TRUE BLUE

Wednesday, May 13, 1998

TRUE BLUE

BASEBALL: Even baseball players harbor burning

loyalty to their favorite baseball teams

By Vytas Mazeika

Daily Bruin Staff

This is not a regular story. In fact, it’s not even close to
being a normal story.

If you don’t understand how sarcasm can come from athletes, stop
reading this right now. If you’re willing to go on, understand that
most statements came from the heart instead of the brain.

This story isn’t meant as an attack on anyone – except maybe the
Dodgers, Giants, Padres, A’s and Angels. Don’t take this
seriously.

Believe it or not, baseball players are also fans – just like
you and me.

When asked about why they are loyal to a certain squad, the
regular response is usually, "I grew up watching them play."

Well, since most Bruins are from California, five teams
encompass the majority of the support from the UCLA squad: the Los
Angeles Dodgers, the San Francisco Giants, the Anaheim Angels, the
Oakland Athletics and the San Diego Padres.

Of the Bruins who listed their favorite of these five teams, 11
named the Dodgers, four chose the Giants, three said the A’s, and
two votes each were tallied for the Padres and the Angels. The lone
coach to select a favorite team was head coach Gary Adams – he
selected the Dodgers, because they have former Bruins Eric Karros
and Todd Zeile on their roster.

So why are the Dodgers the most-liked team in the Bruin dugout?
Senior second baseman Nick Theodorou, a Dodger fan as far back as
he can remember, says attending games at Chavez Ravine helped him
make the decision to bleed Dodger blue.

"I’ve been in the same seats since I was tiny," Theodorou said.
"I saw Reggie Jackson strike out three times by – was it Bob Welch?
– I think it was. And I saw Kirk Gibson’s home run there. I’ve been
a Dodger fan for a long time."

But since Los Angeles natives are just as likely to attend
Dodger games as they are to attend Angels games, why do only three
UCLA players name themselves as Anaheim fans?

Maybe it’s because the stadium used to be called "The Big A" –
it has since been renamed Edison Field – and maybe it’s because of
the shame they feel, as Disney is commercializing baseball with
fireworks.

Nevertheless, two players did claim to be Angel fans. Why?
Simply put: family and tradition.

"I used to go to my grandfather’s house when I was little, and
he would always be watching the Angels, so I guess it’s just a
family thing," freshman catcher Forrest Johnson III said. "He’s
always watched the Angels and liked them, so I guess I just started
liking them myself. I’ve always stuck with them through thick and
thin. (The team’s) near my home and I’m a hometown kind of guy.
That’s all there is really to it."

The same thing goes for the A’s and Padres. Sure, the A’s were
very popular when the Bash Brothers, Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco,
terrorized opposing pitchers, and Dave Stewart humiliated opposing
hitters. But with the team back to mediocrity because of financial
restraints, the bandwagon fans have jumped off and love for the A’s
has been regionalized.

The Padres have never been extremely popular, but it’s hard to
find a person from San Diego who doesn’t know his or her share of
Padre history.

Senior first baseman Cassidy Olson, an A’s fan who grew up in
Northern California, adds another twist to the story. Since he’s
truly an American League fan, his love for the A’s is partly based
on the designated hitter rule.

"I’m a big fan of the DH because it makes the game more
exciting," Olson said. "There is more hitting and scoring. No one
wants to see bunting and the double switch. It’s not that
interesting."

There is more to this story than which team receives support
from which player. As expected, all the Dodger fans listed the
Giants as their most hated team, while all of the Giant fans
penciled in the Dodgers as their bitter rival. Interestingly
enough, the Angels, A’s and Padres went unscathed, as many players
focused their disgust on a rivalry that started in the East
Coast.

The Dodger-Giant squabble started in New York City, when the
Brooklyn Dodgers squared off against the New York Giants. Who can
forget Bobby Thompson’s game-winning home run, immortalized forever
with the words "The Giants win the pennant, the Giants win the
pennant, the Giants win the pennant"?

How great must it have been to have the Dodgers move to Los
Angeles in 1958, only to have the Giants follow their tracks to
California one year later. This rivalry has not only transcended
time, it has also transcended geographical schisms.

"It’s a bitter rivalry, and I definitely grew up part of it,"
senior right fielder Eric Byrnes said. "I grew up to hate the
Dodgers."

Byrnes is a typical Giant fan. He regularly wears a shirt which
says "Piss on the Dodgers," and has one with a Giant doll relieving
itself on a Dodger doll – his favorite shirt by far.

There are only two reasons why Byrnes respects the Dodgers:

1. Karros and Zeile

2. The Dodgers were the team that showed the most faith in him
out of high school, drafting him in the 37th round of the 1994
draft.

"There was this big inside joke between me and my friends,"
Byrnes said. "We couldn’t believe it because all my friends from
Northern California were all Dodger haters. So when I got drafted
by the Dodgers they were like, ‘Byrnes, you know what, even if you
were on that team we’d still root against the Dodgers. We’d root
for you, but we’d still root against the Dodgers.’"

The Padres often try to join in on the rivalry between the
Dodgers and Giants, since all three teams play in the same
division. The problem is no one seems to care about the Padres.

Junior catcher Jason Green, a Padres fan, and senior left
fielder Brett Nista, a Dodger symapthizer, are roommates.
Therefore, one would figure harsh words would be exchanged between
these two in a friendly rivalry.

Green certainly supports the theory that the Padres always try
to squeeze into the rivalry:

"I think the Padres are a little underrated – especially after
they took the West two years ago with a big sweep of the Dodgers. I
just think that the Dodgers find a way to choke at the end of the
season no matter what," said Green, with Nista laughing in the
background.

"So I have no fear. As long as the Padres are within two games
of the Dodgers at the end of the year, they have a chance. That’s
the way I feel."

Nista, though, supports the second theory that Dodger and Giant
fans completely disregard the Padres as a bitter rival.

"I think the Padres are good," Nista said. "I like the Padres.
But I think they haven’t done anything, so it’s hard for me to hate
them as a Dodger fan, because they’ve sucked for so long. They’ve
had one good year (in 1996) and what did they do last year? They
went back to the cellar. I just look at it like they’re a fluke. A
flash in the pan. They’re not going to hold up. The Dodgers will
prevail."

Nista’s response to the question about the Padres was what one
is likely to hear from a politician. Byrnes, however, answered the
question in a manner fitting Warren Beatty’s politician in the
movie "Bulworth."

"You see, the funny thing is – and I love it – people from San
Diego always try to chime in and include the Padres within the
whole scheme – the NL West, and the Padres this and the Padres
that," Byrnes said. "Well you know what, the Padres are so obsolete
to me they mean nothing. The Padres are on the same page as the
Tampa Bay Devil Rays, as far as I’m concerned. They mean nothing to
me. They are nothing.

"Sure they have a tiny bit of history. But it’s funny. The
rivalry is always between the Dodgers and the Giants and they
always try to build up a rivalry – the Padres and Dodgers or the
Padres and Giants. No! It’s the Dodgers and the Giants. And the
Padres are absolutely meaningless. That’s all you need to
know."

Something else which needs to be understood is why Giant fans
truly hate the Dodgers, while Dodger fans simply feel a less
passionate disdain.

The True Blue Crew seems less emotionally attached to this
rivalry. When you hear a Giant fan speak, the word "hate" always
pops up.

When you hear a Dodger fan speak, the word "dislike" is more
prone to appear in the conversation.

"I don’t have a ‘hate’ with the Giants," Theodorou said. "I just
kind of don’t like them because they’re in the Dodgers’
division."

Could the difference between the two sets of fans be because the
Dodgers have historically outplayed the Giants since the move to
the West? Could it be Giant fans feel more hate because they can’t
stand the fact the Dodgers won a World Series more recently?

Probably.

All of the Padres, A’s and Angels fans listed the Dodgers as
their most hated rival, most likely due to envy of the Dodgers’
rich, winning tradition. Freshman pitcher and center fielder
Charles Merricks and freshman outfielder Matt Pearl listed no
alliance to any team from California, yet they had enough
resentment to list the Dodgers as their most hated team for
apparently no reason whatsoever.

"I just hate them," Merricks, a Braves fan, said. "I can’t stand
them. I don’t know why."

Coach Adams, who grew up in Ohio and is at heart a Cincinnati
Reds fan, has met enough Dodger and Giant fans throughout his stay
in California to notice how Dodger fans receive unfair treatment –
especially from Giant fans.

"With Eric Karros and Todd Zeile playing for the Dodgers, I
can’t root against the Dodgers," Adams said. "But you know what, if
the Giant fans weren’t so vocal and horrible about how they feel
about the Dodger team, I wouldn’t feel bad about the Giant fans. I
think the Giant fans are worse. They hate the Dodgers more than
Dodger fans hate the Giants. I really think that based upon the
people I know.

"Byrnes is typical of the Giant fans. A Dodger fan wouldn’t
bother (with a T-Shirt) like that. They just know they’re better
and they don’t have to resort to such low tactics. The Giant fans
have to resort to unethical and unclassy behavior. That’s a typical
Giant fan – no class and etc. Take that, Eric Byrnes."

Dodger fans are no saints – no one claims to make such a broad
generalization. Once Adams finds out what junior center fielder
Eric Valent did, he won’t think the Giant fans are the only ones
with no class. Valent, a Dodger supporter, tried to influence the
tally of Dodger fans by crossing one Giant fan off and making him a
Dodger fan.

When junior infielder Jack Santora, who, in the media guide,
names his favorite team as "the first place Giants," found out his
name had been linked to the Dodgers, he took a close look at the
list and deciphered the treachery.

He noticed the similarity between the "G" and "S" written on the
same page by Valent (Disclaimer – no hand-writing specialist was
called, and no charges were ever brought up on Valent for
impersonating Santora. Until proven guilty, Valent should be
considered innocent).

Asked what he thought of Valent now that this discovery had been
made, Santora was quick and to the point.

"He’s a joke," Santora said. "I hope the Giants draft him."

And the hatred goes on and on. That’s what makes baseball so
great.

UCLA’s baseball players are people first, athletes second. And
where passion and loyalty are involved, the first thing people do
is think with their heart – whether they’re athletes or your
regular Joe.

So, who’s your favorite team?