With the Dodgers continuing to build on the fantastic foundation laid by Frank McCourt, I took advantage of an opportunity to chat with Magic on Tuesday.
Yeah, he was here. Shocker, I know.
The Dodgers said he would meet the media in the dugout at 4 p.m. It was pretty clever on their part as I was sitting in the dugout around 3:45 waiting while Magic was already talking to the media outside the Dodgers’ clubhouse.
When I got word he was gushing elsewhere, I rushed over because, as you know, he says the darnedest things.
My favorite so far, Magic going on the stadium scoreboard with a taped message to say of Spanish broadcaster Jaime Jarrin: “The best voice out there, No. 1.”
They cut him off with Vin Scully and Charley Steiner sitting on the edge of their seats before he could say who was No. 2.
I believe the taped message was the last time I saw Magic here until this week.
By the time I reached him he was saying, “Ned Colletti is a great baseball man.”
Like I said, he says the darnedest things.
As always, there was a steady flow of suck-up questions, one media guy telling Magic he talked to a couple of players who said they get a boost of energy when they see Magic sitting there outside the dugout.
“Do you realize it’s pretty cool for them to see you sitting there?” the guy said.
It’s just me, but I would have said, “Do you realize what a letdown it is when you say you’re going to be here and the guys look over and you’re not there?”
But for some reason folks go easy on Magic, although there might not be a athlete in the world more capable of answering tough questions. We should all be so blessed with the gift of gab.
“It was one of my goals, but it didn’t happen, so you have to continue on,” Magic said when I asked him why he had exaggerated so when promising to be here every day.
“I’m not backtracking,” he added, and that was odd. “But sometimes you have the best intentions and it doesn’t work out. I’ve been on the phone every day with everybody even when I was just on vacation.”
When he mentioned his vacation, I said, “When you were on Rihanna’s boat did you talk about Matt Kemp?”
Magic then gave me the full Magic laugh.
“I think she said, ‘Tell him, hi.’ I just delivered that message to him,” he said.
Moving on, Magic said, whether here or not, “I’m still a Dodger man, still a Dodger owner and pinch myself every day that I’m still part owner of this wonderful organization.”
