Dodger Reject

I can remember the day I woke up to the reality that I would never play professional baseball.  Admittedly it came rather late in life, but it was a definite point in my personal history.  Many years before that realization I had already turned in my uniform to attend church instead.  Nevertheless, that thought enjoyed lingering in the back of my mind for much too long.

But that's not when the Dodgers rejected me.  No, that was a rejection by the Southern Pacific Railroad municipal league team.  In fact the Dodgers couldn't care less about my baseball skills.  That doesn't break my heart.

What does break my heart is that the Dodgers couldn't care less about my prowess as a Dodger fan.  It is as a devoted, 60 year commitment, blue blooded rooter that I have been rejected by the Dodgers.  I learned to listen to Dodger games

In order to pay obscene salaries to their stars, the Dodgers have contracted with filthy lucre for 4 billion (yes, with a "B") dollars to own their own TV channel, which is exclusively available through Time Warner Cable.  Since I have DirecTV, this is not an option for me.  I found out that about 70% of Southern California has also been cut off from TV access.  If my provider will not contract for exorbitant fees, I'm left out in the cold.

The Dodgers advertise that I should write my provider, asking them to pay the extortion to give me this access.  Even Clayton Kershaw, a beloved Christian brother, has been contracted to be a barker for this sideshow flimflam, beseeching fans to lobby for this service by paying the extraordinary extortion.

When the O'Mally family owned the Dodgers, we were proud of this baseball club.  They developed their own players in a well-developed farm team system.  While other teams were shamelessly out to buy winning teams, we used to take comfort that our Dodgers were still a traditional baseball organization rather than just another multi-million dollar business.  We thought they were a "class act", but now we are forced to admit that they are just another "crass act", trying to buy a World Series trophy.  Did I hear that they are in fact the highest salaried team in baseball?

To see a game fleeces me of $15 to park, $35 for a seat and $5 for a hot dog.  I guess I am able to afford this once or twice a season, but I'm not sure I want to any more.  I feel like a Dodger reject.  They don't want me to follow the progress of the team during the season.  They don't want me to be able to see them play on TV.  So why should I care whether they win or lose?

Loyalty dies hard.  I still care too much how Kershaw pitches this year.  I am pulling for Dee Gordon to hit so well that they dare not send him down.  I desperately want to see Puig learn from his foolish mistakes and childish attitude.  I guess I am doomed to remain a Dodger fan for this year at least, but I am going to try my best to break the habit.

"Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction."  (I Timothy 6:9)