My story…

Greetings everyone!

As the newest contributing member of dodgerfan.net, I thought I’d start out with how I became a Dodger fan…

Like many kids, my first introduction to Dodger baseball came courtesy of the sweet, soothing voice of Vin Scully…listening to him both on TV and radio was definitely the highlight of my early years (sorry to all my grade school teachers)…

My love for baseball expanded into collecting baseball cards…the first cards I ever purchased were from the 1985 Topps set…I remember those days of opening up wax packs, sticking the gum in my mouth and sorting out the cards…naturally, I set aside my Dodger cards for safe keeping…

Through the late 80’s, my dad and I bought cards whenever we had a chance…I would venture down to the local card shop (The Sports Alley – today, it’s a video arcade) and buy packs while my dad bought boxes from the Price Club (now Costco)…to this day, I am STILL sorting through all those cards from the 80’s!

In 1988, I got involved in this thing called Rotisserie Baseball (today, we know it as Fantasy Baseball)…there was a group of us in high school who got together, drafted our teams and kept track of the stats…I remember I was the “lucky” guy who looked up all the stats in the Sunday edition of the USA Today and put them in a spreadsheet and calculated the standings – each week…amazingly enough, I found that to be fun and to this day, I still love looking at stats…

During the 90’s, this thing called college and getting a real job took most of my time and baseball card collecting took a back seat to everything else…so much so that my collection was gathering dust in my room at my mom and dad’s house…

…but my love for Dodger baseball never went away…

I attended many games during the 90’s and remember vividly when a young catcher named Mike Piazza blasted a line drive double to right center…the ball was hit so hard that I knew this kid had a future…what I didn’t realize was that I was witnessing the beginning of a Hall of Fame career…

About 9 months ago, it was necessary for me to move my collection to my current home (thankfully, my wife understands how much my collection means to me, so I’m able to make a mess of our front bedroom – known now as “the card room”)…with my renewed interest in the hobby, I have gotten back into buying and trading cards…

One of my recent transactions involved trading some very valuable hockey cards to a gentleman in Missouri…sure, I followed hockey back in the 80’s and early 90’s when Wayne Gretzky was in LA and Bernie Nicholls belonged to our local country club, but these were cards that I was able to trade for some GREAT Dodger cards…anytime you can get great Dodger cards, you should make the trade, right???

Added to my collection were two big ones of note – a 1957 Topps Dodgers Sluggers card which features Carl Furillo, Gil Hodges, Roy Campanella and Duke Snider…the other was a 1963 Topps Dodgers Big Three card which features Johnny Podres, Don Drysdale and Sandy Koufax…

The beauty of collecting cards, especially those of players before my time, is the fact that I can feel the history behind the players just by looking at their cards…sometime down the road, I’ll write more about some of my favorite Dodger cards and I hope I can continue making more trades to expand my Dodger collection…

…boy, I feel like a kid again…

Anyway, that’s my story…I wanted to thank Chris and Alex for inviting me to be a member of dodgerfan.net…I’m looking forward to sharing my love for Dodger baseball with all of you!

Ryan

dodgerfan.net Welcomes New Contributor

I’m happy to announce that the dodgerfan.net staff has recruited a new member to our staff. Ryan (pictured above in his best Manny Ramirez threads) is a long-time friend of mine – we went to school together way, way back in the day and he brings a fresh perspective to some new areas we’d like to cover with the blog.

A few words from Ryan himself:

My earliest memories of Dodger baseball came back in the early 80’s when my dad would turn down the volume on the TV and turn up the radio so we could listen to Vin Scully call the game…

My athletic background revolves around swimming, water polo and golf…I bet there are 8 year olds out there who can strike me out on 3 pitches…

My interest in baseball exploded in the mid 80’s when I started collecting baseball cards…from there, I moved into fantasy baseball and began to study the numbers…now I’m back into collecting cards…my wife and dog love the fact that I’m in front of the computer looking at stats and managing my fantasy team while also spending time sorting and cataloging cards…I guess this is better than drinking and doing drugs, right?

I’m certainly looking forward to contributing to the blog and will cover things that I find interesting – stats, fantasy baseball, baseball memorabilia…of course, talking Dodger baseball is always high on my list!

As he mentioned, Ryan is (and has been) an avid card collector not too long ago, so expect some interesting perspectives from him on that front – both on the current state of memorabilia and a retrospective. Ryan is also the closest thing we have to a “numbers guy” here at dodgerfan.net so if anyone is going to crunch the stats to get to
some unique and intriguing insights, it will be him.

Watch for some great posts coming your way soon – as well as interesting perspectives from the press box and the field as Ryan joins our team that blogs from Chavez Ravine periodically.

Welcome, Ryan!

ESPN OTL Segment Shows Journalists Still Dissing Bloggers

Wow – I just finished watching the ESPN Outside The Lines segment on the recent Raul Ibanez steroids blog post that has the interwebs on fire!

The guy in question, Jerrod Morris, a writer for Midwest Sports Fans, wrote an article that discussed how Raul Ibanez’s power numbers have increased this year and speculated on the reasons why this jump occured. One explanation, he mused, was performance enhancing drugs and, well, the rest was history. The blogosphere began reporting that Jerrod said that Ibanez was taking steroids (not accurate), and ESPN took it a step further by getting two journalists together (including Ken Rosenthal and a guy from the Philadelphia Inquirer) to interrogate Morris.

Man, this was a takedown that was orchestrated like no other. I’d encourage you to watch it yourself and form your own opinions, but some of mine are:

1. Many in the media still thinks bloggers are unprofessional, unaccountable, inaccurate writers – the writers that were tearing Morris apart kept hammering on the fact that he made accusations without any facts. When I read the article and watched the segment, I thought that Morris wasn’t given a fair shake – he was pretty clear in his statement online and on ESPN that he didn’t accuse Ibanez of taking steroids but it everyone seemed to try to accuse Morris of that very fact. Weren’t the mainstream media members pushing Morris on something that wasn’t accurate? It seemed they were practicing the very activity that they were accusing the blogger of – hmm…

2. No one has really spelled out how Ibanez was made aware of anything – This seems like a big game of telephone, where the blogger posts something, another media outlet writes their interpretation of it, another person relays this to Ibanez, and the player unleashes on someone where no one is clear on what the message was.

3. Jerrod’s blog is going to blow up because of this – The very media outlets that try to discredit Jerrod and his blog have actually done quite the opposite- they have made everyone aware of the power of these blogs to write on hot topics and tackle topics that the mainstream media won’t. I think Jerrod and his blog will ultimately be the winners here…much to the dismay of folks like Ken Rosenthal.

writers note: The only research I did for this article was reading Jerrod’s words and watching the OTL segment

6/11/109 Update
A few words from the blogger (Jerrod Morris) today wrapping up his thoughts…

After reflecting more about the interview on Outside the Lines yesterday, just a few more thoughts:

Ken Rosenthal asked at one point, “how did we get here?” What I wish I had said was: “We got here because one newspaper mischaracterized what I said, because a reporter from that same paper went running to Raul Ibanez for a comment without (ostensibly) Ibanez or the reporter reading the actual article I wrote, and because the mainstream media and its holier-than-thou high standards decided to run with the story. If none of that had happened, the Raul Ibanez story would be making its way towards 300-400 views right now and fading from relevance even here at MSF, as opposed to being a national story.

I wasn’t setting out to create a firestorm, but it is curious (there’s that word again) that the MSM was so quick to jump on the story. Could it be because the MSM salivates anytime the terms “steroids” or “PEDs” and an actual player’s name are in the same sentence? Might such stories drive pretty high traffic and viewership? Seems to me they would (and, admittedly, the last few days have proven it for us here at Midwest Sports Fans. Thanks mainstream media!).

Dodgers Credential Bloggers for Press Box; Embrace Social Media

At Dodgerfan.net, we’ve always been interested in the communications side of baseball, as well as what happens on and off the field.  And while the Los Angeles Dodgers have always been  known as one of the most progressive organizations in professional sports, they recently broken new ground in LA (and potentially in the MLB and in other major professional sports), by providing press credentials and full media access to select amateur Dodger bloggers.  What makes this so interesting is that these bloggers are not professional journalists, but rather passionate fans who have developed a forum and following for their opinions and analysis.  I had a chance to talk to Josh Rawitch, Vice President of Communications for the Dodgers, about this intriguing shift in policy.

“As we all know, [the] world of information consumption is changing dramatically and as an organization, we recognize that many of you who are dedicated fans also have the ability to speak to other fans around the world,” said Rawitch.  “We want you to be as informed as possible and the best way to do that, as the mainstream media has known for centuries, is with access to those who make news and make decisions.”

The Dodgers first official engagement with the team’s leading bloggers was in April of 2008 when Rawitch hosted a “Blogger Night” at a regular season game.  The team provided a luxury box as the venue and offered an open forum with owner Frank McCourt, General Manager Ned Colletti and Special Advisor to the Chairman (and Dodger legend)  Tommy Lasorda.  The team followed up with a similar event in March 2009 at the new Camelback Ranch Spring Training facility and then again in May 2009 at the second Blogger Night at Dodger Stadium where Colletti and  Executive Vice President of Creative and Communications Dr. Charles Steinberg answered questions from the bloggers in attendance.

“We have had full support throughout the organization on this from ownership on down,” said Rawitch.  “As you know, the first Blogger Night even presented an opportunity for you all to meet with Frank McCourt, so obviously he and Jamie, our CEO, are extremely welcoming of this new medium, as are Dennis (Mannion, President and CEO of the Dodgers) and Charles (Steinberg).”

Neither the Dodgerfan.net staff nor Josh Rawitch could cite any examples of many other major sports organizations going to such lengths to embrace social media, with the lone exception being the New York Islanders’ “Blog Box” program which, comparitively, is not as extensive as what the Dodgers are unveiling in 2009, as contact to players, coaches and traditional media is limited.  With the Dodgers’ program, the participating bloggers have complete media access and are trusted to act in a professional and respective manner (i.e.: no team clothing or cheering – something that is surprisingly hard to do).

But in the grand scheme of communciations, what does this all really mean?  In my opinion, the Dodgers are embracing all outlets (regardless of medium) that are serious about discussing their brand, and they are providing access and information that allows those of us that communciate about the team to be as  informed and educated as possible.  I can say without a doubt that our stories here on Dodgerfan.net are better as a result of this access, but we go to great pains to make sure that it doesn’t cloud our own editorial decision-making.

Rawitch agrees, “…there’s a very exciting buzz online about extending our reach into the world of social media.  As long as our fans are informed and talking about the Dodgers and sharing their passion for the team – the highs and lows – it has the chance to be a really good thing.  In addition, it connects the Dodger brand to fans around the globe (and those who aren’t even fans yet), which is important to us organizationally.”

Major League Baseball is also watching.  “They were very supportive,” said Rawitch. ”Pat Courtney, Vice President of Communications at Major League Baseball, basically said, ‘Good for you…let us know how it goes.’  I’d imagine they’re going to keep an eye on this, as it’s a topic we’ve all talked about regularly at our annual PR meetings for a couple of years now and this is part of the natural progression.”

Regardless of your views on whether or not this is a good thing, it will be very interesting to see how social media evolves and changes the way we communicate as a people.

When asked about the future of social media within the world sports, Rawitch responded, “I really think it’s going to become part of the culture at sporting events to the point where fans on the field will be ‘chatting’ with fans in the pavillions and all around the stadium during games.  It’s already taking place to some extent, in raw form.  But college kids today (and anyone younger than them) have pretty much grown up knowing nothing other than the Internet, and it will be the sports industry’s job to adapt to the way they live their lives, not the other way around.  We have to be cognizant of the fact that not all of our fans will get their information through social media, which is why the traditional media still plays an extremely important role in information dissemination.  But none of us know how how the majority of the world will get its ‘news’ 10 years from now.  I’m just not that smart!”

Maybe not smart enough to predict the future of communication, but smart enough to embrace how people are communciating today, with an eye towards the future - something that all professional sports organizations can appreciate and learn from as they court a younger audience.

Ok, back to the game…

USA Today Turns to Local Dodgers Blogger

Props to The Trolley Dodger for his great, intelligent Q&A in today’s USA Today on the team and the suspension of Manny Ramirez.  As most of you know, we’re huge fans off good blogger PR and you made us proud, Robert!  Just remember us little guys when you go national with P.T.I. or another national show!

Side note: we first saw this news over at the Sons of Steve Garvey, so a tip o’ the hat to them as well.

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