For this week’s Share & Tell, Traci, our Marketing & PR Intern, shares about her love for going to baseball games and her experiences growing up as an LA fan!
With spring quickly approaching, it was only fitting for me to share one of my biggest excitements for the season— Dodgers Baseball! (Sorry, San Diego!)
The Dodgers have been ingrained into my livelihood for as long as I can remember—growing up in Los Angeles, it was only natural to live and bleed blue. Though I treasured watching games with my family at home, the most exciting times were when we got to go to Dodger Stadium and see them in person! You definitely feel a special energy when you watch any sport live, but something is uniquely different about baseball—there’s a richer tradition and history that come with this sport, like an unspoken understanding that fuels every crack of the bat and resonates throughout the stadium. I love seeing the crowd decked out in Dodgers Blue, hearing the legendary voice of Vin Scully welcoming us to the park, seeing the celebrations at home plate after a walk-off home run—because somehow, even in a sea of 55,000 people, you feel connected to it all. I have so many memories of watching the Dodgers live, but here are three of my favorites:
1. Getting kicked out of the stadium. My family and I were enjoying a game when two people sitting a couple rows behind us started heckling each other. My mom was trying her best to ignore them, but the yelling only got louder. The argument then turned into a food fight, and my four-year-old brother got caught in the line of fire and immediately began crying. Needless to say, the Mama Bear claws came out—my mom turned around, flipped them the bird, and eventually got us all escorted out “for our safety.”
2. Getting Kershaw’s autograph. Last summer, I went to a Dodgers-Mets game at Citi Field in Queens. We arrived early for autograph opportunities, but because it was raining, batting practice was canceled. However, we saw one guy dressed in blue stretching out in the outfield—none other than my number-one-player-crush-forever, Clayton Kershaw. I ran down to the field, pulling a baseball from my bag and uncapping a blue ballpoint pen as I went, and got his autograph! It was the most surreal 10 seconds of my life, and I couldn’t even get a word out of my mouth except, “th-th-thanks!”
3. Attending two post seasons back-to-back. The Dodgers have had many years of drought during my time as a fan, but I’ve been fortunate enough to see them finally make it to the postseason in two consecutive years. Postseason games are such a special experience because everything is amplified: the stakes at hand, the cheers of the crowd, and of course, the ticket prices! Even though we haven’t made it to a World Series in my lifetime (yet!), going to the Division Series and Championship Series has been such a thrill so far!
Looking forward to the 2015 season, I can’t wait to see what this team (and Kershaw!) will bring! GO BLUE!
Every Wednesday at 3:30 we gather to celebrate an employee who exemplifies our core values to inspire, share, evolve, exceed and be 100% jerk-free. In our Share & Tell edition, we invite the employee to share their unique story, or simply something that inspires them.