Be Careful What You Hate

This post is about baseball, something I love, but first I want to write about hate. Chris rock said it perfectly in his stand up hit, "Bigger and Blacker".

"See, it don't make no sense to hate nobody.

lt don't make no sense to be a racist, sexist, or nothing, but.... lt don't.    
'cause whoever you hate will end up in your family.    
That's right, you don't like gays, you're gonna have a gay son.  
You don't like Puerto Ricans?  Your daughter's gonna come home with ''Livin' la vida loca!''

I'm going to let you in on a little secret about people in the bay area. They teach their kids to hate. Despite a reputation for tolerance known worldwide, discrimination is actively encouraged by nearly every native. It's not discrimination against gays or Puerto Ricans, it's hatred of Los Angelinos.

We despise their freeways, their traffic, the fact that they steal all our water, the lakers, the dodgers, the orange curtain, the ridiculous celebrity culture, obsession with appearance, mindless trendiness, the smog - we hate it all.

Just as Chris Rock predicted, my hate has come back to me. My roomate in college: SoCal. My wife: SoCal. But perhaps the most brutal irony is the fact Dodger fans outnumber Giant fans by a 4:1 ratio in the central coast. The TV and radio feeds are the Dodger network. I am surrounded by the very thing I loved so much to hate!

In addition to Dodger saturation, one of the toughest adjustments to life on the central coast is life without professional baseball. Heading down to Pac Bell on a Saturday for a day in the sun is one of my favorite things to do. Night games after work. The stadium, the team, the game - I love it all.

Ex-Giant and Cal Poly Mustang Mike Krukow has delivered the solution for my problem in the form of the Krukow Klub at Bagget stadium, home of the Cal Poly Mustang men's baseball team. The Krukow club is one of the best deals going on the central coast. $200 season ticket gets you access to all the games, all the beer you can drink and all the hot dogs you can eat. Yes! Beers, Baseball and hot dogs in unlimited quantities goes a long way towards filling my Giant void and easing my Dodger headache.

I'm just glad the things I love outweigh the things I hate.