A Fan no More part 2

Following my teams.
I continued my love of baseball as a fan of the Angels and also the Dodgers. Some would say you're not a true fan of one team if you like other teams, but I disagree. I just liked baseball and on the nights the Angels were not playing I would tune to the Dodger games. Back in those days, games weren't televised near as often as they are now. You were lucky to get a game a week on TV. But I would listen to a lot of games on the radio. Sometimes for instance, I could listen to two games if I chose to. The Angels could have a game on the east coast against the Yankees, that would start about 4:30 in California. Then I could listen to the Dodgers if they had a home game or were playing on the road against the Giants. I was spoiled though. I grew up listening to Dick Enberg do the Angels games on radio and tv. Vin Scully was the Dodger broadcaster, and to this day I don't think there's anyone better at decribing not only the game but the setting. I think he still does home games for for the Dodgers and road games on the west coast. One of my favorite quotes of his had to do with a former player who I think was playing for the Cubs when he made this statement. " Andre Dawson is listed day to day." (short pause) "Aren't we all?"
I remember listening to games on my transistor radio and falling asleep, waking up to see my radio was dead (batteries weren't alkeline yet) and asking my mom for 10 cents so I could go to the radio shack to buy another one. This happened often.
I grew to like other sports and the local teams also. In football, it was the Rams with Roman Gabriel as the quarterback. His favorite target was Jack Snow. Their running back was Lawrence McCutchon, who had a few very productive seasons. They always seemed to lose to the Colts back then, who had Johnnie Unitas at the end of his great career.
Basketball gave me the Lakers with Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, Keith Ericson, Gail Goodrich, Happy Hairston, and of course, Wilt the Stilt. I even remember his back up Mel Counts, who had to be the worse career free throw shooter in the history of the NBA.
And so it was for many years following these 4 teams. I would root for the Raiders when they had Jim Plunkett as their quarterback. I liked him when he played for Stanford in College and had read his autobiography.
The impact that sports had on me as a young boy can be supported by the fact that I can remember so much about certain games. I already wrote about my first Angel game I attended. The next year I went to my second game. The Angels were playing the Orioles. The Angels brought up a rookie and this was his first game. Jim Spencer played first base in that game and for the rest of the season, I believe. He went 3-4 and hit a 3 run home run that lifted the Angels to a 4-3 win. I was estatic. Spencer went on to have a successful career playing for the White Sox after his Angel days.
I shouldn't remember this stuff, but I do. This is proof that baseball was a huge part of my life.

A Fan No More part 1

The Beginning
I used to be quite the fanatic when it came to sports. I had my favorite teams growing up. It all started when I was nine years old and aquired my first pack of baseball cards. That was the first year I played little league baseball in Riverside California. I was on the Pirates. A perk of being in little league that year was going to my first major league game at Angel Stadium. Back then it wasn't enclosed and was quite the sight for me as I walked through the tunnel and beheld the spectacle of the field and the players warming up. I had started listening to the Angel broadcasts on the radio just a month or two prior and was familiar with the names of the players. Every thing was absolutely a feast for my senses. The sounds of the program guy barking as you came through the gate. The bat hitting the ball. The P.A. announcer. The organ playing tunes throughout. The smell of the food. The sights of the field crew scraping the field and watering it down. The umpires making their entrance and getting booed. They were playing the A's that night back in July of 1967. Pat Dobson held the Angels to three hits. Phil Roof, a light hitting catcher hit a three run home run. The Halos lost 4-0. I went home sad because MY Angels lost, but I also was on cloud 9, because I attended my first major league game. It didn't matter that my seats were way up in the upper deck in right field. Or that only 7 thousand or so fans were there. It was cool, before we used the word cool.

The Phenom and the Hot Dog Guy

Yesterday was just a good day. It was Father's Day. The U.S. Open was on the television. Church was good and is the basis for this post. An associate pastor presented the message. The message was very good and was about the question asked Jesus: Who is the greatest among us. (meaning the disciples). We are to seek being servants and not being greatest. The scripture: The exalted shall be made humble and the humbled shall be exalted.
Rory mcElroy won the open easily and was an shining example of the humbled being exalted as only months ago, he blew a nice lead going into the final round of the Masters (a very humbling experience). How refreshing it was to see him get the trophy and to see what appears to be a young man not full of himself. Stay humble Rory.
Contrast that to the recent headlines regarding the Hot Dog congressman that just resigned in shame. He was exalted by his peers and was pegged to be the next mayor of NYC. When facing adversity, did he show any humility? Nope. Now he is humbled.
And America is all the better for both events.