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Sites, sounds and thoughts from the Critic’s trip to the left coast.

Pac Bell Park is as good as advertised. The Critic was there the night Barry Bonds hit number 501 into McCovey’s Cove. The park is a gem, beautiful on the inside and out. The old time scoreboard on the brick wall outfield fence is fantastic, as is the walking area on top of the right field fence. There does not appear to be a bad seat in the house. Bucking the stereotype of the uninterested California baseball fan, the Giants fans were knowledgeable and very into the game.

If you visit this baseball palace, the Critic highly recommends the Cha Cha Chicken Bowl from Orlando Cepeda’s barbecue stand in the centerfield bleachers. Make sure you help yourself to some of the spicy barbecue sauce, which is optional.

Dodger Stadium is vastly overrated. It is a rich man’s Shea Stadium, hardly a compliment. The hyped Dodger Dogs are mediocre at best. On the night the Critic saw LA host San Diego, the City of Angels endured a rare rainy night, and the park cannot handle water. Fans were slipping all over the concourses.

In the middle of one inning, the Critic engaged in some friendly banter with Rickey Henderson as Rickey walked in from the outfield. Incredibly, the Critic was warned by an usher not to talk to the players, even though the conversation was friendly. The usher said that talking to players in any fashion is not allowed at Dodger Stadium. Can you imagine an usher attempting to enforce that rule in the Bronx?

Additionally, ushers at both Pac Bell and Dodger Stadium did not allow fans to return to their seats while the ball was in play. Apparently baseball is treated like the opera in California.

Tony Gwynn injured himself that night trying to leg out a double to left field. The ball actually rolled into the leftfield corner but the future Hall of Famer pulled his hamstring rounding first and was gunned down by Gary Sheffield. The Critic could not help but think that Gwynn’s injury could have been avoided had the Padre great not been carrying the spare 40 pounds he had around his waste.

Anaheim Stadium is better than advertised. The park is clean and comfortable and, unlike in Dodger Stadium, the fans actually paid attention to the game. Seattle’s Freddy Garcia looked great. He had a no hitter into the sixth and was throwing gas. Ichiro Suzuki runs like the wind to first base and showed surprising power during batting practice. The Angels’ Ismael Valdes, trying to come off an injury plagued, disappointing year, was also impressive. He will be solid for Anaheim this season.

Before the game Ernie Banks was receiving guests in the home dugout. It is worth noting that he was wearing a baseball cap that said “Mr. Cub.”

The Staples Center is the perfect testimonial to sports in the year 2001. There are three levels of luxury boxes, and the few seats that remain for the peasants are at an altitude that would make Mile High Stadium jealous.

The Critic was seated behind the Blazers bench for their regular season finale against the Lakers. The seats afforded the Critic a nice view of Rasheed Wallace tossing a towel in Arvidas Sabonis’ face. Clearly Wallace hates the majority of his teammates. Apparently the Blazers have a rule that Scottie Pippen cannot be a part of the team’s offense.

The Critic stands by his prediction that the Lakers will win it all. Shaq’s free throw shooting was actually decent and his form looked more comfortable than it has previously. Kobe sinks shots that are ridiculous.

Fox Sports promotion guru Chris Hannan introduced the Critic to famed Laker announcer Chick Hearn prior to the game. Hearn was nice and polite and when advised that the Critic was from Boston, Hearn expressed warm feelings for the Celtics’ late announcer Johnny Most.

Hearn doesn’t look a day over 90.

Random Musings

How great is it that someone named Hasim Rahman beat up the effeminate, pretentious, boring, out of shape Lennox Lewis? The boxing gods have been smiling on the fans of the sweet science lately. Princess Naseem Hamed’s loss to Marco Antonio Baretta was almost as pleasing as Lewis’ pasting at the hands of Rahman.

Many in the media praised the Chargers when they traded the number one pick in the draft and ended up drafting LaDainian Tomlinson and Drew Brees. However, it says here that in four years Michael Vick will be a star in the NFL and Tomlinson and Brees will be solid at best.

The Twins may not be a fluke. Judging by their series at Fenway, the Twins can really play defense, and that alone will keep them in games.

How does a racist scrub like Charlie Ward get a free pass from the media yet John Rocker is still paying for his sins? And what about Allan Houston?

So Jason Richardson and Joe Forte are going pro. Someone should show those two guys tapes of their “performances” in the NCAA tournament.

By: Scott Shuster