Lasorda’s Lair Makes Our Debut on ESPN

Lasorda’s Lair welcome to the worldwide leader in sports. Jon Weisman the author of the blog Dodger Thoughts onESPN Los Angeles, referenced LL last night during his “Ohlendorfed” post. The aren’t many opportunities when writing for one of the smaller Dodgers blogs allows you to toot your own horn. So I’m gladly going to shamelessly promote the fine work being done by the good folks here at Lasorda’s Lair, me and Bro Dizzle aka John Romero.

During the Dodgers loss to the Pirates Thursday night, legendary announcer Vin Scully mentioned that Pirates pitcher Ross Ohlendorf hadn’t won a start in the Major Leagues since July 2nd of 2010. I made note of this dubious stat during my post-game blog, and as I was surfing around the Dodgers Blogosphere, I stopped by one of my favorites the aforementioned Dodger Thoughts on ESPN Los Angeles.

Lo and behold there was a comment from Jon crediting me for my random reference about Ohlendorf:

"The Dodgers are 1-4 since reaching the .500 mark Saturday. Ohlendorf won his first game since July 2010, noted Kenny Shulsen of Lasorda’s Lair"

To demonstrate just how big of a dork I am, and how how excited I was, my reaction to reading the quote was several fist pumps that would have made Kirk Gibson proud. Lasorda’s Lair is somewhere between the Kansas City Royals and Pittsburgh Pirates of Dodgers blogs on the internet. We’re definitely not the biggest in terms of readers, and we certainly would be near the bottom in terms of payroll.

We’ve got excellent resources on the FanSided network, much like the beautiful ballpark the Pirates play in. Some quality young talent, much like the Royals current roster and farm system, myself and an actual professional writer, who I recruited to write occasionally for the site from my fantasy football league.

We’re passionate, as demonstrated by the fact that we’ve actually been called out by someone in the Dodgers front office for an article I wrote calling for Mark Cuban to save the Dodgers, after the Mavericks won the NBA title. That’s the blogging equivalent to a home sellout with the Yankees in town, as 68 people ‘liked’ the article on facebook and the article generated several thousand hits. (A typical article averages about 150 hits or site visits)

So being mentioned by name, and having my work recognized by the guy who runs the Dodgers blog all Dodgers bloggers wish they were in charge of, is a big deal to me personally. It’s like the Pirates sweeping the Phillies in a 3 games series and beating Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, and Cole Hamels in the process.  Again I never said I have much of a life outside of my wonderful family and my rewarding new full-time ‘real’  job.

I’ve had some fantastic experiences writing about the Dodgers the past 7 months. Spending a week at Camelback Ranch and getting a behind the scenes tour of the incredible facility, from Dodgers Director of International and Minor League Relations Joseph Reaves.

Stepping foot on the hallowed grounds of Dodger Stadium. Interviewing Don Mattingly 1-on-1 in the Dodgers dugout, while the other reporters were chasing down Ned Colletti to get his opinion of Bud Selig wresting control of the Dodgers away from Frank McCourt.

Briefly interviewing Matt Kemp, arguably the best all around player in all of MLB in 2011, in the Dodgers clubhouse, and the next day watching him hit a walk-off HR in extra-innings to beat the Braves, just to name a few.

But simply being mentioned on ESPN, the worldwide leader in sports, ranks right up there with the rest. So big thanks to Jon for the mention and the link. He also does some outstanding work writing for Variety, it is definitely worth checking out.

But, years from now my grandchildren will be able to run a search on ESPN.com and find both their Grandpa and his blog mentioned on the site. There have been many bonuses that I have enjoyed as a result of spending hours and hours writing about my favorite team, but this definitely ranks right at the top.

Cheers Jon a cold one is currently being enjoyed on your behalf. On that note enjoy some U2 live from Denver last May shot by yours truly.