Advertisement

The Dodgers’ season as a sight unseen by many fans

Dodgers co-owner Magic Johnson, left, shares a laugh with David Rone, President of Time Warner Cable sports, news and local programming during the launch of SportsNet LA in El Segundo on Feb. 25.
(Jerod Harris / Getty Images for SportsNet LA)
Share

So how are you liking these new Dodgers owners now?

Guggenheim seemed to be making all the right moves, till it slipped up while slobbering over all that TV loot, in a way that negates almost everything it has done so well up to now.

Capitalism can be such a mess sometimes. Greed always does you in, even when it’s cloaked in a greater purpose, such as winning a World Series, perhaps the greatest purpose of all.

Crazy Guggenheim is not the biggest culprit, nor is it alone. Any fan who says you have to do whatever it takes to sign Kemp or Kershaw also shares some blame.

Advertisement

But most of the blood is on Time Warner Cable, which seems not to have done due diligence before committing more than $8 billion on a contract other cable providers refuse to support.

Walter O’Malley must be twisting in the clouds, looking down on these bozos who thought they could just pass along the costs, the way they always do, to other providers, then eventually to you, the poor schmo who bleeds Dodger blue.

Well, the other cable providers have balked at such alimony. And televised Dodgers baseball, one of the last great bargains for the working stiff, is no longer available to most of the L.A. market.

Maybe TV isn’t so important; baseball was always better on the radio anyway, more pastoral, resonant — an opera instead of a sitcom — sung by some of the finest singers this country ever produced: Barber, Brickhouse, Scully.

Can you imagine Yankees games not being televised? Or the Red Sox, or even the Cubs? The fans in those less enlightened parts of the republic would be tearing down the local cable offices.

Don’t rule it out. Not much of a rabble-rouser myself, but a peaceful march seems in order. Loud though, accompanied by cops on horseback. Lots of TV lights. The Sons of Liberty repurposed.

Advertisement

“When it gets to the point where you can’t even see the games at sports bars, something is wrong,” an irate reader writes from Silver Lake.

Last weekend, he and some buddies went on an epic, fruitless search for the second Australia game.

Started at Buffalo Wild Wings on Hollywood Boulevard. Nope.

Moved east down the boulevard to Hooters. Nada.

At Hollywood and Highland, they popped into Hard Rock Cafe. Sorry.

Three swings, three whiffs.

They finally found the game at a sports bar near Hollywood and Vine, where they caught the last five innings.

Don’t let this happen to you.

Noted addictions coach Cali Estes, who runs offices in L.A., New York and Miami, suggests being as proactive as possible in seeking out a game fix, and that waiting till the last minute to find a televised Dodgers game will only add to fans’ frustrations.

She says that sports addictions have been on the rise across the nation, partly because mobile devices allow fans to keep in constant touch with their teams.

How do you know if you have a sports addiction? She says the telling trait is when your passion for your team crosses into other areas of your life: finances, relationships, job.

Advertisement

Well, I guess that’s most of us.

Among her other tips: “I tell them that at the beginning of a relationship, you need to tell the other person that this piece of your life is huge,” the addictions coach says.

Too late for that.

What about dealing with sports-related frustrations?

“They have to de-personalize it,” Estes suggests. “It’s like the old lady who sits in front of the TV watching soaps and thinks it’s all real.”

It is all real.

“There has to be an outlet for your energy,” she says of sports fans in the off-season. “So when your season starts, and things go bad, you can go back to that activity. You have a way to de-stress.”

OK, now you must be talking about the Lakers.

I still have to believe this Dodgers fiasco will get mostly resolved, probably not for all TV providers, but for most.

Meanwhile, Sonny McClean’s in Santa Monica will carry all Dodgers games, as will the Short Stop near Dodger Stadium, the best bar in Los Angeles and probably the world. You should go just for the bullet holes in the front door.

Tinhorn Flats in Burbank will show Dodgers games, as will its sister saloon in Hollywood. That might help tide you over for now. A more complete list is forthcoming.

Advertisement

Till then, I feel your pain. But do the Dodgers?

chris.erskine@latimes.com

Twitter: @erskinetimes

.com

Twitter: @erskinetimes

Advertisement