Directories
Quick Searches
Find a Job
Quick Search
For Employers
Yahoo! HotJobs Local Search
What's Southern California's top sports venue?
By: LOREN NELSON - Sports Editor | ∞
By: JAY PARIS - Staff Writer
Dodger Stadium
Determining Southern California's top sporting venue is tough. Much like picking a favorite beach, one person's sandy oasis is his buddy's rocky landscape.
While a big fan of quirky Petco Park, a packed Qualcomm Stadium and a delightful day at Del Mar Racetrack, I look north for the area's premier sports palace:
Dodger Stadium.
Now before you curse everything Koufax, Gibson and Scully, consider this: the Padres clinched the 1996 National League West title at Chavez Ravine with a dramatic, season-ending, three-game sweep.
Shove away your disdain for Smog Angeles, Lasorda and Garciaparra, and focus on the jewel that rests among this 300-acre manicured lot. Look out from behind home plate through the site's 3,400 trees to the towering San Gabriel Mountains, especially when bathed in a late-summer sunset with a purplish hue.
Or look northwest to the Hollywood sign, the landmark that lets fans know where they are and where Paris Hilton needs to turn right to find her driveway.
Dodger Stadium is the Ritz Carlton of ballparks, and never mind that it's the second oldest in the NL. Its doors swung open in 1962, but like most of its cinematic neighbors, has received enough facelifts still to warrant a close-up.
Few stadiums can equal the history made on its turf: eight World Series, an All-Star game and the 1984 Olympics.
The Beatles played here; ditto the Rolling Stones. Even Pope John Paul II held a Mass at this slice of blue heaven.
There's also the telltale aroma permeating Dodger Stadium on game nights. Long before Joey Chestnut or Kobayashi put gorging on the national radar, Dodger Dogs were the rage.
To paraphrase a famous line, a Dodger Dog there is better than a steak at Donovan's.
So I stake my claim to Dodger Stadium, where the palm trees sway behind the bullpens and where the stars shine above and also fill the seats below.
My boss, Lord Nelson, picks Del Mar as the crème de la crème and I know why ---- the taskmaster from Minnesota carries a grudge from 1965. That fall, his Twins played three World Series games at Dodger Stadium.
They lost them all.
Contact staff writer Jay Paris at jparis8@aol.com.
Del Mar
Dodger Stadium and the racetrack at Del Mar. So different, and yet ... so different.
At Del Mar, you are mesmerized by the stunning ocean views. Sit high enough at Dodger Stadium, and you can actually touch the L.A. smog!
At Del Mar, you and your friends can marvel at plastic surgeons' finest silicone creations. At Dodger Stadium, you might get a glimpse of ...Tommy Lasorda.
Del Mar oozes Bing Crosby class. Dodger Stadium drools Leslie Nielsen crass.
Scenes from Nielsen's slapstick "Naked Gun" movie were filmed at Dodger Stadium. Del Mar serves as a backdrop in an episode of the ultra-hip HBO "Entourage" series.
In the celebrity suites at Del Mar, they serve grissini breadsticks, red pepper and garlic hummus, and fancy mixed nuts ($22.57 per small bowl). In the All-You-Can-Eat Pavilion at Dodger Stadium, boxes of nachos are stacked so high they are a hazard to low-flying aircraft.
Sushi and sashimi platters are available at Del Mar for $419.58 a pop. Fish taco vendors (Hey, is that really fish?) do brisk business outside Dodger Stadium.
When I think of Del Mar, I think of Crosby crooning: "Where the turf meets the surf down at old Del Mar. Take a plane, take a train, take a car. There's a smile on every face and a winner in each race."
When I think of Dodger Stadium, I can imagine Rage Against the Machine raging: "Where the scene ain't serene up in the Ravine. Grab a bus or boost a car, otherwise you ain't gettin' far. In every pocket there's a blade, Nomar handling the ball like it's a grenade, everyone subject to a raid ---- by the bulls on parade."
Del Mar is the sort of place you might see George Clooney. Dodger Stadium is a good fit for Andy Rooney.
At Dodger Stadium, they do the wave, bounce beach balls through the bleachers and, in the nosebleed seats, make tiny parachutes out of napkins and delight as they drop toward the field. At Del Mar, they drink margaritas and lay down $1,000 trifectas.
Jay-P is a simple man who enjoys life's simple pleasures. He drinks nacho cheese shots with salsa chasers. Eats Dodger Dogs for breakfast. So it's understandable that he's over on the right side of the page enlightening you about the wonders of the Dodger Dump.
That's OK. Not everyone is into thoroughbreds. Not everyone should be.
Donkeys need love, too.
Contact sports editor Loren Nelson at (760) 740-3551 or lnelson@nctimes.com.
More Stories
Advertisement
So Cal Native wrote on Jul 18, 2007 8:52 AM:So Cals top sports venue is the US Open of Surfing held in Huntington Beach. This attracts up to 350,000 people to this event. There is so much to do watching surfing, skating, motocycle tricks, BMX bikes and so much more. This event is held from July 20th thru July 29th. Be there or be square! This is the true So Cal venue!
- ESCONDIDO: Man shot dead at Fourth of July party (9869)
- TEMECULA: Protesters line intersection (6024)
- ESCONDIDO: 3 DUI arrests, 46 impounds at checkpoint (4858)
- ESCONDIDO: City's dreams of an 'upscale' downtown may be dying (4565)
- ESCONDIDO: Victim's roommate recalls July 4 shooting, friends gather for vigil (4343)
Advertisement