Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Dodger Caravan: Come One, Come All (Only 400 Need Apply)

Fans of many baseball teams have big-time, coordinated events to show their appreciation of their favorite teams, meet their favorite players, and visit their hallowed ballparks before the season begins in earnest. For those baseball fans slogging their way through a long, cold off-season, these fan events can be as refreshing and pleasurable as a triple-decker ice cream cone on a hot summer day.

For Dodger fans, not only is it only a taste spoon of ice cream, but it's only vanilla. French vanilla. And it's sitting on the hot asphalt and melting quickly. And even though you want to go down and take a bite anyway, you know you're gonna get burned if you do.

Such is the lame Dodger Caravan that kicks off tomorrow on a two-day extravaganza outreach program to Dodger fans. Over the course of two days, a convoy of vehicles will take a handful of Dodgers to a whopping eight Southern California locations. Only three of which will be open to the public. And over the two days, they plan to give out autographs to no more than 400 fans, TOTAL. And spend three and a half hours, TOTAL.

Gee, thanks.

What the hell is this? The Orioles open up Camden Yards, arguably the finest modern ballpark, to its fans, and they're an awful team. The Pirates rent out a convention center for their PirateFest and trot out their new acquisitions and jersey designs. And they suck, too. The Padres open up Petco Park to its fans over two consecutive days of their FriarFest, making it a true family event.

Heck, even the frickin' Giants hold their annual fan event at PacBell AT&T SBC (no Yahoo (yet)) Park, taking in 20,000 fans. In contrast, the Dodgers are making their players as inaccessible as the Pope. 400 fans, in a city of 4 million, will be able to meet their idols. Thanks, Dodgers, and thanks, sponsor US Bank!

Well, fear not, loyal SoSG reader. We'll be there. Look for us in the post-event publicity shots. We'll be the Logan Elementary School students with the five o'clock shadows.

Or maybe this is Steve Garvey's way of denying access to his Sons? (Catch Pops himself (if you can!) tomorrow, at Pasadena City College between 12 noon and 1p.)

4 comments:

Alex Cora said...

I was just thinking about this...I noticed even the Anaheim...I mean Los Angeles, Angeles conduct a FanFest. The Los Angeles Dodgers should too!

Anonymous said...

City of 4 million? When did you write this, 1950?

Steve Sax said...

That's the city proper (I was trying to be conservative). MSA is at least 15 million, to be fair.

Lasorda said...

There are 4 million stories in the Naked City. . .