When the Giants Come to Town, It's Bye-Bye Baby

10.10.2008
Lasorda Invasion

Just when the Bay Area's own Pat Burrell gives us a little cheer with his home run to beat the Dodgers last night, here comes a little rain on our parade.

Maybe I should say, here comes a parade that deserves a little rain. Incredibly, the organizers of San Francisco's upcoming Italian-American heritage parade on Columbus Day -- or as they say in Berkeley, Indigenous People's Day  -- chose Tommy Lasorda as the grand marshal. What's next, Jesse Helms leading the march during Gay Pride Weekend?

It sounds like a bad joke, but it's true. In fact, one of our few sane supervisors, Michaela Alioto-Pier, lobbied briefly to have Lasorda removed. She recommended Barry Zito or Joe Montana as a replacement, though I'm not sure Zito would be more popular than Lasorda these days. Why not Rich Aurilia, who used to have the theme song from The Sopranos as his walk-up music?

This Lasorda atrocity brings up a difficult decision. If you're standing in North Beach on a lovely fall day and Fat Tommy rides by in a convertible, waving his piggy little Dodger fingers, the sun reflecting like tiny daggers off his World Series rings, what do you do?

A) Golf clap. Show some class.

B) Yell "Dodgers Suck!"

C) Throw something, run, dare him to give chase and hope for something like this:

Perhaps the parade organizers have asked Tommy to give an inspirational speech:

Not suitable for work. Or children. Part 2 is even less so. And always remember, Steve Garvey is not my Padre.

Hell, why not: Who’s your most hated Dodger, and why? Discuss.

***

P.M. UPDATE: One of my favorite baseball writers, Rany Jazayerli, has a post on fivethirtyeight.com about the possibility of an October surprise, not from the Tampa Bay Rays but from Osama Bin Laden. Jazayerli on politics? Turns out fivethirtyeight.com is run by Baseball Prospectus’ stat guru Nate Silver.  
Also on the Network:



[October 10, 2008 4:03 PM]  |  link  |  reply
50andstillfly said

Picking any one Dodger as most hated is tough, but I've gotta go with Garvey because he was such a freakin' hypocrite. He put up that "Mr. Clean" image while banging hookers two at time (at least in SF). Also, he killed the Giants even worse than Jeff Kent does.

[October 10, 2008 5:14 PM]  |  link  |  reply
obsessivegiantscompulsive replied to 50andstillfly

Don't forget, long ago, when Garvey for Governor was not ridiculous, Garvey was engaged to be married and his fiance was pregnant, when it came out, literally within weeks of each announcement, that he had impregnated two other women, and they were going to have his baby as well.

Kind of messed up his squeaky clean image. But he picked up three votes (18 years hence).

[October 10, 2008 6:08 PM]  |  link  |  reply
bigO said

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=QPx327SbBQ0

Lasorda on Kingman is legendary.

[October 10, 2008 6:39 PM]  |  link  |  reply
obsessivegiantscompulsive said

Wow, most hated Dodger? Garvey would have to be up there, but for me, it had to be Orel Hershiser, which killed me even more when he came up and pitched for us...

And for a while, the rumors were strong that he would/could take over as manager of the Giants.

If you count players who once were Dodgers and you hated them afterward, Candy Maldonado and Dave Stewart would be up there. And I still haven't forgiven Dusty Baker for the 6th game yet.

[October 11, 2008 12:55 AM]  |  link  |  reply
ELM said

Many people hated Reggie Smith in the '70s. Bleacher bums threw batteries at him. Of course, we loved him when he came to the Giants.

I'll add a vote for Steve Sax. I hated that guy.

[October 11, 2008 1:33 AM]  |  link  |  reply
elGuapo said

Yea fivethirtyeight.com is a sweet site and Nate and his crew are doing a great job. Between his stats and the on the road series they are doing its a pretty clear picture of the race at this point.

[October 11, 2008 2:32 AM]  |  link  |  reply
theo said

Lefty, love your blog, in fact I have a link to it on my page at the the Examiner. Check it out and let me know your thoughts. Thanks