While I am fully aware that we are mid NFL season and directly in the midst of massive football related content, I felt compelled, nay REQUIRED to make a trip to Dodger Stadium to witness in person Game 4 of the NLCS championship series. Some of you may be very aware of this, I am a die hard Cubs fan. As a fan of a long suffering franchise this opportunity does not present itself very often and well shit, I’m not paying 10 grand to make a trip to Wrigley this postseason.

Brother DJ Taj is also a fan of the Cubbies and when we had the conversation about seeing a game in this series it came down to, we HAD to go. After all if the Cubs win this series they will be going to their first World Series since 1945 and we could not miss that. Especially with Dodger Stadium being just 20 miles away. After game one of the series when the Cubs had a 1-0 series lead we discussed attending game 4 because as delusional as Cubs fans can be we thought we could have a chance to see history when the Cubs completed a 4 game sweep!

Well shit.

After losing games 2 and 3 to LA suddenly the game morphed into a must win game for the Cubbies. The thought of going to a 3-1 series deficit with another game to be played in LA was not a happy thought at all. Not at all.

Tickets were purchased (left field loge level seats in the shade for $160.00 each – before tax and convenience charge bumped the total to $190.00 each in case you were wondering) work was abandoned early and we headed out.

As mentioned we are just 20 miles Southwest of the stadium so of course we gave ourselves…Two fucking hours to make the drive.

It took 1 hour and 35 minutes from the time we left until seated at the stadium. Who the fuck schedules a game at Dodger Stadium on a weekday at 5:00? That’s insane.

Arriving at the stadium the first thing you notice is the vast acreage of parking.

Holy mother of fuck was it hot! Ninety degrees in the shade and not a whisper of wind. Fucking LA in the fall, man! LA was in the dead middle of a Santa Ana wind event where the hot air from inland is blown over the coast and it makes everything turn to shit.

Fun fact about Dodger Stadium! Know your parking lots and exits or else be prepared to be dumped out of the stadium going the exact opposite direction of where you need to go. As a kid my dad would drive us to the games and he ALWAYS ended up lost and in Chinatown after the game. Every. Fucking. Time. It was hilarious. My dad was a great user of vulgarity. “Goddammit! How the fuck does this shit happen every goddamn time!”

To which Ma responded “We said no more ‘F’ words, honey!”

Ah, childhood memories!

It’s a bit of a hike from the parking lots to the seats.

We were basically on the exact opposite side of the stadium from our seats.

After a long ass walk and a climb of the stairs, we arrived at our seats.

What looked like a mariachi marching band was playing behind home plate trying to inspire the crowd.

Dodger Stadium is a grand old dame having been built in 1962. I think my first game here was in 1969 when the Dodgers played the Cardinals. Did we see Bob Gibson pitch and Lou Brock and Curt Flood play outfield? Hell yes!

The location of the stadium is incredible with southeastern views of Downtown L.A and northern views of the San Gabriel mountains. The stadium is situated just north of downtown but something to know for you first time visitors: there isn’t a hotel nearby where you can get a room and walk to the game. There aren’t any restaurants or bars outside the stadium either. This is a stay elsewhere and get a ride to the game kind of place. You can take Amtrak or Metro rail to Union Station downtown and hop a free shuttle to the game. You could Uber in but good luck getting one to get out. Or you could just drive like the rest of us bastards.

Seats identified and claimed it was time for the first concession run which of course meant:

A Dodger Dog! I always grab a bag of peanuts in case the game goes long and of course the always popular 15 dollar beer. A Dos Equis in this case. If you spent any time growing up in Southern California your memory will always invoke the voice of Vin Scully whenever a Dodger Dog gets mentioned. “FAAARmer John Hot Dogs! Eastern most in quality, Western most in flavor!” Goddamn I love Vin Scully. Gonna miss you Vinny!

Oh yeah, always grab the “grilled” Dodger Dog and not the steamed. Trust me. Another favorite is an order of garlic fries but not today.

Over the past couple of years with the expansion of the LA craft beer scene more and more craft beer options have arrived. I found this stand in the 5th inning.

A Lagunitas IPA if you’re curious about my selection.

Back at our seats, we had about 20 minutes to relax and consume prior to first pitch. If you know your Dodger fans you know their penchant to be late arrivals at the game. Here is the crowd when we settled in.

There was a pretty solid representation of Cubs fans in attendance, I’m guessing about 30%

We also had time to watch the Dodgers starting pitcher Julio Urias stretch before the game.

Here he is in one of his last few non-nightmarish moments. The Dodgers “Hollywooded” the hell out of this game. They had Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis announce the starting lineups. Also spotted grabbing a beer was Bryan Cranston and the poor guy was swarmed by a group of assholes who wanted selfies with him and just wouldn’t let him enjoy the game and his beer in peace.

Finally after the wait and the playing of the National Anthem – not a kneeler in sight! – it was time for first pitch.

As you can see there were plenty of empty seats. Not all of the fault lies with lazy fans, obviously traffic has an influence and traffic was absolutely FUCKED getting to the stadium. FUCKED I tell you! There is also parking, walking, security etc so there can be some forgiveness with arriving late and as you can see here just a couple of inning later it was starting to fill in.

I’m not going to give a complete recap of the game but it was a pretty intense affair for the first 3 or so innings until some of the Cubs more “cold” hitters finally started to show up – thanks for playing Rizzo and Addie! Damn glad you made it.

As hot as it was, it was much to the relief of the entire crowd when the sun finally set and the crowd became packed. this is a really incredible scene at night. Really cool.

In the old days the stadium had the cheesy ass “Diamond Vision” screens in right and left but recently they were replaced by these two massive HD screens and it’s pretty goddamn visual these days.

As the Dodgers tried to fight back with a couple of runs when trailing 5-0 the Cubs answered back with 5 in the top of the 6th to start sending the locals packing.

We need to have a discussion here. I guess you could call it the elephant in the room when discussing Dodger Stadium. Most of you have heard tales of some of the fan violence and horseshit behavior of some of the less savory of the Dodger fan base. Security has been stepped up, there is a massive police presence. Massive? Shit, Dodger Stadium is a fucking police state on game days. There is NO tailgating anymore, there is NO alcohol allowed in the parking lots and oh yes, they will arrest or cite you for it. Cops are everywhere.

But you know what?

Some of those pieces of absolute infected human shit are still around and in attendance.

Don’t get me wrong here, the overall fan vibe and experience is VASTLY improved over some of the games I’ve attended in the past. Substantially so. The Dodger fans who sat near us in our section were great. Very nice and friendly folks who were happy to laugh and share some stories with you. That being said, the left field outfield pavilion was a demilitarized zone. There were at least 4 fights out there and of course all the fucking ghouls stop watching the game and start watching this pathetic excuse of human behavior.

There were several Cubs “refugees” who came to sit in our nice peaceful section because they said some of the “fans” in their sections were giving them massive shit and threatening violence. All of this was after the Cubs took a 10-2 lead mind you.

One thing I have to share, brother DJ Taj and I have a decent beer getting arrangement where I buy if he “flies”, he does this to save me wear and tear on my fucked up knees when climbing the stairs. On his last trip to the beer stand he decided to hit the men’s room. While he was walking by himself, this hulking 6′ 6″ 350 pound bag of hog shit who looked like he had escaped from a third world prison with prison tats all over his arms and neck, intentionally veered about 15 feet out of his way, built up a head of steam and violently threw his elbow out in an effort to inflict as much damage as possible. Taj caught him coming out of the corner of his eye and turned sideways so the elbow caught him in the left arm and didn’t knock him down.

My brother is 5′ 9″ and about 160 pounds.

His crime was being by himself and wearing a Cubs jersey.

He just shook his head looked around at the spectators who were all kind of shocked, he saw no security and he just walked the other way.

First of all I promise that there would have been a different result if I had been with him. You just know the cock sucking bag of infectious waste wouldn’t have done anything because he’s a fucking coward who had to pick on a 56 year old small guy walking by himself. He wouldn’t have tried shit if a second person was there. Second of all with my height, weight and body frame I am roughly the size of a prototypical NFL linebacker and there WOULD have been some shit returned.

Why? Why should any fan have to run the risk of being involved in a dangerous situation or even being involved in a legal issue because some fat, pathetic, subhuman shitbag is a sore fucking loser?

Dodger Stadium, your reputation will not be changed until you ensure that this shit is permanently addressed.

End of rant.

Taj was fine, just disgusted because all in all we had been having an incredible time.

Once the Dodger fans had mostly filed out from the 6th inning on, the crowd turned the game into a Wrigley Field West game. Chants of “Let’s go Cubbies” filled the stands and it was fantastic.

The stress was over and the series was tied at 2-2 rather than facing a 3-1 deficit. The scoreboard showed the final score.

With nothing left to do but celebrate after ensuring that the game was going back to Chicago, did the “W” flag fly?

Fuck yes it did!

Finally, after a 8-4 Cubs victory on Thursday night, the series is headed back to Wrigley with the Cubs up 3-2 for games 6 and, if necessary, game 7. I’m seriously hoping game 7 is not necessary.

It would be impossible to describe the feeling over the last couple of weeks. I’m sure many of you get “jitters” while waiting for your favorite team to play. Now project that over 6 or 7 games with each game becoming more intense. My stomach has been doing somersaults, I can’t focus for shit on anything else and when I’m watching the games I basically sit there with my arms crossed while rocking back and forth.

Ain’t sports great?

Let’s do this shit Cubbies. Let’s stop the can’t win bullshit narrative and DO THIS MOTHERFUCKING THING!