A Day of Hope in a Truly Blue Season
It has not been a fun summer for sports fans in Los Angeles. In this town, Winter and Spring belong to the Lakers and Summer and Fall are all Dodger Blue. This year, the Lakers’ embarrassing sweep in the 2nd round of the playoffs stung the city and forced focus earlier than we hoped to a Dodgers season that never had a chance of being about anything that happened on the field.
The courtroom drama was sure to keep our hearts away from the games and our bodies out of the seats in the Ravine. Prospects seemed dismal enough during spring training. Then opening day happened and or the first time ever, losing to the Giants was the best thing that happened to the Dodgers in a given day.
We all ached for Brian Stowe and his family, and deep down, hurt even worse that our Stadium had gone to the dogs. One awful story so bad it overshadowed a season was somehow topped by a something worse. Not even a 30 game hitting streak by Andre Ethier, the emergence of Clayton Kershaw as the All-Star we all hoped he would become, and the best (admit it, it’s likely) season Matt Kemp will ever have couldn’t make us feel good about the team.
MLB took over the Dodgers (who are we, the freaking Expos?), later the team declared bankruptcy, and we felt so bad about the team, we took those things as good news. Steps deeper into the pit, yes, but also steps toward emerging on the other side.
First pitch against the Nationals isn’t for several hours, but today is already the best day of the Dodgers’ season. News broke yesterday that LAPD has arrested three new suspects in the Brian Stowe beating, and Stowe’s family reported today that Brian opened his eyes and gave them a thumbs up from his his hospital bed. And a bankruptcy judge in Delaware has required Frank McCourt to borrow the money he needs to operate the team from Major League Baseball.
We don’t yet know with certainty if the men arrested are those who savagely beat Brian Stowe, and McCourt taking a loan from MLB does not end his ownership of the Dodgers. These issues are not resolved, or even close.
But on a day when most of us who love the Blue couldn’t even tell you how many games the Dodgers are back in the standings, we have signs that both of these horrible situations are being resolved. The issues that make us decide to go to a movie rather than buying tickets to games and shake our heads rather than rooting for the (considerable) talent on the Dodgers roster to pull it together will be resolved someday.
LAPD is clearly making the Stowe investigation a top priority and KFI is now reporting that sources inside the LAPD are saying there is strong physical and digital evidence indicating the men and woman arrested are the guilty party. In Delaware, the court’s ruling signaled a sympathy to the MLB’s cause that bodes well for the coming litigation, and with MLB providing the financing for the team, MLB will have more control until the day Frank McCourt will be forced to sell.
Sadly, this season has never been about hoping for a championship in LA, but the things Dodger fans want so badly from this season, are slowly but surely coming to bear.
Think Blue.