The Arizona desert and training in Spring

at 3:45 on Saturday morning I pushed the snooze button on my alarm. Five minutes later I was staring at a text message sent 11 minutes ago telling me that Jana was walking out the door. In a panic I threw on my clothes brushed my teeth grabbed my bags and ran out the door. It was 4:00am and we were headed to Glendale, Arizona and Dodger spring training.

A Joshua Tree

The sun came up just as we were approaching Joshua Tree National forest. We pulled over for a planned stop to take some pictures. We wandered around for a bit, laid in the middle of the road, and remembered we could set up a self timer and had a tripod. There is nothing quite like the crisp clean cold morning air of the desert.

Arizona Welcome Sign

We stopped in booming Blythe, Ca for breakfast, just before the border of Arizona, where we weren’t the only customers wearing our Dodger pride. Not a few seconds back on the highway when Jana caught the welcome sign just in time to pull over and take a few pictures. States really should have pullouts so that people don’t kill themselves doing that.

Camelback Ranch

Kemp and Ethier

We arrived in Glendale, AZ around noon which gave us an hour before game time. We were really impressed with the layout and the style of the whole facility. It wasn’t gaudy and blended in with it’s desert surroundings. A water feature (which used reclaimed water) made you feel as if you were in the middle of a desert oasis. The stadium itself was very intimate and it took a while to get over how close we were to the players.

Furcal

On Sunday we sat just 10 rows behind the Dodger dugout. We took turns walking down to the side of the dugout to take pictures. I was so close I could have touched Andre Ethier. Then I looked up and Rafael Furcal was standing just feet in front of me. Then I looked back down and Matt Kemp was standing next to Ethier. I scampered back to my seat giddy as a teenager.

It was an amazing trip and we spent the whole time planing our month long vacation next March. We got to see some kids in action, Clayton Kershaw and AJ Ellis, so it will be exciting to root for them. We were only able to get Jeff Weaver’s autograph because of a certain gestapo usher but we were able to stand near Chad Billingsley. I’ll flickr all my great pictures soon.

After spending way too much at the clubhouse store we got on the road and headed for home. It was the most jam packed 42 hours we had ever spent together and it was a blast.

Driving home into the sunset.

Play Ball!

The sights and sounds of baseball gearing up has gotten me excited! This Saturday Jana and I sat down and picked out a whopping 27 games to attend this season and that was just for the mini-plan we were ordering. We were already making plans for certain individual games we might have to get on the side. On top of it all, in just a few weeks, Jana and I will be taking our first ever trip to Spring Training! So, as I stare out into a dark and cloudy sky I am itching for Spring and reflecting on my own passion for the sport.

Sometimes I listen to Jana with deep envy, my passion is not the same as hers. Her love for baseball and the Dodgers goes back to childhood, and a connection with her father and brother. An obsession fueled by the energy and time of youth. I often sadly wish I could share that with her.

But, it is this exact passion in my friend that has made me a Dodger fan. She was the one who took me to my first game as an adult. She was the one who taught it to me. She was the one who showed me how to keep score. She was the one I turned to, and still turn to, when something happens that I don’t understand. Her enthusiasm has become my enthusiasm.

But there were two other reasons for why I fell in love with baseball, and Dodger baseball in particular:

First, Dodger Stadium. The view of the field as you walk out to the top deck is awe-inspiring. There is nothing else like it. I tingle just thinking about it. You feel transported to a different time and all that is in your mind is baseball.

Second, Vin Scully. There is nothing in the world that can quite compare to listening to the voice of Dodger Baseball. My heart aches for future generations who will not know what it is like to listen to him call a game. Listening to Vin is like stretching your own soul across both time and space.

Dodger baseball connects me to history. I have great pride in calling the Dodgers my team. It doesn’t matter who the players are, or whether they win or lose, they will always be my boys, my bums.

But on a more general level I love baseball because it is the one sport that appeals to my nature.  It is  a game of contradictions.  A game of statistics and averages that can lead to predictable outcomes. But also a game of amazing feats, simple mistakes, and bottom of the 9th comebacks.

Proof I really do bleed Dodger blue.

It is a team sport and there is nothing like watching a well oiled machine. But it is also the simplest of duels between two individuals, one with a ball and the other with a bat. It is a slow methodical game and yet sometimes you wonder where the last 8 innings, 8 games, 8 months went.

Baseball is also a game of second chances. You can be down, but you’re never out. You can always get a hit next time, wake up tomorrow and try again. It is a game inherently about hope.

I can’t quite say why I love baseball.  It is more an emotion and a feeling.  I can’t quite say why I love the Dodgers. It is like the love you have for an extraordinary friend. But what I can say is that there is nothing quite like Dodger baseball. There is nothing quite like the excitment of Spring!