The Father's Day celebration continued as I was able to attend the El Pollo Loco Dodger Tailgate Party at the KCAL 9 studio. Of course, Dad was the special guest and was part of the KCAL 9 pregame show. And when you think of the Dodgers, you think Christopher "Kid" Reid from Kid 'N Play to MC the event. Right?
We arrived a little late because the traffic was HORRIBLE getting to Studio City. Having this on a Friday during the height of rush hour traffic is not good planning, and I think it hurt the turnout. I think a Sunday day game might be better, as traffic would be lot lighter. The event was held in a large sound stage set up with lots of tables and Dodger decorations. Kid was actually great as an MC. He was very knowledgeable about baseball, bringing up the Raul Ibanez controversy to Gary Miller during the Q-and-A portion. He also got the crowd going as well and was pretty funny. Turns out, if you aren't part of the Kid fan club, he is now a comedian doing a lot of shows at the Laugh Factory. Only slip-up was saying he was going to get "Steve Harvey" into the Hall of Fame. Ugh.
The food catered by El Pollo Loco was pretty good. Of course I missed the Dodger Dogs, but what can you do. The tables were in the middle and there were a lot of flat-screen televisions around the periphery. After the pregame show ended and they finished filming all of us going crazy in the sound stage, Steve Garvey and Gary Miller came over to talk with the fans and give away some Dodger prizes. There was a short Q-and-A session and Garvey indicated that the toughest pitcher he faced was Charlie Hough due to the knuckleball. He also said he was hit in the jaw twice during his career - one requiring 22 stitches and the other requiring 10 stitches. He had to leave early, but Gary Miller stayed around and ate with the fans. I was able to ask him if he read any of the blogs, and he mentioned 6-4-2 (due to the Angels coverage) and Dodger Thoughts. He also plugged Jon Weisman's book. I asked him to check out this blog - so Mr. Miller if you are reading this - THANKS! He told me that McDonald was called up and Estes called it quits and retired (but I guess that last one is not confirmed).
We had to cut out early, but had a great time. Thanks to El Pollo Loco and KCAL 9 for setting this up. And of course, thanks Dad for hanging out!
