“World's Most Complete Neighborpedia”
Sponsor a Community — What is Localism? | Register or Sign In
Explore:   What's happening in your neck of the woods?
Home Jeff Turner

Jeff Turner

Blog_tag

Baseball, Hot Dogs And Great Conversation

05-25-07
Jeff Turner

I don't get out much.

Tommy LasordaMartin Rodriguez knows this. He's my next door neighbor. So when he called to invite me to go to a Dodger game with him, it wasn't so much an invitation as it was an order. "Hey, I know you're not a big Dodge Fan, but you're going to a game next Wednesday. Clear it with Rocky." A neighbor knows your wife's name. A good neighbor also knows when your wife wears the pants in the family . :)

He's not usually that aggressive, so to be frank, he kind of freaked me out a bit. I was truly afraid to say no. I'm glad I didn't.

Martin scored four tickets to the Dodger's Dugout Club.

For those not familiar, this is the absolute best place you can be in Dodger Stadium. The Club is right behind home plate and the tickets come with everything, including Dodger Dogs. Those in LA are going to kill me for saying this, but I've never understood what the big deal was about Dodger Dogs, so I opted for the Wolfgang Puck and Levy Restaurants buffet.

Nothing says baseball more than Roast Pork rubbed with Italian seasonings.

Martin also invited John Evarts of Classic Property Management of Santa Clarita and Arif Halaby of Total Financial Solutions. Both guys were a pleasure to be around and all three of them knew more about the Dodgers than I'm EVER going to know, so they were my own private game color commentators.

The Dodgers won and the game was great, but the game was really secondary.

Alyssa MilanoTommy Lasorda was hanging out when we arrived, so we got our photo taken with him. Larry King was within spitting distance. And Alyssa Milano was in the row behind us. Guess which one got more of my attention?

Now, I could have walked up to either of them and asked to take a photo with them as well, but trying to get a photo on the sly was WAY more fun. I felt like one of those photographers for the Planet Earth series, hiding in the jungle for weeks waiting for just the right moment. Alyssa was tough to photograph. She's a major Dodger fan, so she spent much of the game with her ear pressed against a radio listening to the play by play. But I don't give up easily. The Show below will give you a glimpse of the winning shot. :)

Martin, John and Arif were content to let me play my little photo safari game. They teased me all night about my efforts, but I know they were secretly rooting for me to get the shot as much as they were rooting for the Dodgers to win the game - as evidenced by John's emails today asking for the photo. As if I'm going to share it with him.

All kidding aside, I haven't had that much fun with a group of guys in a long time. See for yourself.

Martin, thank you again for a great evening.

49 Comments