So special thanks to all of you checking the site and waiting for a new post.  My son had his 3rd birthday this weekend, so everything stopped for the big family shindig.  An easter egg hunt, pin the tail on the donkey, and my son finally able to blow out the candles…sweet times.

So when I heard about Manny going down with a hamstring injury, all that came to mind was Denny’s “Moon’s over my Hammy.”  I can’t tell you why, but it still cracks me up.  In a way though, it totally works.  The world is moons over Manny’s hammy.  Think about it.  It’s the only thing you hear about the Dodgers right now no matter where you live.  Jason Schmidt battling back was a blip on the screen, but not compared to Manny.

I’m not too worried up here.  He’s fresh, he was late to spring training and he just needs time.  He could rest for the next 3 weeks and he’d be fine.  I’m still relishing the fact that Giant’s fans up here still wish he was a Giant and know the Dodgers got a great player.  We’ll let him take his time and get back to it.

Come to think about it, maybe Manny should go to Dennys?  Maybe that would help his hammy….

Smiling Dodger Plate

So my wife is a Giants fan, and takes every opportunity to have fun with me and teach my kids that the Giants are the best team.  To help combat this, I’ve made sure we have Dodger plates and utensils to help ingrain that the Dodgers are better from a young age.

The other day my almost 3 yr old son didn’t want to eat much, but we wondered if he just needed a fork instead of using his hands.  My wife asked if he wanted a “Dodger” fork, and he answered “No.”

She then asked if he wanted a “Giants” fork (of which we don’t even have one), and he answered “Yes.”  Honestly, I don’t even think he knows what the difference is, he just understood her tone, and thought that sounded better.

Maybe I’m just trying to cover deep Giant tendencies from coming….Here’s hoping he just was off that day…

New Nike Dodger Hat

So to my joy today, my new Dodger hat arrived in the mail.  Special order from Amazon since they had the cheapest price.

I have a confession to make.  I’m a baseball hat junkie.  I have a bunch.  I have a whole bunch.  I typically have to give some to goodwill because I constantly collect them, and don’t end up wearing all of them.  Visors, caps, casual, sports related, you name it, there are all kinds.

Yet this one is special.  See – I’ve always had Dodger hats, but I had a string of bad luck.  I had two great hats where the top knob fell off.  Now if you’ve ever had that problem – I’d love some advice on how you fixed it.  I tried multiple options and none worked.  The real problem is that the knob covers a spike to hold the hat together.  Take away the knob and you have a sharp point on your hat.  This was fine until I reached up to touch my hat and cut myself.  So, much to my disappointment, I had to let two old friends go.

Therefore, this is the new addition to the hat family.  The new #1 Dodger hat that will go with me to the Dodger games at AT&T park.  It has to be a cool hat because I know it will get booed.  If you’re going to take abuse, you better at least know you like the hat and know it’s cool, and that those people are just disillusioned.  Plus, this is a Nike Dodger hat.  I’m not sure what it is, but I just like how Nike Dodger hats look on me compared to other Dodger hats.

As I thought more about my hat fetish, I realized that I’m definitely not the only one in this boat.  In fact, I’m willing to bet that most real sports fans (pointed at guys) have a ton of hats that their wives just don’t understand.  See – that’s the thing.  Thankfully my wife has given up asking me why I need another hat.  I just do.  I always do.  Like I said, hats become something more than a thing on your head.

There are the cool hats you can wear all the time.  There are those hats for your team that are cool because you wear them to the game.  There are those hats from special events (like my All-Star game hat), and then there are those ones that people give you, that are cool, but maybe you just don’t wear all the time.

And then – especially then, there are those hats that are good luck or represent memories.  Like the rally hat that has helped the Dodgers win every time you turn it inside out.  Or those hats from a once in a lifetime sporting event that will forever be sacred…they just don’t happen to match anything you normally wear.

In any case – hats are deeper than just cloth and a rim. I guess hats are like woman’s shoes.  I’ve never understood why my wife needs so many shoes, but if it’s like my need for more hats, then I guess I’ll just keep making more room in the closet.

Got a cool memory hat story, or a story about your girl wanting to get rid of your hats – drop a comment below.

So I decided to check out youtube.com today and typed in Dodgers vs Giants.  I found this video and I love it.  If I could make this a permanent part of this website I would.  No need to add any more words – just watch it.

Package of 1lb Dodger Dogs from Farmer John website

So when you live up here, there are certain things you just can’t get like you can in L.A. In my search to make Giants Territory more like L.A., there is one thing I need to find: Dodger Dogs.

Therefore, I am on a search to find Dodger Dogs here in Northern California. I can always find Giants hot dogs at the local stores (they’re pretty good actually), but I’ve looked, and I can’t even find Farmer John hot dogs, let alone Dodger Dogs.

So as any good modern treasure hunter, I went to the first place of knowledge on all things lost: Google.  My keywords were “Farmer John Hot Dogs + San Francisco.” After two pages, I gave up. All I found were reviews of the hot dogs and one article on how they now have blue mustard at Dodger Stadium (Another thing I’m obviously missing out on. Any comments on the blue mustard Dodger fans?)

So take 2 – Google – Keywords “Where to find Farmer John Dodger Dogs.” Once again – nothing. This time I did find out that one Dodger dog has 21 grams of fat. Perhaps I should stop my search now. And to think I usually like at least 2 dogs and a coke and nachos and hopefully a frozen malt at the end.

This time though I did find the official product page for Dodger Dogs through Hormel Foods.  This page has recipes on how to use the dogs, and more nutritional information.  Not sure what happened, but I gained a gram of fat in 2 minutes time.  For some reason Dodger dogs are 22 grams of fat each on the official page, rather than that other random one I found.  I guess the Farmer John pigs are just getting fatter like the rest of America.

Much to my joy though, the page did have a “Product Locator” link, so I decided to try my luck.  Apparently there are some stores in Northern California that carry Farmer John.  I shop at Safeway all the time, so I decided to try their on-line store.  That would be true service if I never even have to leave my house.  Alas, they have Farmer John beef dogs, but no Dodger Dogs.  The search continues.

Next I tried Lucky’s.  I figured that if Stephanie Edwards can make it back to hosting the Rose Parade, maybe her old company on the rebound will help me find the Dodger Dog.  They don’t have an on-line store though so I guess I’ll have to go their manually.

So thus, I changed the title to Part 1.  This treasure hunt may take awhile.  More to come.