Bubbling over with ideas for dugout celebrations
Admit it: The Dodgers have come up with a fun and original home run celebration prop: a bubble machine.
If the Giants had thought of it first, their fans would be saluting the bubbles as a manifestation of the goofy spirit that makes the team great. But because it’s a Dodgers thing, Bay Area fans will say the bubble shtick is childish and disrespectful, typical SoCal superficiality.
Major League Baseball ordered the Dodgers to unplug their machine, then MLB backed off, and it looks as though the Dodgers will be forever blowing bubbles, at least at home. On the road, there would be a danger that the bubbles would get shotgun-blasted by hunters sitting near the dugout.
The bubbles are working well for the Dodgers. The Giants and A’s should jump into this dugout-celebration arms race. A few suggestions:
The Giants could borrow Laffing Sal from Musee Mecanique. The 6-foot-tall papier-mache woman, whose creepy, maniacal cackle once graced the entrance to Playland at the Beach, is ready to rock.
Giants players could don Beach Blanket Babylon hats.
How about a big dugout piñata? The home run hitter would whack away at a piñata of a Dodger (or whatever the opponent), raining candy, gum and chewin’ tobacco on scrambling teammates.
The A’s could install a fake
sewer pipe above their dugout. Every home run would set off a “rupture” of the pipe, which would spew confetti.
The A’s could let loose their rally possum, wearing a little A’s uniform with his name ( Homer) on the back, and let him scuttle around the field, chased by the grounds crew.
Either local team could go simple and sophisticated, in homage to Bay Area sophistication. Players in the dugout would light up large home run cigars.
Or we could just let the Dodgers have all the fun.