We were a TV Guide household growing up, which for a large portion of my childhood was just me and my mom at home. I loved doing the television-themed crossword puzzles especially. TV Guide for me was as anticipated in the weekly main as Sports Illustrated.
Cheers N Jeers was another favorite section, and the Dodgers have garnered more of the latter recently with four straight losses, dropping six of their last seven. They’ve scored in only two of their last 27 innings, and totaled just 17 runs over
the last seven games, held to zero or one run four times.
On this road trip alone the Dodgers have already scratched two starting pitchers and both catchers got injured. Coupled with Tanner Scott continuing his 2025 Home Run Derby to finish off Friday’s loss, it seems the Dodgers can’t do anything right at the moment.
Which brings us back to TV Guide. This was before the days of the internet, and even predated the prevalence of an actual TV channel that showed what was on television that day. So we relied on the listings in the trusty TV Guide. One night in the late 1980s, my mom wanted to watch TV and asked me to tell her what was on.
At the top of the listings was KCBS channel 2, and that Saturday night had a movie in prime time, so I told here the title, “Just Tell Me What You Want.”
My mom, not realizing this was a 1980 film, replied to what she thought was a question, “I want to know what’s on TV tonight.”
Me: “Just Tell Me What You Want.”
Mom: “Tell me what’s on TV.”
This went on for a minute or so, and got a little heated.
Me: “JUST TELL ME WHAT YOU WANT.”
Mom: “I WANT TO KNOW WHAT TO WATCH.”
I’m not sure if I even saw the classic Abbott and Costello “Who’s on First” routine before this, but here my mom and I were, acting it out, only to no audience but ourselves. I was just stubborn enough to stand my ground, which escalated the world’s dumbest conflict for longer than it should have went.
We were both pretty red in the face when we finally realized the situation, and then immediately started laughing harder than we ever had, for several minutes. For years after, one of us would just randomly say “Just tell me what you want” to the other and would start laughing all over again.
Anyway, that’s what it feels like watching the Dodgers right now, and they face an Orioles starter in Tyler Rogers who has allowed only 14 runs in his 14 starts this season.
Saturday game info
- Teams: Dodgers at Orioles
- Ballpark: Oriole Park at Camden Yards, Baltimore
- Start time: 4:05 p.m. PT
- TV: SportsNet LA
- Radio: AM 570 (English), KTNQ 1020 AM (Spanish)
