If I Tell You I’m a Dodger Fan, Will You Still Read Davis Patch?

When I launched Davis Patch last June, I made a conscious decision to let my personality show in my writing.

Not my opinions, just my general tone and style. The idea was to avoid sounding like a robot or a generic staff writer. I wanted to be myself, which is to say: A responsible reporter, but also a human being who lives in Davis. 

In writing , however, I deprived the audience of one potentially key detail: I am a lifelong Dodger fan. Please don't hate me. Here's my story: 

I grew up in southern California, playing little league and attending games at Dodger Stadium. I rooted for guys like Mike Piazza and Eric Karros and Hideo Nomo. I read newspaper stats every morning and waited for my dad to bring home packs of baseball cards after work. I loved the game and I loved the Dodgers.

And then, when I was 14 (and my brother was 12), my dad was transferred to northern California for work. His new office was in the East Bay and our family took residence down the road in Winters. It wasn’t until that move up north that the existence of a Dodgers-Giants rivalry even blipped on my radar. As a kid, I was a Dodger fan, period. I could care less about the Giants or Barry Bonds (who looked like this at the time).

I remember going to my first Dodgers-Giants game at Candlestick Park in the late '90s. My dad wore a Dodger hat to that game. While standing in line for a hotdog, some dude with a Rich Aurilia goatee got in his face about it. (Late '90s Giants fans loved goatees. That was before all of this fear-the-beard stuff).

It was also before the Giants moved to Pac Bell Park and became very cuddly and friendly. You know it's true. 

I apologize if I’m starting to sound snarky. I kind of can’t help myself when I talk about the Giants. That's why I kept my Dodger-fan status low-key when the site launched last year. I didn’t even mention it when I interviewed Mayor Joe Krovoza about at the end of last season.

The bottom line is this: I went from hardly knowing that a rivalry existed to becoming a 14-year-old minority in a sea filled with Barry Bonds fanatics and J.T. Snow faithful. Now all of my best friends are Giants fans. It's a sad state of affairs, to say the least. 

Now that I've put this on the table, I ask that you please not hold it against me. And I also invite you to rub it in my face when the Giants do well and the Dodgers stink it up. I can almost guarantee that I'll revisit the subject as the season marches on. 

I'm very excited for baseball to start anew, especially after last season started with the horrendous beating of Giants fan Brian Stow and ended with Major League Baseball demanding the Dodgers be sold. Aside from a few exciting players, it was a lost year. I didn't enjoy it. 

Regardless of how things shake out this time around, I’m excited. About Magic Johnson. About Matt Kemp. About Clayton Kershaw. I even got MLB.TV this year so I can stream Dodger games online and avoid having to tune in to Krukow and Kuiper. How beautiful is that? 

Final thought: The NL West is by far at its best when the Dodgers and Giants are atop the standings in September. Here’s to hoping that happens. Enjoy the game today, and please share your own baseball stories below! 

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