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CALLING SIGNALS |
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ala THE BUCKSTER
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Rats gone wild; HBO falls flat and other noodlings
By BUCKY FOX
of TheColumnists.com
Now that my bet--that
Mike Vick will shed his leash in time for the 2008 NFL season--looks
shaky, let's leave football alone.
Batter up.
Rats:
Three weeks into this scummy revelation, and the Los Angeles
Angels still have a stomach turner worse than their phantom power
hitting. This nausea involves vermin.
Yes, rats are running around Angel Stadium faster than Chone
Figgins. Particularly amid the snack bars. A yummy thought for
fans in line for hot dogs.
How to deal with it? Turn it into a rallying cry. Kill the creatures
and wag Rally Rats. Time to toss those kiddie Rally Monkeys and
root on the home team with home cookin'.
You can see the stadium's megascreen already: Angels losing in
the eighth. Up pops the Rally Rat. No more pet show. This rodent
is sure to take a bite out of the enemy's lead.
Brooklyn bore: Finally saw "The Ghosts of Flatbush." You
know, the documentary fans are talking about. All two of them,
since it's on HBO.
The show focuses on the Dodgers' flight from Brooklyn to Los
Angeles in 1958. Oh, the tragedy. Right. A team in a rotting
borough should have dodged the ticket to utopia: palm trees,
beaches and multimillion attendance figures.
Brooklynites, wake up: OF COURSE the Dodgers made the right move
westward. Los Angeles loves them--to the tune of 47,000 fans
per game this year. And New York fans love their replacement--the
Mets, drawing 46,000 a game.
The only people obsessed as much as HBO are old New York sportswriters.
Message to them: It's been half a century. Get over it.
This Dodger desertion creation is simply a fabrication.
Are St. Louis fans still down since their Browns moved to Baltimore
in 1954? Are Kansas Citians forever bummed since the A's escaped
to Oakland in '68? No.
Somehow HBO missed those stories.
Little Trouble: The way the Dodgers are sinking, not to mention stinking,
maybe L.A. should ship them back to Brooklyn after all.
When I caught their act in June, they messed up my Mets and looked
like World Series champions waiting to happen. I predicted a
reversal of 1916, with the Dodgers this time beating Boston.
Speaking of reversal, the Dodgers are headed for the depths of
the National League West. The big reason is their hitting. Or
missing. To cure that slump, the team brilliantly traded young
power hitter Wilson Betemit to the Yankees. What did L.A. receive?
A reliever it didn't need.
I still see the Dodgers awakening in time to make the playoffs.
If they don't, goodbye Grady Little.
Bring Back Mike: When Little leaves, the Dodgers will bring back the
man they should have hired in 1999: Mike Scioscia. He'll be available
when his Angels don't reach the World Series--Rally Rat or no.
Scioscia has been terrific since he landed in Anaheim in 2000.
With him providing the fiber, the Angels are producing the finest
era in team history.
Still, Scioscia stands for Dodgers. He caught for them from 1980
to 1992, helping them to two world titles. He coached their minor
league catchers two seasons, then in 1998-99 was their bench
coach at Dodger Stadium--near where he lives today.
And like the Dodgers, the Angels don't have the lumber to make
it far enough. As popular as Scioscia is in Anaheim, fans will
let him feel their frustration of failing to win it all. which
he did in 2002.
So get ready for Iron Mike moving his office up the highway and
making the Dodgers win at once in 2008.
©2007 by Bucky Fox. The illustration is from IMSI's Master Clips Collection, 1895 Francisco Blvd. E., San Rafael, CA, 94901-5506, USA. This column first posted Aug. 20, 2007.
You can visit Bucky Fox's
website at www.BuckyFox.com
You
can comment on this column online. Please address your message
to either "The Editors" or Bucky Fox. To send an email,
click here and don't forget to mention Bucky's name: talkback@thecolumnists.com
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