Half a season in no-man’s land

Dodger fans on the Central Coast have been effectively banned from watching their team this season — a ridiculous development for the year 2014. By Downtowngal (Own work), via Wikimedia Commons

If the Dodgers wanted the Central Coast as part of their media market, they sure could have fooled me. With thousands of other Dodger fans, we are the forgotten children, poised in no-man’s land.

It’s officially the All-Star break. We are still, officially, blacked out.

For fans around Los Angeles, there are other ways to take the game in. Their flagship radio station’s ratings are up almost 50 percent and ballpark attendance is up over eight percent. In San Luis Obispo, the games can be found on ESPN Radio 1280, but there is no legal way to actually watch the games.

Like many others in California, we live hours away from Los Angeles, while still being technically within the Dodgers’ market. One county to the North (Monterey County), the market switches to the Giants. It takes at least 12 hours to drive to Dodger Stadium, take in a game, and get home (probably more like 15-18 if you like to get there early). In other words, it’s a full day.

I’ve explained the ridiculousness before. If I lived almost anywhere else in the country, I’d have at least some access to games. If you live “outside” of the Dodgers’ market (one county to the North, for example), you can get every Dodgers game via MLBTV. Even if I was “blacked out” in Los Angeles, I’d be able to go to more games in person, as it seems many fans are.

This, my friends, is no-man’s land.

Like so many Dodgers fans, I haven’t been happy about the situation. While fans are completely helpless, I’ve found other things to focus on this Summer. In my house, there are lots of projects I’ve completed instead of watching the Dodgers on TV. I’ve found other sports to watch, writing for an MLS-related site. In an age where I can watch EVERY World Cup match live, from my computer, wherever I am, how silly is it that I can’t watch the Dodgers on TV?

It’s far less than it once was, but every so often, I have thought about the Dodgers this summer.

I wonder what an All-Star level Dee Gordon looks like. I haven’t seen it with my own two eyes, so I wonder whether it actually exists.

I wonder what it must have been like to see Clayton Kershaw throw one of the best-pitched games of all-time.

I wonder how many years Vin Scully has left in the tank. How bitter will my emotions be if this whole season goes by without being able to see hear Vin describe those warm Chavez Ravine evenings? If this is Vin’s last year, how much does anyone really care?

I wonder what will happen if the Dodgers make it to the World Series. Will I have to learn about some of the players on my own team throughout the playoffs, when I should have had 162 games to take the information in? Am I less attached to this team because I cannot see them play?

To be a fan is to be engaged. To be an educated fan is to have consumed the games by some means. Radio used to suffice. I still follow games on Twitter and online, along with ESPN Radio 1280. No matter what I try, there is nothing like seeing the look on Yasiel Puig’s face before he gets tossed, or witnessing the throws (which have been described alternately as both ill-advised and outstanding) he makes on what seems like a regular basis.

The thing that is always crazy to me is that the buck just doesn’t stop anywhere.

The Dodgers have their money, Time Warner has its price, and other television providers have made their stand. Everyone has made rational, probably defensible decisions along the course of this process. It reminds me of an undergraduate Poly-Sci professor’s lectures on the decisions that led to the first World War. Everyone makes decisions in their own interests, and those decisions don’t always turn out to be best for the greater good. Maybe Victor Magagna should be baseball’s commissioner. His mustache he wore circa 2001 would give him instant clout.

For those of us who are Dodger fans on the Central Coast, we know what the impact of the Giants’ recent World Series’ have been. We know we’ve seen more orange and black than ever. What rational decision can we make?

One option is to go to the beach more and care about a baseball team 200 miles away less. I promise I’m not the only one thinking that way.