How was this allowed to happen?

This is my favorite time of year.  Always has been, the weather is warm but not hot, the jasmine smells great, it's light late, the smell of bbq's in the air, and the Boys of Summer are back.  I love baseball, always have and I look forward to the Angels home opener every year if we get to go to the game or not I always look forward to it.

When I was a little girl my dad and grandfather took me to a Dodger Game and I remember the day and everything about it, I was hooked.  My most vivid memory is the color of the grass, obviously before HD TV it looked so different in person than it did 35 years ago on television.  I loved going to games at Chavez Ravine the stadium was awesome and the crack of the bat and the roar of the crowd was so enticing.  I loved it.  These were the days of the old Dodgers Garvey, Cey, Yeager, Lopes, Lasorda, great times in baseball.  

My dad's job then got season tickets to Anaheim Stadium when I was in high school, the Angels, the American League, Orange County a little different than the Dodgers.  But everyone I knew was a Dodger fan so I decided then I was going to be an Angel fan, even when the SUCKED and couldn't get 12,000 at their games.  It was painful to be an Angel fan for a long time but tried and true I stuck with it and 12 years ago I moved from LA to Orange County and have been a regular attender at games via company tickets or by whatever means would get us there.  I am not saying they are perfect or their fans are perfect, but I have never felt unsafe or that I would be put in harms way by going there.

Three years ago we got some Dodger tickets from a friend for a Dodgers v. Angel game, so my husband and I decided to fight the traffic of the 5 Fwy and head up to LA with our 1 year old for his first game.  I hadn't been to Chavez Ravine in over 10 years, it was still beautiful and wonderful like I remembered, the sounds and the smells and the colors all about baseball and I was in Awe and so excited to share this with our son.  As we walked through the parking lot in our Angel gear the heckling was persistent and borderline abusive.  I'm all for a little jabbing at the expense of the other team for fun.  But if you're hurling "F" bombs at families with children I'm guessing it's not all in good fun for you.  Just jackass behavior of people that were obviously raised by buffoons without the commons sense to teach right from wrong.  During this game I personally observed people in Angel gear getting beer poured on them, food thrown at them along with a lot of name calling, all this going on in front of children.  There were numerous fights in the stands and people getting thrown out.  So by the 6th inning and the beer flowing freely the Doyer (I meant to spell it like that, figure it out) fans and their behavior was more than I wanted to expose my baby to, so we high tailed it back down behind the Orange Curtain.  In no means am I saying that all the fans there were unruly an rude and animal like, not at all.  But what has happened is so sad, that a gang mentality and low life behavior is accepted and tolerated.  I realize that the Raiders left town over a decade ago but I wish they would have taken their scummy  fans with them.

This last weekend at the Dodgers home opener a San Francisco Giants fan was savagely beaten in the parking lot  at Dodger stadium for the mere fact that he was wearing a Giants Jersey.  WTF???!!!!

There has been a statement from the Dodgers "One time incident, blah, blah, blah"  I am sure that there are a lot of beatings in the parking lot just not bad enough to put someone in a medically induced coma.  But what really makes me mad is the absolute LACK OF OUTRAGE.  The Bazillionaire Baseball players should be scolding their "fans" that act like animals.  I realize the Owner of the Dodgers is too busy forging documents and trying to make sure his wife doesn't get the team in their heated divorce.  WAY TO GO McCords, I really appreciate you turning the O'Malleys family friendly stadium into a gangland zoo.  STEP IT UP!!!!    Mayor (I'll do anything to get my mug on TV) Villariagosa why are you not absolutely pitching a bitch at the citizens of LA for allowing the fans to behave in this manner (probably because you need a voter base).  You should be screaming at bad behavior instead of showing your pearly whites in the front row of the game.  Really, show some leadership and grow a pair would ya?!    Sit in the stands with the other Angelenos and observe the behavior that is condoned.  If it is not punished it is condoned in my humble opinion.  If people are unruly in the stands throw their asses out and FINE them huge.  Go after them to collect with the vigilance that your meter maids give out parking tickets.    And to the REAL fans of the Dodgers, what have you let happen, why are you not shouting from the roof tops??????  This is YOUR TEAM that you support.  Take it back from the gangster, loser, handout entitled losers that are ruining a once incredible institution.  Think back to the 80's Dodgers, when baseball and the World Series and the Olympics were going on there, doesn't it make you sad and angry?   Don't you want those experiences for your children?  I want to thank you for ruining a wonderful experience that my kids will never have because frankly unless things change drastically one of the most historic and beautiful ball parks in Our Country is too scary to expose kids too.

There is a class and respect that people should expect when they are out at a public venue, and for the most part I feel that in Anaheim.  I am so sad that a team that I loved and respected has allowed it's history and reputation to be tarnished like this.  I hope that the Dodgers step up and take care of Brian Stow the victim of the beating by 2 LOSERS and the chick with her child in the care that drove them away.    My prayers go out to Mr Stow and his family, and my prayers for strength a courage to the True Blue Dodger fans that you grow some balls and stand up to the animals that you are letting take over your stadium.

Rebecca