Steve and I have always shared the same values.
But over the last year, there has been a shift.
At first, it was just a comment here, a comment there.
I’d shake my head, thinking, surely he can’t be supporting THOSE GUYS!
Over time, the comments became more frequent and more vocal.
And then one day, Steve brazenly announced that he was switching from red to blue.
My husband, the love of my life, had become a DODGER fan!
For those of you who think, what’s the big deal?
I’m here to tell you it’s a HUGE deal!
Steve and I have been Angel fans since we were kids. We listened to them on the radio, we watched them on TV. Eventually, we bought season tickets and took our own kids.
We bled RED!
“You can’t just switch teams,” I told him. “You have to stick with your team, even if they are a sad sack of losers.”
Go Angels!
But how could this all have happened?
I’ll tell you how it happened…
Dale!
As in Chip and Dale?
No, not him. But he’s bad news too.
Dale is the friend who introduced Steve to the Dodgers.
Dale is what we call a gateway friend.
It all began innocently enough, about a year ago.
That’s when Dale casually whispered to Steve “Psst, Buddy… you want to come over and watch a Dodger game?”
And poor, naive Steve, who has always been Dodger-Curious, said, “Why not?”
I’ll tell you why not…
WE ARE ANGEL FANS UNTIL WE DIE!
People, I don’t make the rules. I just follow them.
But sadly, Steve drank the blue Kool-Aid and the next thing you knew…
Steve was heading off to Dodger Stadium.
“It’s just one game,” he said last season.
But we all know how that goes…
One game became two,
And next thing you knew,
Steve was wearing Dodger Blue.
“I don’t even know you anymore,” I told him.
But Steve was already out the door, waving goodbye with his big, blue foam finger.
Last night, Steve went to yet ANOTHER Dodger game, with his friend enabler Dale.
And you know who else he brought?
His granddaughter, Holland, who was also dressed in Dodger Blue.
Come on, Steve, she’s only a child!
Obviously the time has come for an intervention.
Or an exorcism.
Either way, Dale is not invited.
—January Gordon Ornellas
January Gordon Ornellas is a comedy writer whose stories include everything from colonoscopies to triathlons (she didn’t receive a medal for either). She’s the author of a collection of humorous essays, My Above Average Colon and Other Midlife Adventures and is currently writing a novel, Diab🥎lical, a dark comedy about the seedy underbelly of girls’ softball. Her work also has been featured in the Los Angeles Times and Chicken Soup for the Soul books and honored in the Erma Bombeck Writing Competition. When she isn’t writing, January enjoys running, traveling and spending time with her husband, two adult daughters, granddaughter and her 107-year-old dog, who barely looks a day over 98.