Tommy Lasorda has spent 68 years of his life representing the Dodgers.
It's only fitting, then, that after celebrating his 90th birthday on Sept. 22, the Los Angeles City Council decided to honor Lasorda's contributions in a special ceremony on Friday. And it's not surprising that while being honored, Lasorda's passion for the Dodgers shone through again in the form of a plea for the franchise's 29-year championship drought to end.
"Thank you for the honor," Lasorda said to the gathering of mostly Dodgers fans. He then added, courtesy of ABC 7 in Los Angeles, "May God bless each and every one of you -- and if the Dodgers don't win this time, I think I'm gonna kill myself."
It's a strong choice of words, but not surprising since he's been wearing his Dodgers emotions on his sleeve since being drafted by the Brooklyn Dodgers from the Philadelphia Phillies in the 1948 minor league draft.
He started as a pitcher in Brooklyn, before becoming a scout and later a coach. His most famous role was as Dodgers manager, where he led the team to World Series championships in 1981 and 1988. The latter is the team's most recent title.
The Pennsylvania native has has been hospitalized multiple times in the past year. Most recently, he underwent surgery to replace his pacemaker in May. Yet he still remains firmly attached to the Dodgers organization. He's currently in his 11th season as a special adviser to the club's chairman.
D.C. misery
Dan Steinberg, a columnist with The Washington Post, came up with a by-the-numbers column which describes the futility of Washington, D.C., sports.
Here are some of his musings:
• "69: Consecutive seasons played by the Nationals, Capitals, Redskins and Wizards without advancing to a conference final. It is the longest such streak in North American sports, by more than 20 seasons.
• "0-13: Record by the Nationals, Capitals, Redskins and Wizards in their last 13 games that would have clinched a conference final berth. The Nats have lost four such games, the Caps six, the Redskins two and the Wizards one. And eight of those 13 games have been played at home.
• "3-13: Record by the Nationals, Capitals, Redskins and Wizards in their last 16 home playoff games with a chance to advance, in any round. This is particularly cruel, because of the number of fans who have been to a shockingly high percentage of these games. Just stop going, would be my advice.
• "7,058: Days since the Nationals, Capitals, Redskins or Wizards last played in a game beyond the league quarterfinal stage. If you forget that one, don't despair. There's now a website that keeps track of every second since that day."
Going, going, gone
From Janice Hough of leftcoastsportsbabe.com:
"NFL not moving Chargers/Raiders game. League feels air will not be that bad, & they don't need Oakland fans in a couple years anyway."
Sports quiz
What active Major League manager has the most victories?
Answer
Dusty Baker with 1,863.
Sports on 10/15/2017