Magic and the Dodgers

After a tumultuous era marked by a soap opera divorce, lavish personal spending, stadium violence and teams that were consistently good but not great, Wednesday marked a day for many to be proud of the Dodgers. People arrived at work wearing their Dodger blue. Others drove up to the stadium ready to start buying tickets again --  and even some merchandise.

Francisco Rodriguez, a lifelong fan who gave up his season tickets two years ago, was in line at the stadium box office early Wednesday, buying tickets for opening day and trying to find room in his budget to buy season seats in the pavilion.

“I decided to wait until I knew who was the owner to go ahead and buy tickets,” Rodriguez said as a trickle of fans made their way to the box office in groups of twos and threes. “I love the Dodgers. And it was heartbreaking to stop buying my season tickets. Hopefully now it’s all for the better.”

Ask 100 Angelenos who owns Ralphs supermarkets or any number of other businesses with deep roots in the city, and odds are that approximately zero will know the answer.

Ask who owns the Dodgers — or the Lakers, Clippers or Angels — and plenty of people will know. And care. A lot.

“The Dodgers are an asset, they’re a community asset,” Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said in an interview about the sale. “The Dodger brand, like the Laker, Clipper brand, like the Trojans and the Bruins, like the Galaxy and Chivas, are a brand associated with the city. But particularly the Dodger brand is something that people feel very, very connected to. My hope is that these new owners … see the Dodgers as part of the heart and soul of the town.”

“I certainly know that Magic will be an advocate for that,” he said.

As Villaraigosa’s comments suggest, Johnson is only one of several partners in the $2-billion deal, and not the one with the deepest stake. That would be Guggenheim Partners, a Chicago-based financial services company whose principals do not appear to go by supernatural nicknames or have movie theaters named after them. No matter, apparently. Johnson will be the public face of the new Dodger ownership, and fans are expecting good things as a result.

“He’s going to embody the Dodgers,” said Raphael J. Sonenshein, executive director of the Edmund G. “Pat” Brown Institute of Public Affairs at Cal State L.A. “Magic’s an exceptional businessman with a very strong interest in people who are not always well served in the system. And it says something about his political skills that he managed to do this without taking a shot at Frank McCourt, who everyone in the universe seems to hate.”

Roz Wyman, a former city councilwoman who in the 1950s helped persuade the Dodgers to move west from Brooklyn, noted that McCourt did “extremely well in the deal.” She added: “I wish any ownership of the Dodgers be successful and I would like people to have a warm feeling toward the team, which seems to have been lost in the hassle of last year. But the American dream is to be successful and it looks like Mr. McCourt came out very successful in this sale.”

McCourt, though, was not the center of conversation Wednesday as fans came out of the closet, donning Dodger gear that, in many cases, had been gathering dust in the latter part of the McCourt era.

At Starbucks at the Ladera Center, the first Starbucks opened by Magic Johnson, people sat around and talked about the deal over coffee.

“As a business man and as a black man, he's done more for the community than a lot of other people,” said Thomas L. Cooper, 68.

Ever since Johnson came to California, “he made a decision to be part of L.A. He's built up L.A.,” said Gary Cooper, 43. “I think Magic's name is going to draw fans back to the Dodgers.”

Inside the shop, Kevin Harper, 52, read a story in the sports section of the newspaper about the buy.

“Even though he's not from here, Magic has made this his home. And I like that he's going to stay true to that,” he said. “I'm looking up again, as an L.A. fan.”

In Lincoln Heights, Charlie Alvarez, a 46-year-old consultant for at-risk youths, got up Wednesday morning and put on his white Dodger polo shirt, his blue Dodger jacket and his Dodger watch. Then he drove to Dino’s Burgers for breakfast.

“I got all of this to slap on as soon as I heard the news,” Alvarez said. “Oh man, all of us started calling each other. ‘Magic got it! Magic got it!’”

Tim Tebow

               March 26 (Bloomberg) -- Shawn Scantlebury pumped his fists and bellowed “Welcome to New York City” as he bought one of the first pieces of Tim Tebow merchandise available in Jets’ green.

“Having this guy might change the whole Jets era,” Scantlebury, a 39-year-old fan from Brooklyn, said while holding up his $24.99 T-shirt. “We want a Super Bowl.”

It was one of 200 shirts that arrived at Modell’s Sporting Goods in mid-town Manhattan the day after the Jets traded for the 24-year-old quarterback on March 21. Tebow, a Christian who kneels to pray on the field after wins, spoke today at a press conference at the team’s training center in Florham Park, New Jersey, about his faith and his excitement to be wearing a Jets No. 15 jersey this season.

Jets fans might have trouble buying replicas of his game shirt for themselves before the National Football League’s draft next month. The delay comes as Nike Inc. replaces Adidas AG’s Reebok as the league’s official apparel outfitter, a transition that has left many retailers without enough supply to match the sudden demand.

Modell’s had no adult jerseys, just T-shirts and children’s jerseys. New York stores in the chain sold 1,000 units the first hour they were open March 23, said Mitch Modell, president and chief executive officer.

Pre-orders for Nike jerseys will begin on April 15 and they’ll be available in stores on April 26, the first day of the draft, according to Leo Kane, the NFL’s senior vice president of consumer products.

Building Demand

“It’s OK to get everybody excited about the draft, if that means we have a couple of weeks in April where it’s not there,” Kane said in a telephone interview. “It’s fun to build up the demand.”

The league’s official outfitter keeps blank jerseys of every color on hand to be prepared for trades or players who quickly gain popularity. Reebok discontinued production because its agreement was ending.

When Peyton Manning signed with the Broncos last week, there weren’t enough orange blanks to print his new No. 18 jersey, largely because Tebow went from backup to starter and led Denver to its first playoff victory in six seasons.

Dan Sarro, a spokesman for Reebok, said last week in an e- mail that the company had to adjust its buying strategy to reflect the end of the deal and still has a majority of its NFL items in stock.

For Manning, the NFL is selling white jerseys made by its own Pro Line label until the Nike jerseys are available, Kane said.

Limited Online Sales

Because there were Jets green blanks available, the league’s online shop is now selling Reebok jerseys with Tebow’s name and number.

“It’s a limited amount,” Kane said. “We’ll definitely be faced with a decision of if we want to put Pro Line jerseys in or not.”

The Jets have no Tebow jerseys available on their own website, only T-shirts. Spokesman Bruce Speight didn’t return a voice message seeking comment on the team’s plans for Tebow merchandise over the next few weeks.

A spokesman for Nike, the world’s biggest sporting-goods maker, didn’t respond to an e-mail seeking comment on the transition to being the NFL’s apparel outfitter.

Financial terms of the league’s five-year apparel contract with Beaverton, Oregon-based Nike weren’t disclosed when it was announced in 2010. Advertising Age, citing executives close to the NFL, said the agreement is worth about $35 million a year. Nike’s revenue through the fiscal third quarter, which ended Feb. 29, was $17.6 billion.

No. 2 Seller

Tebow, who won the Heisman Trophy as college football’s best player in 2007, had the NFL’s second best-selling jersey from April 2011 through February of this year, trailing only Aaron Rodgers of the Green Bay Packers, according to the league. Manning’s jersey ranked in the league’s top 10 each year from 2005-2010, before dropping to 18th last season, which he missed following neck-fusion surgery in September.

Tebow will begin his third NFL season as backup to Jets starter Mark Sanchez, according to team general manager Mike Tannenbaum. Tebow’s popularity -- he was named America’s favorite pro athlete in an ESPN poll this year -- will drive his jersey sales even if he’s not always on the field.

In anticipation of Tebow’s arrival, the American Bible Society has been running a brief welcome video for Tebow on a 10-foot-by-15-foot screen outside its midtown Manhattan headquarters.

“Quarterback who never quits, meet the city that never sleeps,” the message flashes. “Welcome Tebow.”

Bible and Sports

Geof Morin, a spokesman for the 196-year-old society, which distributes the Bible and offers religious study resources, said it’s probably the first time the organization has been asked to comment on a sports-related story.

“We’re excited that Tim is seated where we are headquartered,” Morin said in a telephone interview, adding that he’s interested to see how Tebow focuses his faith in the biggest U.S. city. “How will he play that out in a highly multicultural, multi-religious, multi-ethnic, multi-everything kind of conversation?”

The Hunger Games

All Ive heard for the past couple of months was the hype of the movie The Hunger Games, I was ancicipating a good day at the movies today, but was met with the dissapointing storyline. You step into a futureistic realm of a new world after a rebellious uprising. You have 12 sectors that people live in, each with its own class of people. You have the capital city where everybody seems to be numb to the fact of starving communities in the outskirts. Once a year the capital city holds the super bowl of sporting events called the hunger games. It seems to be an honor to be picked for these games, but in reality its all but certain death to 23 out of the 24 participants. Each year 24 people, (2 from each sector) come together in the capital city to enter a survival game to where there is only one goal, and that is to stay alive. You are to kill all of the other apponents and go home the victor. There is no clear prize for the winner and the games really seem pointless other than a pure humann desire to watch people die. There are no clear fight scenes, which is bad since the whole point of the movie was to fight to the death. The story takes a weird turn in the wrong direction as two of the participants from sector 12 realize their love for one another. The movie spins into mushy love fest and the action comes to a screetching halt. So now the goal was two people from sector 12 to finish the game together as they team up to conquor the other participants. The movie really didnt have a sence of direction and the story seemed to drag on with no clear ending. Once the game ended and the two lovers prevailed they merely went back to their povished communities with no prize and no reason for winning. The movie ended with you hanging there wondering what the heck just happened. To be honest I wouldnt waste my money going to see this movie, I would reccomend that you just wait and see it in the dollar movies. The movie didnt live up to the hype and if I were giving out grades I would give it a D.

Extended Family

The Extended Family

In days past, extended families played a big part in helping new parents. Grandparents were often present to help with the new baby. Extended-family members often lived under one roof or just down the road; children saw their relatives often enough to know who was who. Today, this is frequently not the case. Modern extended families can be quite different from extended families of years past.

The New Extended Family

While it's true that today's extended family is often spread out across the country, and children may be walking -- or even driving -- before they meet some of the extended family members, most families still have some extended family nearby. Geographical isolation is far more common among upper-middle- class families, who move for occupational opportunity, than it is among middle- and lower-class families, who tend to move to cities where they already have relatives.
But even when extended family members are relatively close by, there is no escaping the fact that families do live more privately than they once did. In some cases, extended families still give each other day-to-day assistance with shopping, child care, and household tasks. More often, though, each branch of the family retains its basic independence.
What does all this mean for kids? Essentially, with fewer significant adults in their lives, children become more emotionally dependent on their parents. Don't expect your child to consider a seldom-seen relative important. Unless you find a way to open up your family's network, your children will probably be isolated from the extended family.
Some families hold regular family get-togethers or large family reunions to reestablish a more integrated sense of family. Of course, holidays and the children's birthdays provide opportunities for any family members who live close by to get together. You can help your toddler begin to understand the idea of extended family by creating a special "My Family" photo album with pictures and names. When he is a little older, you can begin to illustrate the nature of the relationships with a family tree.
Other families experiment with alternate ways to open up the family. For instance, some form babysitting, food, and other kinds of cooperatives. This simply means several couples pool specific resources. This lessens the burden of couples having to do everything solo.
A family cluster is a way to create a surrogate extended family. Several families meet regularly and become emotionally close. They share values, attitudes, and tasks. Often, family clusters share possessions, such as vacation homes and cars. For children, this provides an enlarged number of significant adults and playmates.
One area where grandparents can be an enormous help is watching younger children while the parents are at work.

Casablanca

In the midst of world war 2 there was a play floating around broadway called Everybody Goes To Ricks, and it caught the eyes of Warner Brother Studios, and soon after culminated the idea of their motion picture # 401, this picture was to be called Casablanca. And 70 years later it was to make an appearance for one night only in select theaters across the U.S. During the introduction of the movie Robert Osbourn talked about the movie nastalgia and what it has ment to people who have watched it. Hugh Hefner being one that was captivated by the film talked about what the movie meant to him and how much he could relate to Bogart. Bogarts son talked about and gave several historical facts about the movie, one being that they were filming with an unfinished script and how everyday the actors were given that days lines to memorize. They didnt even have the movie fully cast yet and they were adding new characters as the days went by. Casablanca was the turning point in Bogarts Career, at the time of filming Bogart was making 400 dollars a week. Prior to Casablance Bogart played mainly ganster rolls, and this film would break him into the realm of playing the lead romantic role in future films. Bogart wasnt the first choice to play Rick, Warner Brothers was orriginally looking at Ronald Regan to fill that role. Engrid Bergman didnt even want to make the film, she had her heart set on another film, but soon broke down to play the role. Casablanca wasnt filmed on location due to budget, it was filmed on the back lots of Warner Brothers for the pricetag of 800,000 dollars, this included the payment to the actors. Casablanca took the academy awards by storm taking home 8 oscars, one being best picture, but when the oscar was given out Warner ran passed Hal Wallace to claim his prize. This infuriated Wallace who would soon leave the Warner organization to start his own studio. Throughout the years Casablanca gained popularity, so much so that it is now 2nd all time in the classic movie popularity poles. This movie has touched the hearts of countless thousands of people and will go down in history as one of the most romantic movies ever made.

I Went to see the movie Casablanca last night expecting romance and adventure. I definetly got a hefty dose of romance and sentiment. Two lovers fell in love in Paris right in the middle of world war 2, they seem to have been inseperable as passion played out in their daily activities only to be abrubtly interrupted the night they both were to leave Paris together. Love has a way of stinging you and leaving you to sulk in your memories of what once was. Bergman and Bogie were electric up on the silver screen, delivering a performance that was oscar worthy. The end of the movie truely showed the love as Rick send off his once romantic interest into the night in another mans arms as they fly away to freedom to America. Watching Casablanca made me realize that true love does exist and that sometimes you have to let it go to be truely happy.

21 Jump street

The comic re-boot of the 1980's TV cop drama is actually pretty awsome. The absolute best thing this movie has going for it is the fact that it seems to be fully aware of itself. Directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller are content with a basic framework of a plot with a few twists on the normal formula, and two leads (Tatum and Jonah Hill) who do a workmanlike job of keeping us entertained for two hours. The movie follows the basic story of the TV show: young-looking cops are sent in undercover into area high schools to investigate youth crime. There’s actually nothing all that memorable about the show; the only reason it’s stayed in the public consciousness was that it cast a young, unknown Johnny Depp in the lead role. The rest of the movie is filled with little pleasant surprises. The two men roll into high school assuming that they will fall into the roles they played when they were teenagers (Jenko of course was the dumb jock, Schmidt- not so much). But high school has changed since the late 90s: suddenly Jenko’s gas-guzzling sports car and laziness is considered lame, while Schmidt’s quirkiness and newly-found confidence make him a star among the hipster classes. Finding themselves so clearly out of the element that defined them as teenagers is just as disconcerting, and even more difficult to navigate than the drug-ring they’re supposed to be investigating.

There’s a lot more that the movie could have done with the resources it had. A subplot involving Ellie Kemper as a teacher with an inappropriate crush on her “student” Jenko could have been a comic goldmine, but it’s abandoned halfway through. And the entire drug-ring plot deteriorates in a messy climactic prom scene that puts far too much focus on a cameos by Depp and former “Jump Street” co-star Peter DeLuise. But again, ignoring the giant plot holes you could drive a truck through and the inherent silliness of re-making “21 Jump Street” at all, this isn’t a terrible way to spend your hard-earned money.