Good luck on the trip Wil!

You know, the way you talk about your Dodgers is exactly how I feel about my Indians. I remember going to the old stadium, pre Jacob's field, and just loving watching them play. Sure, they sucked, but there was nothing like going to the ballpark, with my Dad, who loved them more than anyone could love a team. My Dad actually made friends with the guy who brought (and still brings) his huge drum to all the games and sits in the bleachers. Way back when, before he sort of got famous around town, I got to bang on it once. Ya, that was pretty cool.

Thanks for sparking my own memories.

Melissa

I won't wish you good luck with the audition because you don't need it! If it fits you, it fits you, right? Have fun on the road trip!

Good luck with the Meeting.

Travel safely. Have fun with poker.

Anxiously awaiting the post-trip story.

(You know, all the cool kids with blogs log in from the road on their cell phones and give status updates. :-) )

Wow Wil, sounds awesome. I'm the same way about baseball, but with the Angels (having grown up just a couple miles from the stadium). We even had seats like those. Good luck with the "M", and have fun in Vegas - sounds like life is pretty darn good right now.

That MVP chant for Beltre at Dodger Stadium is a bit much. He's a great player, but it's insane to think that anyone other than Barry Bonds is the MVP of the National League. Insane, I tell you.

My Royals whupped the Yankees two nights ago. It felt like 20 years ago when we had a team that was worth a damn. They have mirror image records this year; 90 wins and 90 losses. (sigh)

Say hello to my sister-in-law who got married last night in Vegas. She's the one in the wedding dress next to Elvis.

Ooh, I had a chance to go to Dodger Stadium only once in my life. That was in 1996 or 1997, I believe. My boyfriend and I wanted so badly to see Hideo Nomo pitch. It was so cool to see so many Japanese people in the audience because they were there for the same reason we were.

Good Luck, Wil!

Have a safe trip Wil!

Is basball the one with the round ball and the stick? anyway. good luck with the meeting.

I was at the game Will Saturday against the Cardinals. My wife and family were sitting in the nose bleed section we call the Leftfield Pavillion. It was my first baseball game coming from the Philippines. We had fights in the stands, someone yelling to peanut the Cardinal fans. Only in LA. lol! Yup everytime when Beltre came up to bat, all around us people yelled out MVP too! I just love the atmosphere, the music playing during the players intro. Needless to say we came away with a win after an awesome 8th and then my man Gagne closing the game in the ninth. :)

ooops meant to say it was my "wife's" first baseball game since coming from the Philippines. :)

Heh. It's funny, but my childhood memories of baseball are ones of endless frustration, because it would regularly pre-empt weekend reruns of Star Trek...

Good luck at your Meeting. I'll be sending *mojo* your way.

What fantastic times at the ball park. My own parents weren't that into sports, but we spent my youth building our lake cabin. Hey, some people play catch with their kids, others stain and varnish fresh-cut knotty pine with their kids. I even got to hammer some boards on the walls. Good times, good times.

I have fond memories from the cabin, and can't wait to share it with my own kids, when I have them. The best part is having something, be it tickets, cabin, favorite camping spot, etc. to share and give to your loved ones for a long time to come. It's seeped with history, love, and memories and you wouldn't trade it for the world.

Good Luck on the audition and tommorows big Meeting!

*mojo*

Have a safe trip, hope the audition went well, and I think you owe us a couple of poker story updates. Get right on that when you get back, OK?

I love baseball too, but I'm ashamed of what happened at the Texas-Oakland game Monday night. I wish that everyone, fans and players alike, would be nicer to each other at the ballparks. The game doesn't need that kind of crap.

Next season, you should let us know when you'll be at a game. We'll keep an eye out for you on TV.

Good luck with the Meeting. If you're putting that much emphasis on it, it must be something excellent! Have fun on your trip to Sin City as well. Hope the audition went well!

I will be playing some poker tonight as well, if all goes according to plan. But not in Vegas. Sadly, that's not for another month.

Good luck!

Nice game last night..

Go Padres!

Your feelings about the Dodgers and Dodger Stadium are exactly how I and my closest friends feel about the Red Sox and Fenway Park. And we would totally have been yelling "USE TWO HANDS" too ... only the difference is that at Fenway, the entire stadium would've been doing it. ;)

Hey, neat. I haven't been to a baseball game in far too long; that needs to change.

I'd like to hear that story about your Dad's family and the Dodgers sometime.

I feel the same way when I watch baseball/softball and someone tries to show off by using one hand. I've played/coached for over 20 years now, and still to this day I use two hands. Drives me nuts. Then again, I'm one of those crazy folks that will think, "Ok, they're gonna do this, so they should do this..." type of thing. I think way too much when I watch baseball/softball.

It's so much fun though. I'll have to hit a Yankee or Mets game sometime since I just moved to NYC. :)

Good luck with all the stuff!

Nice to read you had a great time. Lots of succes and luck on your audition !!!
Off topic, i know, but just to let you know that i will be thinking and praying for the folks in florida. I just saw the news here in *tiny* holland about IVAN and it freaked me out. Take care folks, if u will be reading this. I will hold you in my praires (how on earth do you spell that ? beeing dutch and all, and not speaking englisch all the time, sorry for this, i know, my grammar sucks)

On topic again, Will, give your dogs a rub and hug for me oaky ?

Leon

Hey, Wil. Just been reading up on the Dodgers game-I think the USE TWO HANDS bit is appreciated by anyone who's a fan of teams like the Cubs. Or the Red Sox.

Hope your audition went well and good luck at the MeetingwithacapitalM.

Travel carefully and enjoy!

Go safely and enjoy!

Sorry, I double posted. D'oh!

Much luck on both the audition and Meeting!

audblogs are always a treat

i haven't been to a baseball game this year...but i'm hoping to get lucky and get tickets for the postseason at BUSCH STADIUM...to see the mighty CARDINALS defeat the DODGERS...if that matchup works out.

Have fun on your trip, and good luck at the audition! :o)

To Leon in Holland:

Thanks so much for your prayers. Hurricane Ivan is threatening not only Florida, but also Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. I am in the process of evacuating my home as we speak. We will probably lose electricity (power) for several days so this will be my last post until then. Hopefully my home will still be here when I return. Vaya con Dios!

Wil, good luck with your audition. Hope it's a movie.

Freeman :)

LOL Wil, the baseball chant thing is pretty funny. My sister and I used this cheer at a Florida Marlins-New York Mets game once:

Strawberry shortcake, banana split
We think the Mets are a pile of...
Shift it to the left, shift it to the right
Marlins, Marlins, fight, fight, fight!

(We're so mature, aren't we?)

I love baseball games. They're awesome and they're always fun. So you know I really appreciated today's entry.

Enjoy your trip and break a leg at the audition (yes, I believe in that stupid theater superstition of saying "break a leg" instead of "good luck").

Arrivederci!

-Vanessa Nichole

Good luck with yer Meeting and have a safe, serene, enjoyable drive up the 15 to Sin City. LOVE THAT PLACE! Keep on track with your Hold 'em play.

Nice entry! I just had a similar epiphone when we took our daughter to her first baseball game last week (and by golly the Mariners actually won! Shocker!) I even wrote it in my pseudo-blog. Have a safe trip, good luck with Poker.

My boyfriend's family has season tickets to the Padres and he turned me into an avid baseball fan four years ago when we started dating. I think he's quite proud of himself for that. :-)

I watched Beltre foul up that catch last night from my home in San Diego--and then watched Klesko hit a home run! Despite what people say about our team, I am a loyal San Diego Padres fan--which makes me vehemently anti-Dodgers! Sorry Wil.

That's awesome Wil! I love baseball .. I'm an American newly living in the Netherlands and I really miss watching games! Thanks for letting me live vicariously through you for a moment :)

Good luck with the audition and have a safe trip!

I always get all excited when you reference TMBG.

that's all.

My cherished baseball memory is when Joe Morgan hit the home run that knocked the Dodgers out of playoff contention...okay, I'm a lifelong Giants fan, so sue me...

Travel safely, say "Hi" to my money when you're in Vegas, and don't leave behind too much of yours to keep it company...

Ah Baseball.... Gotta love baseball. I am a die-hard Yankees fan (I grew up there dammit and I watched them be a terrible team for a long time as a child in the 80s so I deserve it) who was taught to love baseball by my mother who still is to this day a giant Dodgers fan. HOWEVER, she is a Brooklyn Dodgers fan and I am afraid that she would scoff in your general direction Wil.

I, on the other hand, love your love for your team, forget where they come from!

Good luck with the poker!

I love baseball, but I really love Cubs baseball at Wrigley Field. Although come to think of it, Ive never been to a Major League Game. Been to plenty of Charlotte Knight games though.
And the 'Use Two Hands' thing isnt neccesarily a had-to-be-there funny, I can see all in my head and its still amusing.

Aw, SQEE! I love sweet, slightly sappy family stories (blame it on the writing for kids day job, er my major at school. Job, school...I'm digressing all over the freakin' place). I'm hugging the monitor and pretending it's you...hug back or my family will send me to cuckooland. Sorry, hyperness, pixy stix rock mt shoes.The Pixies also rock. I think pixies and their affiliates rock in general!

I know exactly how you feel Wil. I've been going to see the Mets at Shea for 18 years now, and I'm only 22...you do the math :). Even though they suck now, and the stadium is empty most of the time, I can still look around and remember what it was like when it was nearly impossible to get a ticket. Such great memories for such an ugly place :)

Um...off subject. Are you gonna talk about Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!? I wanna know when it's on...it seems...okay, it seems weird, but cool geeky, adult-swim weird.

Maybe that Chinese guy will get the call. I hear the Goofball's getting up there in years and is looking for someone to work the fifth.

Wil, that was a great game you got to see-even with "MR.MVP" being an idiot fielder!

I'm just as bad about Anaheim Stadium, never going to call it anything else, thank you!

Every time I think I'm over the Angels-they drag me back in! And who else in the world would give you a baseball for booing the Dodgers (Freeway Series game!) but an Angel!

Hope you have a good trip and at least one good hand!

I love baseball! It's the only sport I can understand. :)

And eee! Damn you Wheaton, for the second time this summer you make me wish I hadn't moved from Vegas! You are the exact Only person who can make me feel that way. :)

Good luck with your Meeting! Drive home safely!

TMBG! \m/

Oh, you wouldn't happen to know where my telray is, would you?

Enjoy Vegas, good luck in your meeting. My husband runs a movie theater in Vegas. You are welcome to get in touch whenever you are here in town if there is something you want to see.

amen on the dodgers! you know i already bleed dodger blue! my whole day revolves around them. you know that, we have had this conversation. whats really sad though, i snow that they are going to the post season, those of us who have sat through winning and losing seasons. cant spend a million dollars for play off tickets, while the band wagon jerk offs (the same with the laker flags, and all the new angel fans etc.) are going to be there, saying "oh yeah i love the dodgers". what a shame. go look on ebay for dodger playoff tickets if you dont believe me. $6 nose bleeders are going for $150 sad sad sad. -thanks for hearing me rant. a true dodger fan

Wil you just have to know when to hold'em and know when to fold'em, know when to walk away and know when to run :)

Good luck with the audition and drive safe please. Keep us posted on how everything is going. You are truly a Dodger fan and traditions never die. Isn't it nice you'll be passing the traditions to Nolan and Ryan? Have fun and keep your chin up. We

I;m not really a big fan of the game. But I have been to a few Marlins games down here in humid South Florida. I have to say it's a blast being at a live game, drinking a Bud Light, BSing with friends, and spending way too much money on junk food. I guess we (my son and I) should do it more often.
BTW: I thought the Dodgers were in Brooklyn???

hey wil,
have a safe trip to vegas...hope all goes well!

can't wait to hear the report when you get back.

good luck for everything,
take care
rach

oh wil... the dodgers of 76-79. i remember making the drive from the bay area to LA just to see the world series games. i had to be there. tommy john was playing and i was a teenaged girl that couldn't begin to describe why TJ was my favorite but he was.

thanks for bringing back those memories!

Have fun Wil,
That drive sounds amazing. I'd like to go to the desert one day. Have a wonderful time in Vegas. My friend Sheilagh will be there....I'll tell her to keep her eyes pealed for you. LOL! As if thousands of people don't go there everyday.

I'm not into baseball but I'd better learn the rules soon. Or at least learn them for t-ball. I'm more of a football kind of girl...I got this in a newsletter I get daily and thought you'd enjoy it (not like you haven't read something like this before):

Does the world still need "Star Trek"? Since I am neither Trekkie nor Trekker, I'm surprised the question crossed my mind. But it did as I read about a Los Angeles fan convention to honor James Doohan - the actor who will always be Scotty, engineer on the Starship Enterprise.

Even the die-hards wondered what might become of Klingons, Vulcan death grips and the Prime Directive.

Pictures showed the 84-year-old Doohan, honored to get his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, surrounded and applauded by his surviving "Trek" cast mates.

Knowing that a young Doohan was injured while leading Canadian troops into the D-Day assault lent a grace note of poignancy to his recognition. Was that something a young Scotty would do?

Seeing him sitting proudly in the company of real-life astronaut Neil Armstrong, while struggling with Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and other illnesses, I thought: "Beam me up."

The "Star Trek" universe's admirable qualities always shone through the corn.

I never dressed up as a starship captain for an office Halloween party, as a dedicated colleague once did. Now, I'm sorry I kidded her about it as I realized how many "Star Trek" lessons I learned by osmosis.

"Star Trek" tales, often with subtlety and sophistication, used the future to tackle modern social issues. Its late creator, Gene Roddenberry, really was on to something.

Everything from youthful rebellion to corporate greed to prejudice made its way onto the bridge of the Enterprise, light years removed but still relevant.

As a crew of different races and species struggled toward answers, viewers got to figure out the present-day equivalent (and how William Shatner interacted so effectively with an eyeball floating in a fishbowl).

In "Deep Space Nine," former rebels joined rulers in an awkward peace, a situation with 2004 familiarity.

New "Trek" projects, however, don't generate heat, except from the faithful.

The last two "Star Trek" movies - competing with "the next generation" of science fiction and special effects - haven't done much at the box office. (Data's makeup alone doesn't translate to the big screen.)

"Star Trek: Enterprise," the latest television installment, was barely renewed for this season.

Though recent developments don't look good, all generations of the "Star Trek" family - from Leonard "Spock" Nimoy on down - sentimentally rooted for the franchise in a New York Times story on the convention.

LeVar Burton of "The Next Generation," who will direct an episode this season, said: "They need to shut the whole thing down, wait five years, create an interest, an excitement, a hunger for it again."

Convention regular Walter "Ensign Chekov" Koenig said: "In a society with so much violence and stupidity, the conventions are an oasis where you can find some genuinely good people who believe in humanity and respect the rights of others."

The world may not need "Star Trek," but it's quaintly reassuring to know it's around.

---

Mary C. Curtis is Executive Features Editor/Columnist at The Charlotte Observer. Readers can write to her at The Observer, P.O. Box 30308, Charlotte, NC 28230-0308, or send e-mail to mcurtis@charlotteobserver.com.

Wil:

I just listened to the audblog post about the American flag doormat. Um... yeah. You went OFF! Jeesh.

But, I like that. It's wackazoidal. Coffee is funny.

Have you read "Last Call" by Tim Powers? It's a magical-realist novel dealing with cards (both more familiar & tarot) & card (primarily poker) players. Lots of driving back & forth from California (er, LA? forgive my vagueness) and Las Vegas.

Just started the book the other day; it's from '92, and I regret wasting 12 years of not having read it.
Your impending (well, post, now) drive recalled it...

My favorite baseball memories are not from the stadium. They're dusky evenings, tossing the ball around with my dad and my brother while we listened to the Twins on the radio. I never memorized stats or calculated batting averages, but I loved the supple leather of my glove and the way it had conformed to the shape of my hand over time. I loved the crisp sound as Pop hit fly balls while Andrew and I fell over ourselves in the hayfield to catch them. The soft thud of the ball as it landed in the webbing, the sting when Pop sent a fast one my direction, speed rounds where the ball was a mere blur as it flew between us. That's baseball to me. Different from your version, but every bit as precious.

Hey Wil,

You're a pretty swell guy, other than that you're a Dudger fan! You watch, my Padres'll take 3 out of 4 from ya. On our way to the Wild Card, where we'll see you in the playoffs :)

I didn't read the other 63 comments and I can fully appreciate the love of a hometown team. That said - have you ever been to Fenway? Boy, you haven't been to a game until you've done Fenway. ;-)

One of my favorite baseball chants "BAL-CO" for Barry Bonds. How do you get a whole park to go that obscure in reference to performance enhancing drugs?

Good Luck on the Audition!

My brother and I grew up Cardinals fans in St. Louis, where baseball is celebrated like religion. He got to see the Dodgers-Cards game on Sunday 9/12 at Dodger Stadium, and sent me a bunch a pics. Dodger Stadium looks great, even better than on TV. Makes me want to see some baseball there. I posted the pics here. Mostly Cardinals players, but some nice shots nonetheless.

3 out 4 Baby!.. :D Go Padres!

3 out of 4 Baby!.. :D Go Padres!

Durham Bulls Baseball (not Major League, but hey, it's Raleigh/Durham NC...)
Hot Dog (extra slaw, extra chili)
Cold, Cold beer

On another note, can someone please loan me an Ark?? It's doing the frigging forty-days forty nights thing here. The water is rising....

Wil--Hope the audition went well. You are the dealio. We are rooting for you.

Pook