Dodgers Web musings: Is it safe to attend games at Dodger Stadium?
-- The Times’ T.J. Simers doesn’t think the Dodgers should treat the parking-lot beating like some isolated incident.
-- The Times’ Dylan Hernandez on the Dodgers’ 10-0 loss Saturday before their smallest weekend home crowd against the Giants in eight years.
-- ESPN/L.A.’s Tony Jackson said for the first time reliever Kenley Jansen looked unsure of himself, though no one is ready to panic.
-- Hernandez on Ted Lilly’s rocky first start.
-- The Riverside Press-Enterprise’s David Lassen said the shutout could hardly be viewed as a surprise given the lineup the Dodgers threw out Saturday.
-- Dodgers.com’s Ken Gurnick said the Giants won the battle of reserves.
-- Paul Oberjuerge said going to a game at Dodger Stadium can feel plain dangerous.
-- CBS Sports’ Scott Miller took a look at the first two games of Don Mattingly, the non-sentimental manager.
-- Yahoo Sports’ Tim Brown said Matt Cain’s dominant performance over the Dodgers simply continued the way he ended last season.
--- Sports Illustrated’s Joe Posnanski finds his 32 best players in baseball. On his next 32, maybe he’ll find a Dodger.
-- Steve Dilbeck
Photo: Robert Alvarez, who has attended opening day each year since his childhood, gets ready for the Dodgers-Giants game on Thursday with 4-month-old son Bobby Javier. Credit: Christina House / For The Times
Please help Bryan's family.
http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_17761102?nclick_check=1
True baseball fans would never have allowed this to happen.
Posted by: Nor | 04/03/2011 at 02:30 PM
It's safe to watch the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium if you want to watch a bad team with an idiot manager.
Posted by: Chumpy Kemp | 04/03/2011 at 03:05 PM
My opening day joy turned to disgust when i got up the day after and read how a giant's fan got his head crushed and was in ICU. I read comments and related articles for over an hour feeling worse and worse. Then i picked up the phone and my disgust turned to rage. The victim was a friend of mine in Santa Cruz. His name is Brian and is one of the nicest and funniest guys i have ever known. He has two young sons and makes his living saving lives driving an ambulance. He waited his whole life for the Giants to win the world series and was excited all winter at the prospects of two firsts. Attending an opening day where his team were defending champs and doing it at Dodger Stadium a place he had never been but had seen on T.V. and described as beautiful. In the wee hours of Fri. morn they had to drill a hole in his head to relieve brain pressure. That didn't work so they started shaving the front of his Skull to make more room for his frontal lobe where the grey matter was beginning to die. People on this bloog may be familiar with my optomism in the past. All i have right now is rage. Disgust. I cannot shake it. Is the park safe McCourt?
Posted by: N.P.Krohn | 04/03/2011 at 03:24 PM
I'd say being safe depends on where you sit. I, for one, would never venture into one of the pavilions, or certain areas of the reserved or loge levels. Unfortunately, most fans can't afford to sit in the field boxes between first and third...those are probably the safest seats in the park, besides the club level, or those behind the plate. Of course, the parking lots can also be an adventure.
Posted by: bob cuomo | 04/03/2011 at 04:06 PM
I've been living here for over 15 years and I've noticed a change in the atmosphere of Dodger games and in the behavior of the fans, especially the way out of towners or fans of the opposing team are treated, and it isn't for the better.
Posted by: Jeff | 04/03/2011 at 08:00 PM
Violence at Dodger Stadium
A must read if you are thinking about buying a ticket to a Dodger home game.
http://www.oberjuerge.com/http:/www.oberjuerge.com/new-incident-old-story-violence-at-dodger-stadium/
Posted by: skyharbor | 04/03/2011 at 09:53 PM
Nope. I've had my tires slashed in the parking lot.... and I'm a Dodgers fan!
Posted by: Cory | 04/04/2011 at 06:40 AM
How times have changed. Let's face it, Dodger stadium was never in the best of neighborhoods, but there was a time in the early 60's, that a twelve year old boy could board a bus on Sunset and La Brea, along with three of his friends and go to a Sunday double header with no worries. Those days are only memories in the mind of an ageing fan that grew up, in an era when baseball was king, you knew your neighbors and a double header was something that actually appeared on a schedule. Wasn't it O'Malley himself who used the excuse of a disintegrating neighborhood as an excuse to move his team out of Brooklyn?
Posted by: Gerard Capra | 04/04/2011 at 10:05 AM
No.
Posted by: waus | 04/04/2011 at 11:19 AM
First of all the Dodger organization should do everything in it's power to not only assist with the arrest and prosecution of the assailants but to publicly own up to the status of the park, it's grounds, and the current culture of attendees. Let's be honest, it is not an overly dangerous place to be. But incidents like this hae happened there and certainly make people from both inside and outside the city think twice. Despite being warned about this for years and experiencing some unpleasant moments myself, I will still go to a few games, but certainly not as many as I had planned to prior to opening day. If not for this incident and the Dodgers poor handling of it, but for the following reasons as well: The team has a divided ownership and I do not believe chaos at the top level is a good thing. I wish Don Mattingly well but he is a first time, first year manager. And do these two factors add up to a championship year or at least a potential playoff year? Doubtful but anything is possible. Plus Los Angeles is a melting pot of people from all over the USA and the world, so I am sure they would want to come and at least see a team where they may have been from or rooted for prior to coming to L.A.. Other than that, what is the point of spending money and time in this economy on a mediocre team? Wake up Dodgers and adress this situation head on before things get worse.
Posted by: Bradley | 04/04/2011 at 11:20 AM
I am a Giants fan who has been going to games at Dodgers Stadium for nearly 10 years. I expect some crap talk, I expect to be booo'd when I walk up the stairs to the rest room etc. However, on this particular opening day, I sat in the upper reserve (all I could afford at $75 a tix since the McCourts sold most tix straight to Stub Hub) and I have never seen the place so foul and disgusting. I was called homophobic slurs, I was spit on, but the highlight was a cup that was meant for me hitting a 5 year old Dodgers fan instead. When he started to cry, fellow Dodgers fans called him a F****T and told his Dad to "Make him a real man and get him to stop crying." When security was called, we got one 85 pound female who at 4 foot 8 was not about to stop the thugs in our section.
Despite all of this, I returned for more games this weekend. I refuse to live in fear because the Dodgers enjoy the rep of being a team for thugs and low-lives. If I wanted to live my life in fear, I would have never moved to Los Angeles.
It would be nice to see the "good" Dodgers fans stick up to the thugs. You see some thugs calling a kid nasty names for crying after he is hit with a cup - stand up. You see someone getting beat in the parking lot - stand up. Go find a cop, go get lots of security. Stop living in fear and most important remember THAT IT IS A SILLY GAME THAT IS SUPPOSED TO BE FUN.
Posted by: Reverend Justito | 04/04/2011 at 01:16 PM
No.
Posted by: john | 04/04/2011 at 07:24 PM
It doesn't matter where you sit. I sat 20 rows behind home last night, and still had to deal with the same thugs walking through the parking lot back to my car. Safe? I guess if I take off my "colors" to get through the parking lot!
Posted by: john | 04/04/2011 at 07:26 PM
Really? I know a couple who went to the game last night and were taunted relentlessly by inebriated Giants fans just because they were rooting for the Dodgers! Did they beat anyone? NO!
Posted by: Rob | 04/04/2011 at 08:51 PM
I would never attend a Dodgers home game. Some of the more vocal fans treat the game like politics. Intolerance for another opinion seems to have reached a new low. We experienced this in Tucson against Gabrielle Giffords and now in LA against a SF Giants fan. I'm glad there is another team in the LA area. While the Angels have had problems in the past with unruly fans it's seems to have a safer environment for fans of both teams.
Posted by: eliaser | 04/05/2011 at 10:12 AM