Dodger sale

[PotKettleBlack]

[quote:9913ba0d81="Valen"]Hey Pot since you have lived in both areas what about Mofo's contention transportation hurdles keep people from being able to get off work and arrive on time?

I tend to discount the opposite of having to leave early due to transportation. Once I am at a game I am there as long as there is any doubt as to the outcome. Will note that ballpark at Arlington does not have obvious public transportation to it. There is the DART bus service that might get you within walking distance. But the rail system does not come anywhere close as far as I am aware. It does go right by the AAC where the Mavericks play. But they do a great job of routing traffic so it is rare to have a lot of trouble getting out even with sellouts.[/quote:9913ba0d81]

Oh, Chavez Ravine is absolutely abyssmal to get to and get out of. Everything he describes is true. Certainly relative to Staples (where people show up late, but don't leave early, which might be a commentary on basketball in general), or Wrigley (Red Line, multiple buses, courtesy shuttles, and abundant stuff to do in the neighborhood, which are all in stark contrast to Dodger Stadium...).

But there's also a casualness to LA (non-Lakers) sports fans that I can best summarize by relaying some comments on Sporting News Radio call in shows when I lived out there. A question was posed to the LA audience... do you want a professional football team (obviously not including USC). And the answer covered a lot of reasons why it was good for LA to be a NFL have not. Less traffic. No TV blackouts. Better games on TV. TV can switch from a bad game featuring your local team if you don't have a local team. So much nice weather, why mess up your Sunday with a bad team (any team that would move to LA would be bad in the short term), don't want a public finance debacle like everywhere else, etc, etc. Part of the casual quality of your LA fan is that a large number of people in LA are not from LA. I moved there a Yankees/Knicks/Jets fan, I left LA (second favorite place I've lived, only because I didn't make the money I make now there) a Y/K/J fan. When I left St. Louis (with a wife), I adopted the Cardinals. Different culture. Just about everyone in St. Louis is from St. Louis, or got pulled there by someone from St. Louis. Cardinals game is a different event than Dodgers games, partly because of the downtown vs. nowheresville aspect, partly because there's not a lot of reason to go to downtown St. Louis (more now than when I lived there in 02-06) other than sporting events, but there's stuff to do once you've made the trip. There no reason other than the Dodgers to go to Chavez Ravine, nothing to do other than see the Dodgers and navigate the parking. And yet, they still draw 3Mil every year, like clockwork... which'd be great, if they didn't have capacity for over 4Mil.

[rburgh]

I've been to games in Forbes, Three Rivers, PNC Park, Memorial Stadium (Baltimore), Camden Yard, the Vet, Fenway, the Jake, Wrigley, both Comiskeys, Riverfront, and Coors. I've also been to minor league games in Watertown, CT (saw Cey, Garvey, Lopes, et al), Reading (Brad Lincoln vs. Kyle Drabek), and Eastlake Park (first game, saw Fausto Carmona pitch).

I find ballparks fascinating. Construction methods sure have changed over the years. I'm currently working in the Texas panhandle, so I suspect I'll get to see the team in Amarillo soon.

[mykeedee]

Just to Piggy-back on what PKB said, there is so little to do in around Dodger Stadium late night that everyone who leaves early to beat the traffic, which by the way is absolutely miserable, has to go several miles in bumper to bumper traffic to get anywhere other than downtown after the game. Also we are so spread out here and everyone has places closer to home to enjoy the nightlife. Plus the casual attitude is something that LA cultivates, don't get too excited be cool, celebs everywhere, lots of other places to be so if you miss a few innings no big deal. Don't get me wrong, some of us are passionate and stay to the last out, and fight our way out of the parking lot for 30 minutes or so. Personally I prefer the enthusiasm of my non LA raised sports fan friends, my $.02. 8-) :roll: