kobe bryant night, 8.8.25

i pulled up to the dodgers game for kobe bryant’s bobblehead night. i sat in right loge and had an incredible view of the field. when i go to sporting events, i like to be in the middle. i think the views are better that way. right loge was a bit off center, but still in the middle overall. i got there early. nervous, i put my window down and asked the gentleman waving traffic if i was going the right way. he told me i was and to just go up the hill. i asked him how he was and he said he was doing great because it was kobe’s bobblehead night. i told him i flew from boston and he said i’d definitely be one of the first 40k people. though he was older, he had an incredible energy to him. after i parked, i walked to the entrance. there were 4 lines so i picked the shortest one to stand in. a guy came and asked me if it was a line that i was standing in. i told him i hoped so because it was the shortest one lol. he stood behind him along with his god daughter. we were talked for 15-20 minutes while they opened up the gates. he’s a raiders fan but he always catches one of the raiders/chargers games a year. he’s been to many dodger games and he tells me there’s no stadium as good as dodger stadium. after we got in and got the bobbleheads, he introduced himself as eric and told me to enjoy the game. everybody here has been so kind and it’s stuck with me. i walked around to some of the stores looking for a freddie freeman jersey. only one store had an authentic, but it was marked way, wayyyy up lol. i got an authentic grey blank because i hadn’t ever seen those for sale, even online. kobe’s family did the pregame activities such as throwing the first pitch and officially starting the game. we ended up beating the blue jays and mookie had a hr. freddie didn’t have a hit, but he got walked. i couldn’t believe i was seeing freddie. even though i started watching baseball last year, he’s my favorite player. i’ve been lucky to have seen all my favorite players from all my favorite sports teams play, but freddie is the only one i’ve seen at a home game.

after the game, i was stuck in the lot for near an hour, but i wasn’t even tripping because it was such a great night.

-ratha, 11:53pm, 8.8.25