Monday, October 6, 2008
View from the Upper Deck ~ Chavez Ravine
3 pitches, 3 strikes, Dodgers to the NLCS…
(5 tacos) (5 tacos)
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Wednesday is Eat Birria Day ~ Los Doyers
Go Dodgers! Long Live the Cubs Curse!
The Curse of the Billy Goat is a curse on the Chicago Cubs that was started in 1945. As the story goes, Billy Sianis, a Greek immigrant , who owned a nearby tavern (the now-famous Billy Goat Tavern), had two $7.20 box seat tickets to Game 4 of the 1945 World Series between the Chicago Cubs and the Detroit Tigers, and decided to bring along his pet goat, Murphy, which Sianis had restored to health when the goat had fallen off a truck and subsequently limped into his tavern.
The goat wore a blanket with a sign pinned to it which read “We got Detroit’s goat”. Sianis and the goat were allowed into Wrigley Field and even paraded about on the playing field before the game before ushers intervened and led them off the field. After a heated argument, both Sianis and the goat were permitted to stay in the stadium occupying the box seat for which he had tickets. At this point, Andy Frain (head of Wrigley Field’s hired security company at the time), waved the goat’s box-seat ticket in the air and proclaimed, “If he eats the ticket that would solve everything.” However, the goat did not. Before the game was over, it started to rain and Sianis and the goat were ejected from the stadium at the command of Cubs owner Philip Knight Wrigley due to the objectionable odor of wet goat. Sianis was outraged at the ejection and allegedly placed a curse upon the Cubs that they would never win another pennant or play in a World Series at Wrigley Field again because the Cubs organization had insulted his goat, and subsequently left the U.S. to vacation in his home in Greece.
The Cubs lost Game 4 and eventually the 1945 World Series, prompting Sianis to write to Wrigley from Greece, saying, “Who stinks now?” source: wikipedia.
In honor of the Curse of the Billy Goat, break your Sunday tradition and go eat Birria at your favorite Los Angeles area Birriria. If you’re near downtown, check out El Parian.
Goat Photo by Luis Montemayor
(5 tacos)Thursday, September 25, 2008
Dodgers to the Playoffs ~ Chavez Ravine
Manny’s first HR as a Dodger
With today’s loss to the St. Louis Cardinals, the Arizona Diamondbacks have been eliminated from the playoffs, and your Los Angeles Dodgers are in! They’ll be the team with the fewest wins in the playoffs, but that doesn’t matter now. Congratulations to the Blue Crew on making it to the post-season!
(6 tacos)
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Dodgers Giants Rivalry ~ This Weekend
Above: Dean Martin, Sandy Koufax, Frank Sinatra. No one cool ever hung out with the Giants.
With the Giants coming to town for the last time this season, the Times has a nice article recapping the greatest rivalry in professional sports (it’s East Coast bias that rams the entertaining, yet not nearly as historic, important or contentious, Red Sox/Yankees rivalry down our throats). From the article:
Whether it was the dueling bats of Willie and the Duke, the knee-shaking brushback pitches of Sal Maglie and Don Drysdale or the high-kicking style of Sandy Koufax and Juan Marichal, this has been a rivalry played by some of the most skilled performers and colorful characters to ever put on a baseball uniform.
The rivalry continues this weekend, with a three-game series beginning Friday night at Dodger Stadium, the Dodgers trying to hold onto their lead in the National League West, the Giants trying to knock them from the perch.
Sometimes they played with a pennant on the line, sometimes not. But that didn’t matter. The mere sight of each other stirred the emotions.
Snider said he couldn’t even enjoy Halloween because it reminded him of the Giants’ colors, black and orange.
“It was a season within a season whenever we played them,” said former Dodgers shortstop Maury Wills, now a part-time Dodgers coach. “You didn’t need a Knute Rockne speech before a Giants game. If a player couldn’t get up for the Giants, he didn’t have any fire in him. It was war. It was life or death.”
The Wikipedia article on the rivalry has more great facts and information.
(4 tacos)Sunday, September 7, 2008
Compton’s Own Serena Williams Wins 3rd US Open Championship
Serena was born in Saginaw, Michigan. When she and her four sisters were young, their parents, Richard and Oracene (also called Brandy), moved to the Los Angeles suburb of Compton. Her father dreamed of making at least one of his daughters a tennis superstar, hoping that involvement in sports would give them an opportunity for a better life. The children were homeschooled.
When Serena was four and a half, she won her first tournament, and she entered 49 tournaments by the age of 10, winning 46 of them. At one point, she replaced her sister Venus as the number one ranked tennis player aged 12 or under in California. More about Serena Williams.
Photo by David Nunn
(2 tacos)Tuesday, September 2, 2008
The Power of the Taco ~ Tampa Bay
The surprising Tampa Bay Rays have the best record in baseball, while our beloved LA Dodgers are currently in second place with a losing record. What is the secret of Tampa Bay’s success? Readers of this site will know in advance, but for the rest of you: TACOS.
According to the website Zone Blitz:
It appears Carlos Pena has signed the taco two years straight. Since signing the taco, Pena had hit 71 homers (as of Aug. 17, 2008). His previous six seasons before signing the taco, he had a combined 86 home runs. Coincidence? You be the judge. This has gotta be the catch phrase that sweeps the nation: “Sign my taco.”
(2 tacos)Friday, August 1, 2008
FAA Repair Station ~ Frogtown
Aero Engines FAA Repair Station ~ Frogtown ~ Los Angeles River
(2 tacos)
