Football: Seems like old times (sort of) at San Pedro

Good thing I arrived almost two hours early for San Pedro's Marine League opener against Carson.

Silly me, I thought the Pirates still played their home games at Daniels Field. But when I pulled up and found an empty stadium, I knew something was amiss. So I called Eugene Fields, a longtime friend and San Pedro graduate who works for the Orange County Register, to figure out where I went wrong.

Fields quickly set me straight: San Pedro plays in its on-campus stadium now and has for quite a while. And I must say upon taking a seat in the modern press box with a view overlooking the Pacific Ocean, what an improvement. Nice, roomy stadium. Well-marked, well-manicured field. And plenty of room for me to spread out.

This was quite a contrast from my three months covering San Pedro as a reporter for the Daily Breeze in 1999.

I remember that the press box at Daniels Field (R.I.P.) was dark and cramped. They kept the lights off inside the facility so that you could see the game better. Unfortunately, that made it very difficult to see the statistics and play-by-play that you had to keep to cover the game.

Even more annoying was the colony of ants that seemed to always have its game face on and the fact that there was an obstructed view of one end of the field, forcing you to physically get up and walk outside the press box every time a team was inside the 20-yard line on that certain side.

When I worked there, the Daily Breeze treated its coverage of San Pedro football like the Omaha World-Herald does its coverage of Nebraska football. That is to say, quite seriously. I went to every game, home and away. And that meant plenty of face time with Pirates Coach Mike Walsh.

I have always thought of Walsh as the City Section's answer to Bruce Rollinson of Mater Dei, meaning he has a throaty voice and can be gruff at times. Walsh was often dissatisfied with my coverage of the Pirates for one reason or another. The only specific run-in I remember is when I questioned a call that benefited San Pedro on a punt return. It turned out, my understanding of the rule was incorrect.

I called Walsh earlier this week to collect information for my game preview. I was wondering whether he would remember me and what kind of response that might elicit. Would he say something snarky or maybe get a chuckle out of it, so many years later?

Neither, it turned out. Walsh had assistant coach Grant Beachley return the call. But I figure I'll go up and reintroduce myself after the game tonight if the Pirates win. Or maybe, just for fun, if they lose.

--Ben Bolch