As a young boy who raced home every Thursday to embrace the latest edition of Sports Illustrated, I would routinely flip to the back page before shedding my backpack and sitting down.  Rick Reilly was a God.  He could write no wrong.

Now, I pick apart journalism with a fine-toothed comb.  Back then, I just wanted to read and enjoy a good writer.  Oh, how I long for yesteryear, and one Reilly article still sticks with me today.

In less than a thousand words, Reilly sulked and spewed venom at the Los Angeles sports scene for almost accepting mediocrity.  At the time, the Dodgers were Piazza-less and losing, the Kings were star-less and losing, and the Lakers were just losing, a lot, and losing a lot to the Utah Jazz, which made it all that much worse.

I felt his frustration, because I was frustrated.  My Dad was always telling me stories about Gibson, Magic and Gretzky because he was living la vida L.A. back then, and so was Reilly.  The “Los Anga-lose” article was like taking a conversation between my father and I, and putting it in Sports Illustrated.

I met Reilly a few months ago at an ESPN gathering, and after we traded Caddyshack references, I mentioned the article.  It was days before the Lakers/Celtics series, and the Dodgers were in first place, so we laughed about it.  But seriously, L.A. has been doing all right since Reilly whipped the city into shape (that’s right, I give him the credit.)

The Lakers have three more rings.  The Kings still suck, but the Ducks brought the Cup home to the Southland–if the Angels want the L.A. moniker, I’m including the Ducks, too.  And the Dodgers are going back to the playoffs!

That’s right, the West Division Champion Dodgers!  Get pumped, L.A.!

Oh wait, you already are.  I’m so used to demanding excitement from historically complacent fandoms, but the city is feeling the Blue buzz.  I mean there were 10,000 thousand fans at the Ravine on Monday night for a Pep Rally for goodness sake.  Tommy Lasorda was as fired up as ever, and Nomar Garciaparra said he’d “never seen anything like this.”

It’s obviously the excitement has a lot to do with Manny Ramirez, and even Casey Blake to an extent.  Sure, we struggled with injuries, but we went out and got a bat.  A real big bat!  When was the last time that happened?  I think his name was Gary Sheffield.

Honestly though, I think it’s mostly due to a young, excitable team we’ve seen grow up.  Just a few years ago, I was checking the Jacksonville Suns website for stats on Russell Martin, Andre Ethier, James Loney, and Matt Kemp.  On Wednesday, those four names will be in the starting lineup in Chicago.

My question is, what is a success?  If/when the Dodgers win a game against the Cubs, it will be the second playoff victory since 1988.  So, a victory would be a success?  I’m not sure.  What I do know, is that a young Dodger team playing hard, inspired ball against the club with the best record in the N.L. will make me very proud of our boys.  As corny as that sounds, that pride is something most professional teams don’t elicit from me.

So, here’s to the Dodgers playing well, but more importantly, playing as a team.  If Colletti/McCourt are smart and give Andruw Jones-type money to a guy who really deserves it, Man Ram, then this playoff series could be the first in a long line of celebrations.