Jeff Eisenberg Got any tips for
protective gear for next time? E-mail Jeff at jeisenbe@ucla.edu.
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The Los Angeles Dodgers’ motto for the season is
“Every game has a story.”
For the Daily Bruin’s cast of Giants fans in the left
field bleachers on Thursday night, the story was ducking a steady
stream of projectiles aimed in our direction.
Maybe the L.A. natives didn’t appreciate our writing, or
maybe it was our predominately orange and black attire, but they
demonstrated their animosity with a late-inning condiment shower.
Even the Daily Bruin stat geek, Angel fan Gilbert Quiñonez,
was not immune to the veritable buffet that fell from the sky.
Bedlam in the stands is nothing unusual in this heated rivalry.
The utter indifference of the security guards in the vicinity,
however, was both shocking and alarming.
As an avid Giants fan, I am well aware of the venomous
relationship that exists between supporters of either team.
I have seen hundreds of Giant fans hurl batteries and photo
baseballs onto the field at Candlestick Park after a Dodger was
erroneously called safe at home plate. Even last season, a fan at
Dodger Stadium flung a full cup of soda at Giants outfielder Calvin
Murray as he tried to make a catch on the warning track in center
field.
In these instances, however, the perpetrators were sought out
immediately and removed from the stadium. Last Thursday night, the
actions of many of the Dodger fans in the bleachers went entirely
unpunished.
 The Associated Press The Dodgers’ Shawn Green, right,
fields a fly ball against San Francisco in front of bleacher bums
on opening day at Dodger Stadium.
Disgruntled with their squad’s lackluster play in the
series, many Dodger supporters chose to take out their frustrations
on me and my fellow Giant fans.
Expletive-laden outbursts in the early innings were nothing out
of the ordinary. However, the situation worsened as the Giants
extended their lead in the sixth inning.
As numerous Dodger Stadium security guards observed unfazed, a
barrage of nacho cheese, salsa and half-eaten hot dogs rained down
on us like a hailstorm. Verbal sparring escalated into vicious
brawls, and fans in the upper deck doused unsuspecting spectators
below them with beer and soda.
Seeing these indolent guards do nothing to stop the chaos, I
have come to believe my three-year-old cousin is more qualified to
be in charge of stadium security, and she still sucks her thumb and
plays with an imaginary friend.
Perhaps a complimentary beach ball in each section would have
done more to subdue the fickle partisan crowd than any of the
Dodger employees.
All kidding aside, none of the security guards showed a hint of
compassion for any of the fans, Giants and Dodgers alike. Before
ignoring the pleas of several fans who had incurred the wrath of
the drunken blue-clad mob, the guards kicked out two relatively
benign Dodger fans who were doing little more than heckling Barry
Bonds.
The guards appeared incapable of any common sense
whatsoever.
Clad in floppy straw hats, khaki shorts, and outdated B.U.M.
Equipment jackets, they seemed more prepared for a company picnic
than a day’s work.
Memo to Rupert Murdoch and the Dodgers: wearing a Giants jersey
to a game does not warrant either a beer bath or a brawl. Please
employ a security staff that has both the capability and the desire
to enforce the rules before someone is seriously injured.
According to the Dodger Web site, the organization is
“recruiting an energetic staff with excellent interpersonal
skills to work during game days.” Evidently they have found
no one who fits these requirements.
The Northern California contingent of the Daily Bruin staff may
have to reconsider a return to Dodger Stadium for the Giants series
in July if the organization does not improve its security force
substantially.
If nothing else, we’ll be wearing riot gear.