MEDIA ADVISORY

DODGERS AND AMERICAN MEDICAL RESPONSE TO HOST FUNDRAISER FOR BRYAN STOW ON MONDAY AT DODGER STADIUM

KCAL 9, Prime Ticket, KABC 790, Univision Radio and the Los Angeles Times join with the team to collect donations for the trust fund established for Giants fan Bryan Stow and his children

WHAT: The Dodgers, American Medical Response and the team’s media partners, KCAL 9, Prime Ticket, KABC 790 and Univision Radio, in addition to the Los Angeles Times, will hold a “drive-through” relief event at Dodger Stadium this Monday for Bryan Stow. All funds collected will be donated directly to the trust fund established by the Stow family to benefit Bryan and his children.

At approximately 12:00 p.m., several community supporters will be on hand to speak to the media. Details of those who will be attending will be announced in the coming days.

WHEN:
MONDAY, April 11
8:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m
12:00 p.m. – Community supporters available to the media

WHERE:
Dodger Stadium
Parking Lot 1

Media should enter the stadium through Gate A at Sunset and Elysian Park Ave. Parking Lot 1 is directly to the left of Gate A.

MISC:
Monetary donations of cash and checks will be accepted. Checks should be made out to the “Bryan Stow Fund.” In addition, those with a PayPal account may donate online with a credit card by logging in and selecting the “Send Money” option; Personal; Gift, with the recipient: stowdonations@gmail.com. The fund is also accepting donations online at www.sfpcu.org.

Media wishing to cover the event should contact the Dodgers’ PR department.

The Los Angeles Dodgers, pioneers in sport and world culture, have won more games, more pennants, and more World Series than any other club in the National League since moving to Los Angeles. Since the start of the modern era in baseball, the Dodgers of Brooklyn and Los Angeles, combined, have a cumulative attendance of more than 187 million, the highest total in the history of baseball or any other sport. Visit the Dodgers on the Internet at www.dodgers.com. For media information, visit www.dodgerspressbox.com.

That said, if I were planning on resubscribing, I would scrap those plans after the recent irresponsible character assassination of Dodger Marcus Thames by TJ Simers. If I had a subscription, I’d consider canceling it.

No responsible journalist acts that way. No responsible person acts that way. That the LA Times continues to allow this behavior under its banner means they either don’t care or are more concerned with pageviews than doing the right thing.

This is hardly the first time Simers has acted irresponsibly (probably not even the first time this week), but enough’s enough.

Simers and Bill Plaschke’s (whose “writing” exploits have often been chronicled on this blog) continued presence in a sports page that used to host the best in the business is just wrong. Akin to Vin Scully being replaced by Howard Stern. I don’t know Marcus Thames from Adam, but even if there were some “there” there, some story to tell, Simers’ approach should be grounds for being banned from the clubhouse.

See also “T.J. Simers’ Unnecessarily Cruel Hatchet Job on Marcus Thames” from The Big Lead.

“D.A. honors three Good Samaritans for courageous acts”

Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley honored two Good Samaritans on Wednesday for intervening during a 2007 assault on a woman in front of the Pasadena police station and a young boy for assisting authorities in a separate gang murder case.

Quoleshna Elbert, 31, and Larry Harnisch, 58, a Los Angeles Times copy editor, were given Courageous Citizen Awards during a ceremony at the Pasadena Hilton. The award honors those who act at “considerable personal risk to help a victim, capture a suspect or who have testified in court.” [...]

Elbert was on her way to church when she saw a woman being beaten by her ex-husband as her children looked on from the father’s car. She tried to stop the attack by hitting him with her purse and a Bible.

Harnisch was driving to church when he saw the attack, stopped his car and intervened, putting himself between the attacker and the victim, who had been beaten unconscious. The woman survived but suffered permanent injuries.

The actions of the pair — and their court testimony — helped prosecutors convict the man of attempted voluntary manslaughter, aggravated mayhem and torture. He was sentenced to six years to life in prison.

Until 1955, the Brooklyn Dodgers had gone through a long series of near-misses at World Series glory, coming close but not close enough. It became a running theme and spawned a team slogan: “Wait ’til next year!” Next year finally did show up, but it was a long wait.

The Yankees were the Dodgers’ perennial opponents when they made it to the series back then, so the Bombers losing it in 1955 to the Bums made it even sweeter. Putting it in video-game terms for the younger set, they were the final boss that it took forever to beat. This was one of the reasons I was hoping for a Yankee-Dodger World Series this year.

Apart from the wrenching disappointment the past week, and a few issues here and there, the 2009 season has been more of a joy to follow than not. On a personal level, having the opportunity to attend the Bluetopia premiere, the annual Dodger Blogger Night (the night before the Manny revelation), and particularly getting to cover the game as a member of the press are memories I’ll never lose.

Thanks to the Dodgers organization and team for a great year and for continuing to reach out to the online fan community. Thanks to my fellow Dodger bloggers for lots of entertaining and thoughtful commentary this season — especial thanks and kudos to Jon Weisman of Dodger Thoughts, the sundry Sons of Steve Garvey, the intrepid lads of True Blue LA, the aptly named Blue Heaven, Ken Steinhorn of isportsweb, and Larry and Keith over at the always-fascinating Daily Mirror.

Congratulations to the Phillies on the NL Pennant, and while I don’t see myself exactly cheering you on the next few weeks, please destroy the Yankees if you get the opportunity. Pretty please? ;)

Finally, thanks to everybody for reading Trolley Dodger in 2009. The site’s third anniversary is coming up next week. Can’t believe it’s been three years!

I expect to be posting here during the off season, as there will be the inevitable melodrama, speculation, and other craziness, but I’m guessing a short break will do a body good. So we won’t have to wait ’til next year to solve the myriad problems of the baseball universe, thanks to 24-hour sports news and the Internet, but we will have to wait ’til then for more Dodger baseball.

See ya!

Thanks to Larry Harnisch of the LA Times and The Daily Mirror blog for hosting lunch this afternoon at the always-tasty Philippe’s restaurant. We had a great time talking Los Angeles history, including our various theories on the true origins of the French Dip sandwich.

Also there and very entertaining was Ed Fuentes, Arts & Culture Editor at Blog Downtown, who writes view from a loft as well.

I’ll look forward to seeing you all again next time.

And thanks to Alex of Ravens in Hollywood for the lift.

“Dear Manny,” wrote Richard MacPhee, “I am a firefighter for the USFS, I make $16 an hour. It’s hot, dirty, dangerous, with long hours. My body hurts all the time. It takes four years to make $170,000. My bonus, somebody telling me ‘Thanks for the hard work.’ You should try it some time.”

No offense to Mr. MacPhee, and thanks to him for his service, but I’ll bet Lopez makes quite a bit more than $16 an hour for doing less physically taxing labor than a member of the Dodger marketing department, much less Manny Ramirez, and whose greatest claim to fame is writing and selling somebody else’s story. As Jon Weisman pointed out,

Ramirez might well loaf from time to time, but overall his work ethic is pretty legendary. I’m not saying that to whitewash the mistakes he has made. But there is no shortage of stories about the effort he has put into the game. He did not float to the top of the baseball echelon. He’s no firefighter, but if Ramirez doesn’t work as hard as MacPhee, he still has worked plenty hard.

Barring some unlikely direct reply from Lopez, I’m letting this go for now — I’m looking forward to Game 1 tomorrow and would rather concentrate on the positives of this entire team and their amazing season. Something I wish Lopez had done himself.

We’re excited here at Trolley Dodger HQ, but it is as subdued as the on-field celebration at Busch Stadium just now. This is only step one.

I would expect more out of Steve Lopez. Unfortunately, he decided to take the easy way out. Loafing his way across the outfield, as it were.

Maybe it’s the vicodin talking, but this whole scheme strikes me as insincere. If you felt that bad about buying those tickets (and somehow calculating you were supporting Manny by doing so), how about donating those tainted tickets to be auctioned off for charity? You could even make it a steroid-awareness organization if you felt like making a real statement.

Think about how much of a bigger splash you could have made by doing things that way. You’d get all kinds of press online and in the real world. Plus you’d be making a difference about a cause that you apparently care a lot about. And getting even more of those precious hits and links.

Something to mull over in the next columnist meeting.

For those just tuning in, Plaschke submitted a diatribe 10 days ago, in which he lambasted Dodger fans for getting on with their lives without Manny Ramirez, calling them no better than San Francisco Giants followers. Them’s fightin’ words.

Today came an article by Randy Cohen in the NY Times, “Is Manny Ramirez Really All That Bad?”, in which the reverse of Plaschke’s “tar and feathering isn’t good enough for Manny” argument is opined:

If we admire athletes who work hard to improve their play, then why do we damn those who do just that with the use of banned substances?

Fellow commenter “Hollywood Joe” and I got into a conversation about that piece in this thread on Dodger Thoughts. My take is that Cohen skirts around what to me is the core issue — taking PEDs is against the rules of baseball. And moreover, it’s rude. :) I wrote,

Baseball is an all-too human activity masquerading (at least for some folks in the fourth estate) as a religion. The imperfect human story is always more entertaining than the flawless saint’s. If every game pitched were perfect or every hit a home run, then it ceases to be interesting. This is why I don’t play sports video games on rookie mode once I’m used to the controls.

This is also why gaining an advantage via an activity that is against the rules sullies the game, at least to me. It becomes a less entertaining game, even if the subject itself is more interesting. Cheat codes are maybe fun once or twice, to continue the metaphor, but making a habit of them while playing with friends is unsporting.

Now, this doesn’t mean that I enjoy baseball less because of the rampant PED usage. The sport is more than just the game, and the reasons to watch it are more complicated than just faceless automatons throwing, catching, and hitting mechanically.

It’s the human side that adds depth to watching sports. Otherwise, you might as well just flip a coin and be done with it. The stories are what keep me entertained over the course of a long season. Not a soap opera, but the drama of a marathon grind.

Will Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier, and the other “kids” continue their maturation into the ballplayers we think they can be?

Will the pitching staff keep it together with Hiroki Kuroda out, or will they fold under the pressure?

Does Jonathan Broxton have what it takes to be a closer?

Will Manny Ramirez be himself when he returns in July?

Can the team go all the way this year and erase 21 years of futility?

I continued in my comments,

To use an ESPN favorite, Derek Jeter’s “classiness” is much less of a big deal without A-Rod’s soap opera on the team as a counterpoint. :)

Doesn’t mean I condone A-Rod’s behavior — I don’t get why, with his innate talents, he felt the need to get even more of an advantage. And that question makes him way more fascinating of a character than the manufactured facade he worked so hard to maintain.

And none of this requires burning him, Manny, Clemens, Sosa, McGwire, or Bonds at the stake. People like Plaschke who are seemingly more interested in making sure they get back on “Around the Horn” are worse for baseball than Manny or A-Rod.

As a postscript, I feel as if I should reiterate what I said in my 5/9 post: I like Bill Plaschke. When he’s on, he can be a great sportswriter who shines a light on that human drama like few others in his field.

Let’s hope the Lakers keep him busy for a while.

All that, and what does Bill Plaschke carriage-return about today?

He uses his page-one pulpit to complain about Dodgers fans getting on with life sans Manny.

He berates them for being supportive of a beloved player who made a stupid mistake, one for which he is paying both a literal and figurative price.

He insults an entire fanbase, millions of people, for choosing sanity not insanity.

I mean, there aren’t very many worse insults than to say Los Angeles citizens are sullen San Francisco denizens, that supporting Manny is the moral equivalent of cheering Barry Bonds. Or kicking puppies.

The problem is, Plaschke has missed the point. Again. Check this out:

Fully two-thirds of the approximately 750 e-mails I have received about Manny Ramirez have ripped me for criticizing him.

No, they are ripping you for saying the rules should be broken to prove your crusading point. The owners and the players union (finally) agreed to severe penalties in case of pharmaceutical infractions. Manny is paying the penalty right now.

Bill, you want to throw all that away. You’re saying the rules should be broken because Manny broke the rules. That he should be kicked off the Dodgers (which can’t happen anyhow) for making a mistake. That he should be banned from baseball.

The fact is that if a big name like Manny Ramirez gets caught and suspended for 50 games, the system is working. If you destroy the system, which is what you are apoplectically advocating right now, then you will destroy baseball.

Bill, you are acting like a self-serving, sanctimonious jerk right now who is more concerned with driving web traffic to your articles and eyeballs to Around the Horn than with what’s best for the Dodgers, Los Angeles, or the fans. I am not going to provide a live link to your current article because of that attitude.

You are better than this. You are a good writer. You don’t need to act this way.

Please stop.

First of all, massive congratulations to Jon Weisman and Dodger Thoughts, now part of the LA Times website. It’s certainly been a bout of culture shock for the DT community, but the rapid rebound points to its strength. Way to go, Jon!

On the flip-side of that coin, we are unfortunately losing The Griddle, Catfish Stew, and the rest of the Baseball Toaster blogs. They will definitely be missed.

Back to happier matters. The Official Dodger blogs are expanding, with the ‘Topes Tattler bringing us the lowdown on the new AAA affiliate Albuquerque Isotopes (can’t wait to pick up a new cap and pennant!). And closer to home, the 66ers Baby Blue Blog will be doing the same for the High-A Inland Empire 66ers.

One of Jon’s last DT posts was “Dodger Blogs Ready for 2009″, listing some of the now-established Dodger blogs and pointing out there are a bunch of newcomers. I’m pretty sure I have everybody new and updated in the sidebar here, but if I missed you please feel free to let me know via the comments.

Can’t wait for the season to start!