Bad Camera Productions Presents: L.A. Kings Game Review

Hey everybody,

Taking a break today from The Grand Salami Of Trade Bait, I'd like to share a few pics and comments from my adventures last night.  I was invited on free ducats to last night's Kings vs Capitals hockey game at the Staples Center, right here in picturesque (at times) and vile (at times) downtown L.A..

My long-time readers know that I've done this a few times for outings to Dodger Stadium, such as "A Night At Chavez Ravine"  and "So I went To See Puig Play For Myself" from last season.  If you haven't read those posts, and you'd like to check out some cool pics and see a bit of behind-the-scenes at the stadium, I recommend you click on the links and check those posts out.

One major difference between those posts and this one - beyond the obvious difference in sports, is the quality of camera I had available.  I used my digital camera for those past posts, but this time I was equipped with only my lousy ipod camera.  Hence, the name "Bad Camera Productions". 

That said, since some of my readers and fellow bloggers are hockey fans, I figured what the heck - bear with the cheap photos and I think we'll have a pretty good ride.  And away we go....

Picturesque and vile downtown L.A. dead ahead.

Here's some trivia for those of you who wonder how old I am...Look over at the right hand edge of the photo at the electrical towers, the ones Godzilla loves to melt.  Just to the left of the towers, you will see a tiny building.  That's L.A. City Hall.  When I was born here, that was about the tallest building downtown.  It sure aint that anymore, but it's still a beautiful building to me. 

More trivia: Watch the original War Of The Worlds movie and you can see the attacking UFO's blowing it to bits.


 Staples Center!  And the grand statues. Below is Magic Johnson.  Yup, that's our Dodger connection...

Hey, It's a Capitals fan. BOOOOOO !!

Here's Oscar De La Hoya

We arrived just in time, walking into the arena mid-Star Spangled Banner...

Not two minutes into the game, and FIGHT!!!!

What a great brawl.  It went on for quite a long time, as the players kept slugging it out, and the refs were reluctant to get anywhere close.  Don't know who the Battling King was, but I'll declare him the winner as he landed a couple of awesome upper cuts and even a knee to the face.  Whew!

Action in front of the Capitals net as seen from our seats.

The Kings Ice Girls stopped by and danced a little dilly for us.  Check out homeboy in the white hair sitting with the wife.  Apparently he's not allowed to notice those three gorgeous ladies right in front of him. What torture!


The Kings held a 1-0 lead through 7/8ths of the game.  They gave up the tying goal in the final minutes and we went to overtime tied 1-1. 

The five minute overtime passed with nobody scoring, so we got a shootout - Awesome!

Three men shoot per team. Our first King missed, but we hit pay dirt on the second shot -

The Capitals came right back and tied it at 2-2.  Each team had one shot left...

The King's goalie Jonathan Quick blocked the Cap's third shot and the Kings won the night!

Turns out it was a historic night as Kings goalie Quick tied Rogie Vachon's record of 171 wins and Coach Darryl Sutter got his 500th win.  Congrats, gentlemen.

That's all folks.  Thanks for reading!

Did Damn Mattingly Just Deliver My First Christmas Present?

THIS doesn't look comfortable.                               Nick Ut / Associated Press 

So today everything got aired out.

The Dodgers said: "You'll take a one-year contract and be happy."

Damn Mattingly said: "I say screw your one-year deal, and raise it to a multi-year."

Which should bring forth an interesting week in Dodgerdom.  Now we'll see who's bluffing, who's bullying, and who's folding.  I'm glad it only took 72 hours for the knives to come out. 

Regular ATBATT readers know I'm no fan of Mattingly Baseball.  No way indeed.  To recap - the guy can't manage a batting order or a bullpen, and he sure as heck can't manage bases loaded with nobody out!  I'm not saying he'll never learn these skills, but I'll always say I don't want him learning his craft on my team.

He summed everything up himself at today's press conference.  Mattingly said something to the effect that he's been managing for three years and ownership knows what he's got by now.  What more do they need to see?

Well, the man is right.  He's managed three years and sat under Joe Torre's terrific tutalage as he ran the Dodgers for another three.  If the guy hasn't figured out N.L. baseball tactics by now, he may never.

This is ownership's big chance to drop Mattingly like his managing prowess dropped back-to-back pitching masterpieces by Kershaw and Greinke to start off the NLCS.  Heck, they can even lay it at Mattingly's plate as he essentially called them out and dared them to do SOMETHING.

Good luck, skipper.


In other news, Dodgers Trainer Sue Falsone won't be back.  This is a good move.  As much as I disagree with the sexists who say this proves a woman can't do the job, I sure don't believe this one can do the job.  She may not have caused that original avalanche of injuries, but I would have liked to see a lot more prevention of the second and third injury waves. 

Mattingly is also demanding the return of all of his coaches.  Please, oh please, Magic...do what you can to make sure Cheater Mcgwire doesn't bring us yet another year of "The Dead Bat Era".  If you're gonna keep him, then hire some bad-ass Asst. Batting Coaches.

Ultimately, I won't complain if the Dodgers give Mattingly his multi-year Christmas present.  At least, not until Spring Training.  However, if we do open 2014 with a new skipper, I have one more request for Magic:

     Please DO NOT replace Damn Mattingly with The Jinx!!!!

My Top Ten Predictions For the Dodgers In The NLDS

 Happy days are here again as my favorite team is about to face off against the Atlanta Braves in the NLDS, which begins on Thursday.  We haven't faced each other in the postseason for 16 years, so this should be a good one.

Here come my predictions of what to look forward to and what to watch out for:

Bleachersports.com

 10. Andre Ethier will make the playoff roster and will start Game 1 in center field. His sore ankle won't be much of a factor in the field because his ability to get good jumps off of batted balls will allow him to run straight lines at fly balls. He'll go on to bat over .300 with three home runs in the series.

Can anyone here manage this game?                   en.wikipedia.org

9. Don Mattingly will continue to fumble the batting order and use the wrong pinch hitters in the wrong ways under the wrong circumstances. Despite these and other questionable game strategies, the national media will push Mattingly forward as a serious candidate for Manager of the Year, as though his on-field decisions aren't part of the criteria for the award.

Flickr/Dan4th Nicholas

8. Channeling Ronnie Lott, Nick Punto will have his troublesome ingrown toenail completely removed. In an extra show of grit, he'll then wear that toenail around his neck, sparking a new baseball necklace fad.

rntv.com

7. Channeling former FEMA Director, "Heckuva Job Brownie", teflon-coated Dodgers Batting Coach Mark McGwire will continue to send batters to the plate with no viable or visible action plan.

billyball.com

6. Magic Johnson will show up for Game 1 at a deserted Dodger Stadium, under the mistaken belief it's his scheduled bobblehead night.

ilovefoodblog.blogspot.com

5. Starting pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu will launch a food blog dedicated to the culinary treats offered at the Atlanta Braves' home stadium. Under the pen name "The Bloated Glove", his goal will be to sample every food item offered at Turner Field, even when that means he has to pitch an inning with a box of Tomahawk Chop Fried Tomatoes sitting behind the mound. Ryu will go on to pitch 7 innings and win Game 3.

cbsnews.com

 4. Beleaguered Bison, Matt Kemp will seemingly make it safely to Atlanta, where he will spontaneously combust upon the plane's arrival at the airport terminal.

www.latimes.com

3. Rock steady Adrian Gonzalez, El Jaguar, will continue onward as the most reliable and productive Dodger, playing every inning of every game, leading the team in home runs, RBI's and clutch hits over the series. The national - and the local Los Angeles media, for that matter - will continue to ignore his invaluable contributions.

www.youtube.com

2. Speedster Dee Gordon will not make the playoff roster, but will still make it to Atlanta, smuggled onto the Dodger's plane inside of Juan Uribe's cheek.

With apologies to www.zimbio.com

1. Rookie sensation Yasiel Puig will swing so hard on the first pitch he sees in Game 1, that his head will literally explode. His playful smile will then reappear in place, chesire cat-like. Puig will go on to steal 3 bases, hit 2 doubles and a home run - all in Game 1.

Bonus Prediction: L.A. Dodgers win it in 5. Let's go, Dodgers!