Mark Kosin: Bud Man....DODGER FAN!?!

OK, before you spit out your Old Style let me explain.

The Dodgers are celebrating their 50th season in Los Angeles and to kick off the golden anniversary season they played an exhibition game against the Red Sox at the L.A. Coliseum.

Being a fan of both baseball and events of historical significance (the last time the Dodgers played in the Coliseum was 1961) I decided to make the 15 minute walk and check out the scene. With $15 in my pocket I had a very specific price range in mind.

Needless to say after running into a few scalpers preying on the naive asking $4o and up, I finally found my guy.

The guy you want to buy a ticket from is the guy who is there with other people and there's one person who couldn't make it (could be family, friends, co-workers, doesn't matter) . They want to go in but this guy is determined to sell the ticket and make some money. He's going to start asking too much. Then he'll be "reasonable" and ask for face value. By the time you decide to walk away, this guy gives in b/c he's already invested so much time in the haggling process and his wife/girlfriend/daughter wants to get to their seats. And you get a ticket for the price you wanted.

I guess that's a blueprint for how to get into a game for not a lot of $. It worked for me in Wrigleyville a bunch last summer and apparently out here now, too.

Anyway, satisfied with my haggling skills I bought a commemorative hat for double my ticket price. I took a very fuzzy picture of it. Damn auto focus.

The game has been hyped here for the last couple of weeks and it was great to go into the Coliseum finally. I can't wait for Trojan football to start.

Here's some more pics:(It seems like the you need to click on the pics to see everything). My favorite image is from the national anthem with LaSorda and Torre: Dodgers' past, present...and future? Overall, it was a pretty awesome introduction to a franchise that I've always kind of liked but never new much about. With the L.A. Times running retrospectives all week, I think I've covered everything from Jackie Robinson to Kirk Gibson.

I won't say much about the Dodger fans. I don't think tonight is a fair judge b/c it was an exhibition game with 115,00 people and there were beach balls, get-early/leave-laters, and the dreaded "wave". Hopefully these things don't continue when the season really starts.

So have I actually "gone Hollywood"? Have I turned my back on a franchise that hasn't won a championship since the election of William Howard Taft? Have I forsaken day games at Wrigley for star-studded nights in Chavez Ravine?

Next you're going to say that Ron Santo doesn't drive a Chevy. Get real.

I'm mentioning all this to announce that the Dodgers are now my very strong, but very distant # 2 team. And for those who may doubt that I still bleed Cubbie (and not Dodger) Blue, I can only tell you that I spent a good while on the phone calling liquor stores from Beverly Hills to Brentwood trying to find a case of Old Style for consumption at 11:20am on Monday. I was unsuccessful.

In other news, this week I'll be preparing for my third project. I'm really reaching on this one. It's tentatively titled "The California 29th" and it's about two women working on the congressional campaign of the handsome thirty-something son of the governor. The candidate has yet to name his campaign manager and both women are competing for the job. One is a well-organized, professional, attractive strategist who has worked hard to get where she is and has great ambition beyond this campaign. The other woman is hot. Like, really hot. And she uses that to flirt and flatter her way to a position of influence. And so sparks fly.

Like I said, way in over my head here. I've got extremely talented and stunning actresses. I've got an actor who's great and has been featured in commercials that some of you who watch a lot of TV (Nick) have probably seen. I've got 5 locations. I'm bringing in someone to do make-up. I'm talks with somebody to write and musically score it. It's been (and will be) a lot of work but if it all comes together.....it'd be just amazing.

Either way, I'm having more fun then when I ran for freshman representative at Loyola with the campaign slogan - Mark Kosin: He Knows What He's Doing.

Let's hope so.