Opening day at Dodger Stadium was full of highs and lows. Getting back into the Dodger Blue and cheering with 56,000 of my fellow Dodger fans was the highlight, the lows were many but they had nothing to do with the team or the fans. The atmosphere in the stadium, however, was perfect. Dodger fans are unlike any other baseball fans in the country in that they're knowledgeable about the game and the team, and they're also ready to riot at any time. Nowhere else do people party this hard for a Monday game at 1:30, no where else can you park your car walking distance away from the stadium and be greeted by teenagers in a park blasting Black Sabbath covers in Spanish, no where else do the fans from every walk of life share joints and beers with total strangers in the parking lot before the game.
Inside the stadium there were serious problems with hot dog and beer lines-- in our section, it took as long as 2 full innings to get basic sustenance. The parking was also a huge nightmare, people I was with who parked inside the stadium took 90 minutes just to get to the Freeway. All in all though, it was great to be back at Chavez Ravine with the best baseball fans in the world.
When I got back to my car, there was a band playing Sabbath at Leo Politi Park. This is the best place to pre and post-party for the Dodger day games, it's at Scott and Stadium Way.
This guy helped lead our section's cheering from "Rockies Suck" to "Let's Go Dodgers". He even got the old folks to their feet in the 9th when it looked like a rally was coming. One chant I heard various times around the stadium was "Angels Suck", which is new to me. In the past the Angel-Dodger rivalry was pretty tame but it may be heating up which is great.
Point a TV camera and people will come swarming.
Think... Blue?
