.  I figured that a lot of people would leave because the two more local teams played in the first game, but Creighton clearly had the best support out of any of the four teams.  I think it was a combination of Creighton fans being excited to play in the Big East Tournament for the first time and any neutral fans jumping on the Doug McDermott bandwagon.  I was one of those people.  McDermott was 12 points away from sixth place in all time Division I scoring and 20 points away from fifth place.  He had 19 in the first half.  Creighton seemed in control, so Tom left at halftime.  I wanted to see him get to fifth place, so I stayed.  I moved down to the lower level, 11 rows up from the court along the sideline, but closer to the basket where Creighton was shooting.  McDermott got to fifth place in the second half.  At one point, I was about to leave, but then Xavier went on a little run.  At that point, I figured I might as well stay until the end.  It never looked like Xavier was going to win, but they hung around until the end.  Creighton won 86-78 and McDermott ended up with 32 points.  Ethan Wragge had 17 on 5-9 shooting (all threes).  I ran to make a train so that I wouldn't have to change at Jamaica on the next train and got home around 1:30, which was just a little bit after Tom got home.  It was nice to not have work the next day.

Pope Francis at the game for a match up of two Jesuit schools.

Doug McDermott with the ball on the left wing.

He ended up with 94 points in three tournament games.  I'm a fan.  I'll be rooting for Creighton in the big tournament.

My dad came back for the championship game the next day.  There was a great atmosphere for the game.  At the beginning of the game, it seemed like Creighton had a slight edge in fans, but the Providence fans were more boisterous during the game.  Of course, they had more reason to cheer.  Creighton had a terrible first half.  After scoring 49 and 45 in the first half the previous two nights, they had only 17 at halftime.  McDermott had nine and the rest of the team had eight.  Providence led by nine.  Creighton played a much better second half and the crowd really came to life.  McDermott made a three to get Creighton as close as 58-56.  Providence scored to make it 60-56 and then McDermott missed a long three.  Providence hung on for the 65-58 win.  Bryce Cotton led the way with 23 points and five assists.  He was named tournament MVP.  I think it should have been McDermott even though Creighton lost.  He finished with 27 (giving him 121 in four games that I've seen him play in person going back to last year's NCAA tournament in Philadelphia).  The next leading scorer for Creighton in the game was Avery Dingman, with 10 off the bench.  Nobody else had more than five.  As I was leaving, a Providence fan assumed I was a Creighton fan because of my Dodgers sweatshirt that was partially covered by my jacket.  They are the same colors and I did that purposely.  He said something to me like, "Good game, you guys are going to be really tough to beat in the tournament."  My reaction from the Big East Tournament is that Creighton could get to the Final Four if they shoot the ball the way they did against Xavier (I like Xavier because they gave Creighton a game despite Creighton's great shooting) or they could lose if they shoot the way they did against Providence.  Actually after a terrible first half, they ended up shooting better than Providence for the game.  My dad noted that the Madison Square Garden scoreboard listed two different shooting percentages for the teams on threes even though Creighton was 8-30 and Providence was 4-15, but overall Creighton shot 42.9% and Providence shot 38.8%.  The difference was Providence was 23-26 at the line and Creighton was 8-10.

Providence won their first Big East Tournament since 1994.

Just a little more on McDermott.  He's 60 points away from fourth place in all time scoring (he should get there if he plays three tournament games, maybe two).  He's 112 away from third place (he'd probably need at least four games for that).  He's 144 away from second place.  To get to second, he'd probably have to at least get to the Final Four.  He'd have to average 28.8 points over five games or 24 points over six games.  He's 562 points away from Pete Maravich for first.  That's not happening.

Attendance by session:
Wednesday night- 13,177
Thursday afternoon- 14,925
Thursday night- 13,807
Friday night- 15,580
Saturday night- 15,290

I really enjoyed the tournament.  A little over a year ago, I worried that 2013 was going to be the last Big East Tournament at Madison Square Garden.  The Big East survived and it showed that it's alive and well.  The Big East isn't the same, but it's in much better shape than it was when it looked like it was going to die.  The crowds were a little small, but they were great crowds every night except for Wednesday.  It didn't help that St. John's, Villanova, and Georgetown all lost their first game.  I would like to see the Big East go to 12 teams.  There was talk about that, but I haven't heard anything lately.  That would make Wednesday a full day and it would make the Wednesday night session better.  Instead of having the four worst teams in the conference play that night, you'd get a 7-10 game and 6-11 game.  The 10th and 11th place teams would probably be bad, but the 6th and 7th place teams could be decent.  More than anything else, what the Big East really needs is for Georgetown and St. John's to be powers.  This was a down year for Georgetown.  Despite my brother Sean's frustration with their lack of tournament success, Georgetown has been a pretty good regular season team over the last nine years (seven tournament appearances in the eight years before this season).  St. John's needs to get it together.  DePaul being good would help too.  Why are they terrible?  They were once good.  They made the tournament 14 times from 1976-1992.

I would do things a little differently next year.  I will definitely buy tickets for the entire tournament again, but I would probably only go three nights and sell the other one (probably Wednesday even though I wouldn't get much for those tickets).  If the schedules remain the same, I would make Saturday a big day.  The Atlantic 10 had their semifinals at the Barclays Center on Saturday afternoon.  There would have been enough time to go to those two games and then take the subway to Madison Square Garden for the Big East Championship Game at 8:30.  That would be a fun day.

I love Big East basketball.  I wish Notre Dame had never left.  I have in mind how that could have happened, but this has gone on long enough.  I'll see you next year, Big East Tournament.