Cali Assignment
If you listen to our podcast, which let’s be honest if you are reading this blog you obviously listen to the podcast, you would have heard I was on “assignment” during the Shooting the Breeze, Vol 4 podcast. My assignment included a going to California with some friends to check out some baseball games in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Anaheim. While there, we also did some sightseeing checking out some famous television and movies houses/buildings (more on that to come).
We started our trip up north in San Francisco, where we did the normal touristy things checking out Fisherman’s Wharf, Ghirardelli Square and since I don’t drink coffee (shhh, I know you don’t understand how), but I am a good friend I took my buddies to the Buena Vista Café where they could have from what I understand is one of the best Irish coffees you can have anywhere. Don’t worry, I had a Guinness while I was there.
On our second day in SF, I went to check out the Mrs. Doubtfire house since I didn’t get there the last time I was there. Along with the Full House house and the Pink Ladies, this is a must see for any fan even if you are there for about 10 minutes. Just a cool piece of movie history.
After some more sightseeing that day we went to see the San Francisco Giants take on the Kansas City Royals. This was my first time seeing a game here and I have heard great things about the stadium and it did not disappoint. The atmosphere is great outside the stadium pregame and just walking around see the water and the people in their canoes waiting for a home run to come their way is cool. Once inside the stadium, it was nice to see that huge glove out in left field as well as that large Coca Cola sign. They have that iconic right field fence and the game did not disappoint. It was a great game where the Giants won 3-2.
Oracle Park
The next day we took the five hours drive from San Fran to Los Angeles where you do not think of California in this way but it was a whole lot of nothing in between the two cities driving down the intertstate. We got to LA and went to Dodger Stadium that night to see the Dodgers take on the Arizona Diamondbacks. A stadium I have been to before but it is never bad to go to another iconic stadium again. Driving down the streets straight to the stadium was cool and up into the stadium where you see the ravine. Walking into the stadium you can feel the history. It has not changed much over the years and sitting in the stadium and seeing the lot from your seats where you could see cars leaving the stadium as Kirk Gibson hit that iconic home run during the 1988 World Series (even if that should have been the Mets season, damn you Mike Scoscia). I will be honest though, I did not spend a lot of time in my seat during this game. I was literally sitting in a stairwell watching the Knicks lose game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals in overtime after a miracle shot by Tyrese Haliburton ***cough***GO THUNDER!!***cough***. Once that game ended and I was thoroughly heartbroken, I went to my seat for the first time which was somewhere around the 7th inning. I proceeded to complain about how it was possible for the Knicks to lose that game and was asked politely by a Dodger fan to lower my voice when Shohei Ohtani come up to bat. I laughed at him and was like what is this a baseball game or a tennis match? The Dodgers did win the game 3-1 before going to New York and losing two of three to the Mets (I had to throw that in).
The next couple of days we did a bunch more sightseeing going to The Getty Center, Santa Monica pier and I am not going to lie one of the highlights of the trip was going to Nakatomi Plaza. Yes, I know that is not the real name, but let’s be honest, do you care what the real name? It will always be known as Nakatomi Plaza. We saw it from the distance, drove past the gate to the garage that Argyle parked the limo in after dropping John McLean off and then drove up to the front of the building right before being chased away by a security guard. No sign of Hans’ body anywhere.
Our last day we did some more sightseeing going to see the mansion in the Big Lebowski (can you believe Kevin didn’t like that movie?), the Entourage house and then over to Pasadena to see Doc Brown’s house as well the stadium of the Grandaddy of Them All, the Rose Bowl!! If you know me at all, you know how HUGE of a Michigan fan I am, so to see the place where Michigan won the 1997 National Championship and where they beat Alabama en route to winning the National Championship in 2024 was uber cool!!!
After seeing the Rose Bowl, we went to Anaheim to check out the Angels game as they took on the Miami Marlins. As it turns out, I learned that Angels Stadium is now the fourth oldest stadium in Major League Baseball behind Fenway Park, Wrigley Field and Dodger Stadium after opening in 1966. You will thank me the next time you need some useless trivia. Being the fourth oldest stadium definitely makes sense as it is built like all the old stadiums with no vision onto the field from the concourses. They have the very cool huge rock out on center field, although there is no way to see the field at all from out there. This definitely ranks as one of the worst stadiums I have been too. The Angels did go on to win the game 7-4, although not difficult when playing the Marlins.
Seeing two new stadiums has put my total at twenty-five, although of those 25 stadiums, some have opened new stadiums which means I will need to hit up those cities that did open new stadiums after I visited the first time.
Great laughs, great baseball and great friends always equals another great trip!!