The Angels' rotation is Weaver, Lackey, O'Sullivan, Santana, Bell. The LAAoA have the 3rd best record in all of baseball. Going into a series with Tampa Bay - a team scrapping for the Wild Card, we know that Figgins, Kendry and Napoli will be well-rested... hardy har-har.
On August 10, 1997, Tony Phillips got caught with the crackpipe and the Angels began a slow descent from their 0.5 game lead in first place. So for lunch, let's discuss: Where were you and what were you doing in 1997? It was only 12 years ago, but perhaps it was a few lifetimes removed from who you are now...
0 recs | 111 comments
Um i was 8
End of 2nd grade which sucked
Started 3rd grade which was badass.
princeton11loveshalos - August 10, 2009
Wearing eyeliner
Staying out all night, wasting my life.
Zoe Necrosis - August 10, 2009
so nothing has changed?
Rev Halofan - August 10, 2009
Please
Eyeliner was so 1997
Zoe Necrosis - August 10, 2009
Finished High School.
Started my first semester at Long Beach City.
Jay Cal - August 10, 2009
Just finished High School
Mooching all I could off my parents. Playing excessive amounts of Playstation. Figuring out how to get alcohol on a Friday night. Not working. Waiting for school to start at Cal Poly Pomona in September.
swiss mcgee - August 10, 2009
1997 was a big year for me
Met my wife in January. Married a little over 2 1/2 yearsa later. 2 kids later, and still going strong
My father had major surgery for an Abdominal Aoritc Anerysm, other wise known as a AAA in the medical field. It is one of those things that they normally don’t find out about until you die from it.
billhune - August 10, 2009
On August 10, 1997, I was probably relaxing at home with my family,
Since it was a Sunday.
In August 1997, in general, I was at work, developing computer systems for the Army.
red floyd - August 10, 2009
i was 27 single surfing or sitting on the beach...then a bike ride for tacos and beers..typical summer sunday
surfpunk - August 10, 2009
I was about to start my junior year in HS, probably hanging out at Greene Records or listening to Dwarves while driving around in my 1990 Dodge Ram 90, which I had spray painted "Punks Not Dead" on the tailgate.
Mayheminthehood - August 10, 2009
*Dodge Ram 50, that is. Ahhh, my first car. I miss that little two seater piece of crap.
Mayheminthehood - August 10, 2009
YOU ! You cut me off on Beach Boulevard…
Rev Halofan - August 10, 2009
If you're being serious, I'd believe it. I was either in a hurry to get to Vinyl Solution or Nickel Nickel.
Mayheminthehood - August 10, 2009
my friend had pink is punk spray painted on his 78 chevy van
surfpunk - August 10, 2009
Pink is pretty punk...well, up until a few years ago at least. Now black is the new pink, which was the new black.
Mayheminthehood - August 10, 2009
Greene Records?
I use to hang out there too. In fact, when I went to Tustin High, I use to ditch school, get tacos and Albertos # 2 and then walk ALL THE WAY up to Greene Records to buy some shitty punk compilation with the 4 bucks I had left…
Do you know Jeff who worked there forever and a day? Played in Hollywood 10?
BryanHarvey'sMoustache - August 10, 2009
Sounds familiar...did he go to Chapman? Or at least live around there? Drove a Ford truck?
By the time Greene Records went to the Tustin location, I really only went there maybe once a month, if that. My buddy was in the owner’s band and would work there random shifts that nobody else could work, so I’d go then. But when I was in high school it was still in old town Orange.
Mayheminthehood - August 10, 2009
Ugh
Managing an Edwards Cinema, making barely over minimum wage. I was dating a girl who I eventually married, who almost ruined my life.
chairmanofthebar - August 10, 2009
ouch, rec'd for....well...
honesty?
jimmuscomp - August 10, 2009
LOL
Yeah, we divorced in 04. My wife now is a Dodgers fan. Most arguments we ever get into are over baseball.
chairmanofthebar - August 10, 2009
End of freshman year...
which kinda sucked. Sophomore was slightly better. Still hadn’t dated anyone yet.
reddawnman - August 10, 2009
I was 34 and living in San Luis Obispo ...
dating a girl with multiple personalities, buying lots of CDs at Cheap Thrills, working way too much at a little law firm, and driving a white Miata. Last year that I practiced law, so it was a watershed year for me. My best friend was diagnosed with cancer [he died in March of 98], I remember watching baseball on the tube with him in the summer of 97 when he was in the hospital in Long Beach, we ate take out pizza. Baseball was one thing we always shared, we had some great times watching games in New York, Anaheim, and Palm Springs. He was a big Mets and Angels fan. This one’s for you, Dennis.
LazorkoRules - August 10, 2009
SLO rocks
matthiasstephan - August 10, 2009
agreed
princeton11loveshalos - August 10, 2009
disagree...
asshole cops and stupid Poly Dolly’s run that place….
BryanHarvey'sMoustache - August 10, 2009
I knew some of the asshole cops
Some were really cool, actually.
But it is a VERY SMALL town, very provincial. For example, the accountant our law firm used had been there for about 8 years. He was referred to as “the new guy in town.” The old families really ruled the culture, politically and professionally. Strange for a young outsider to witness that.
Saw some great music there. Met some weird people there.
I was happy to arrive in early 96, and at the end of 97, happier to leave.
LazorkoRules - August 10, 2009
Started high school in '97
I had only been Angels fan for a couple of years at that point (my family moved to So Cal in ’94). That day sucked, the finish to that season was painful.
I’m not an old timer, I don’t remember ’86 let alone the early years of the franchise. You guys who have been around forever have my respect. But the strike, ’95, ’97 and ’98 was a brutal way to begin my Angel fanhood.
It could be worse. I could’ve become a Dodgers fan.
gilbert - August 10, 2009
Summer before junior year...
I remember that day precisely. Sitting in my room, seeing Phillips’ mug shot on the local news. I remember how disappointed my dad was when I told him after he got home from work. Tony was a favorite of ours due to his ’95 contributions and we were both thrilled when the team traded to get him back. When he got busted, it was like we both knew “well, so much for this season…”
dmhead - August 10, 2009
Year after graduation from university...
…First shared flat in The Smoke with 5 other guys, flogging drugs in South London*, got stabbed in the arm with a fork in an Italian restaurant by a crotchety ex-girlfriend who I’d clearly driven insane, 1st trip to Ibiza, had my wardrobe stolen by fans of Chelsea FC when moving house on a Sunday after a game… I had the world’s worst motor – a red Fiat Punto that I stuck in a bush off a small bridge in rural Northamptonshire. Happy days – lots going on that year.
(* – to primary care physicians, for the newly formed Novartis pharma – it was all legit)
The Limey - August 10, 2009
wow...
You got some stories I bet….
BryanHarvey'sMoustache - August 10, 2009
I was 24 that summer and living in London - good year for the Rev to pick...
…if you don’t have stories the summer you’re 24, when are you going to have stories?
The Limey - August 10, 2009
Graduated 5th grade
I remember distinctly the whole Tony Phillips saga, and my dad explaining to me why he was a bad role model, and what he had done, etc.
I remember attending a game maybe a week after it happened. Top deck of the stadium behind home plate, I think against the Yankees. And I think we won pretty handily. Then I remember the rest of the season being a slide down hill.
Caseys Kiss of Death - August 10, 2009
A slide down KEN Hill, as it were
;)
Caseys Kiss of Death - August 10, 2009
1997 sucked
Of course I didn’t know it at the time but I was just a few months away from losing my dad. That’s all 1997 is know for in my world.
Monkeyspanked - August 10, 2009
That's terrible.
opiejeanne - August 10, 2009
Junior year of high school.
Im drawing a blank.
clover_black - August 10, 2009
It was my third year at Pepsi
but the first year I started traveling a lot (mostly UK, Ireland and Brazil). That August I got back together with my ex-wife (we divorced in 1991) and my three kids. It was a three year adventure which finally turned south in 1999. All-in-all a good year.
Moondoggy - August 10, 2009
1997
I was probably smoking crack too
Higz - August 10, 2009
Summer of 1997
I was living in San Diego writing my master’s thesis and my days consisted of this: wake up and work from 9am until 1pm, head to the beach and get a tan and a swim in, find some lunch and a beer, home by 6pm for dinner, reading and writing until 1am or so. Repeat.
And I’ll never have it so good again.
SactoFan - August 10, 2009
Summer of '97
I was married with a newborn son, working a shitty job while going back to school to get my teaching credential in secondary mathematics at CSUF (which I never completed) to complement (yeah right) my degree in management from Cal Poly Pomona. Life was a real struggle at the time. Truly don’t miss it at all.
rmhalofan - August 10, 2009
That summer I refused to date anyone who wasn't a stripper
before heading back to UCI for my sophomore year.
Quinlan's Goofy Swing - August 10, 2009
Nice
Good Call, Hopefully Steared clear of the Clap!
KubanKowbell19 - August 10, 2009
despite convincing myself i had the aids for a few years
i bleed clean
Quinlan's Goofy Swing - August 10, 2009
Hence the obsession with Q's wife
It’s all starting to make sense
LazorkoRules - August 10, 2009
I was headed into my freshman year of High School.......
o0o0o fun
norcaliangelsfan - August 10, 2009
7th Grade
Highest Paid Players on team were Chuck Finley and Mark Langston @ 4 Million a season. WTF Happened?
KubanKowbell19 - August 10, 2009
Yup.. 7th grade. My first cigarettes…. lol.
Yup.. 7th grade. My first cigarettes…. lol.Many great memories from that year… I’d love to go back.
Yup.. 7th grade. My first cigarettes…. lol.Many great memories from that year… I’d love to go back.Also, I no longer smoke, but yeah…
BrentSchmidt - August 10, 2009
Lol...
It’s like those YouTube comments where it increases by one charachter each line and then decreases one character each line..
Figgi4life - August 11, 2009 via mobile
wth, something messed up there ^
BrentSchmidt - August 10, 2009
Celebratedmy 21st birthday by drinking 4 40oz of Old English
Isn’t being white trash fun?
lightupthat420 - August 10, 2009
Im all for Old English but FOUR???
BryanHarvey'sMoustache - August 10, 2009
yeah, seems a little unbelievable
Higz - August 10, 2009
Yeah 4
It wasnt pretty, barfed, told some random chick I loved her, hung over for 3 days
lightupthat420 - August 10, 2009
And soaked myself
lest I forget
lightupthat420 - August 10, 2009
My record was 3
barfed, passed out, soaked myself, walked 5 miles home.
Rev Halofan - August 10, 2009
I am more a mickey's fan and I can handle 2...
that is my max though. I never try to go further because really, whats the point?
BryanHarvey'sMoustache - August 10, 2009
Do they still make the 64oz Mickey's?
I saw my little brother drink two of those one night. Respect.
Higz - August 10, 2009
Haven't seen a 64 in 10 years
lightupthat420 - August 10, 2009
Anybody remember Crazy Horse?
I went through a malt liquor phase in college. Having no money and wanting to drink heavily will lead you to some bad decisions….
Brew Angel - August 10, 2009
That shit was good.
jimmuscomp - August 11, 2009 via mobile
About to start sophomore year at Cal Poly Pomona
Middle of August meant Cross Country camp. I think that year I was Lake Arrowhead running too many miles.
CanyonLakeHalo - August 10, 2009
Started high school that year
I didn’t pay much attention to baseball in the late-nineties. The ‘95 season killed my youthful exuberance, and baseball was boring in those years anyways. The Steroid Dynasty won the World Series every year, big deal. College football was more interesting (anyone remember Cade McNown?). Baseball didn’t get any more exciting until Gene Autry finally died and the Angels hired Mike Scioscia.
Suboptimal - August 10, 2009
Cade McNown!
I actually thought he was the next big thing. Boy was I wrong!
KubanKowbell19 - August 10, 2009
Cade was the next big thing
At least for UCLA. That kid was great!
Brody - August 10, 2009
yeah then he went to Chicago.....
where all QB’s go to die…….
Seriously think about it.
When is the last time you rememeber at GREAT QB playing for the Bears?
They’ve had like what 25 different starting QB’s the last 10 years…..or some crazy number like that.
There is something about that team………..Jay Culter is in trouble.
norcaliangelsfan - August 10, 2009
How about Cleveland
Most embar moment: I actually bought a Tim Couch jersey. Fuck?
KubanKowbell19 - August 10, 2009
Sleepytime Gorilla Museum!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMtMTxLIASY
phastphill - August 10, 2009
Senior year of high school!
Brody - August 10, 2009
Getting ready for sophomore year of high school
Playing water polo in the mornings, then spending the rest of the day with my friends, playing video games or going into AOL chat rooms and trying to talk dirty with girls (who were probably really 53-year-old guys).
Gorbachav5 - August 10, 2009
Just graduated from high school...
and I was probably right at the beginning of college football hell week and three-a-day practices. Three practices with summer school classes in between, it was probably the hardest week of my life now that I think of it. Stayed in a dorm that looked like juvenile hall, and wondered every night what the hell I got myself into.
One week later I was enjoying every minute of it.
Wytelitning - August 10, 2009
I guess I was 13...
I remember being super bummed because I thought Tony was the best player on the team (hey i was 13). He still was the only one to score a run in that 8-1 rout in ’95 one-game playoff. Shot to center.
What was I doing at 13? Hm….probably figuring out how to masturbate. I also played baseball on an All-Star team that year. We went to some tournament. I remember I had family in town so while it was usually only my mother in the stands, this time I had over 5 people rooting for me. We got eliminating in three games but I remember doing really well and leading off every game…good times…
BryanHarvey'sMoustache - August 10, 2009
i was in 4th grade...
my first season as a true Angel fan…
as the son of two Europeans I had to find the love of baseball on my own and i explicitly remember that season with those ugly Disney uniforms…
I can’t remember if it was this season but around that time I was at a game that went extras, I stayed in the stadium as my sister and Dad went back to the car to watch Tim Salmon hit a walk-off homerun
that’s what i was doing in ’97
GO HALOS!
trojanangelfan - August 10, 2009
Sounds like you had a similar journey to baseball to me, I was just a couple of years older...
…when we moved to California (and 12 years earlier).
Am also the son of two Europeans – England and Ireland for me – neither of which gives someone a natural inclination towards baseball.
The Limey - August 10, 2009
Trying to Forget
Summer of ‘97, I was one year out of law school, going on job interviews and trying to figure out if I really wanted to be a lawyer. I can’t remember where I was watching TV when the story hit the news (probably my apartment…it was a really nice apartment), but I remember being bitterly disappointed yet (sadly) not completely shocked.
jjackflash - August 10, 2009
I was a championshipless 20-something (except for my 1980’s Lakers). 2000 (Rams) and 2002 (Angels) been very, very good to me! I am set for life.
Downing Rules - August 10, 2009
The year I met the girl who would later introduce me to the Rev
And the Rev is the one who rekindled my Angels fandom after I clocked out for most of the ’90s. Thank you, 1997!
yeswecan - August 10, 2009
you put a good spin
on her
Rev Halofan - August 10, 2009
Ass Kisser!
KubanKowbell19 - August 10, 2009
better
an ass kisser than an idiot who cannot even figure out how to use the simple “reply” feature.
Rev Halofan - August 10, 2009
Awww Damn! You got me.
KubanKowbell19 - August 10, 2009
and in properly replying
i guess we’re even, Che…
Rev Halofan - August 10, 2009
it's a true story. no asskissery
i was living in LA, and in those days there weren’t too many people around wearing Angels gear. back then we stuck together because there were no other Halos fans within 15 miles of us.
yeswecan - August 10, 2009
Are those of us who were working for a living then
allowed to tell the young’uns to “GET OFF OF MY LAWN!!!!”???
red floyd - August 10, 2009
Just collect your Social Security check and smile smugly
As you remember they’ll never see a penny of their FICA taxes.
Brew Angel - August 10, 2009
Oh...I will
I will
Moondoggy - August 10, 2009
I won't see a penny of my FICA either.
I’m only 47.
red floyd - August 10, 2009
Yes, you will.
opiejeanne - August 10, 2009
Alex Rios
is now a White Sox player. They picked him up off waivers for nobody.
AngelKeith - August 10, 2009
LOL
They now owe him about $60 million. That contract might be worse than GMJr.’s.
jjackflash - August 10, 2009
I was 47, and I was either at Disneyland or in Las Vegas .
My younger daughter had graduated 8th grade, the older one had graduated HS, still two months away from heading off to UCI, and I don’t remember which place we went that year.
opiejeanne - August 10, 2009
12 in Ireland
Had just returned from my 1st trip to the US and my love affair with baseball began
Epic Dean - August 10, 2009
you still in Ireland?
Moondoggy - August 10, 2009
Nope, my wife is from Anaheim and now we live in HB
Epic Dean - August 11, 2009
27
I was still teaching Kindergarten and dating my ex-wife. Other than that, not much else.
anaheimisnotla - August 10, 2009
if it was a sunday, i was probably dreading going back to work on monday. back then, i had a 2 hour drive in traffic (which means, 35 miles or so)…
daze - August 10, 2009
Just graduated high school...
…and was 6 days into a job designing electrical distribution systems from which I was laid off from earlier this year.
Going back to school to try something new now!
twinspa21 - August 10, 2009
Working 14-16 hour days in Tunica Mississippi as a faux painter on Blues Town.
good money, but sucked BIGTIME
Funke5ive - August 10, 2009
Blues town
Were the Dodgers planning a move there?
Rev Halofan - August 10, 2009
Bluesville
apparently i’m smokin’ crack
Funke5ive - August 10, 2009
In high school
watching the naked babes in Starship Troopers
HaloDutch - August 10, 2009
Aaahh Dina Meyer
She managed to get me to ignore Denise Richards and the plot of that movie.
SalmonStream - August 10, 2009
On a sort-of "honeymoon"
Had gotten married two weeks previous. Was either in London, staying with an ex-girlfriend (awkward!), or back home in Budapest, adjusting to a placeholder job (had previously been a managing editor) to tide me over before our dramatic (and, it turned out, dramatically failed), move to Cuba.
mattwelch - August 10, 2009
CIA?
Rev Halofan - August 10, 2009
Whoa?
I’ve been reading Matt for a while now and never heard about Cuba before. Crazy shit you learn here on H.H.
jimmuscomp - August 11, 2009 via mobile
97'
Graduated High School. Started, stopped and started again dating my future wife. Discovered Mickey’s wide mouth grenades and PBR. Started sleeping days and watching the baseball card/knife show all night long (who doesn’t want a 40 piece pocket knife set). Learned to live on nearly nothing. But most of all I remember the Angels falling apart.
SalmonStream - August 10, 2009
I love the knife sow!
HaloDutch - August 11, 2009
97: Final year of my four year breakup
with a certain recently-deceased king of pop’s cousin. just a garden-variety psychobitch with a father for a lawyer, more family money than should be legal and finally a rap sheet for filing false po-po reports.
Rev Halofan - August 10, 2009
8-10-97
Had retired from the airline first of the year, and on that Sunday decided to expand my startup business international. Worked well the next four years, all went into the crapper in the aftermath of 9-11. Followed baseball, but nothing like I do today. Was a transition month and year for all four of the family.
Ed Coffin - August 10, 2009
1997
Started Seventh grade after finishing Sixth grade that June. Cousin from Florida came to stay. Turned thirteen in December and got my very first (and only, come to think of it, unless you count the iHome) full home stereo system. Wanted an N64 but did not get one (still had that SNES, which lasted until roughly 2007-2008). Was into Chumbawumba and No Doubt. Somewhat inexplicably did not give a shit about the Angels.
Clutch - August 10, 2009
Oooh, ooooh!
I think this was also the year my friends and I made an appearance on national TV, at an Angels game in August, doing the “Angel sign” from “Angels in the Outfield.” My last remembered appearance on the stadium jumbotron until July 10, 2009 against the Yankees, in roughly the third or fifth inning. I was the guy in the sunglasses at dusk talking to the redhead, oblivious to the fact I was on camera…
Clutch - August 10, 2009
8-97
Started back to work after 8 months on disability due to injuries from being beaten by my x-husband. I had been living only on disability ($1300/mo) since leaving with 3 kids under 8, one of which is autistic. We (me + kids) lived in an apartment in the middle of Asian/Hispanic gangland with white trash neighbors to provide entertainment. I wasn’t following the Angels in 1997 due to the chaos in my life. That changed within a year.
Life is so much better now, I can’t even believe I lived thru all that.
hbhalofan - August 10, 2009
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