Before Thursday's game at Dodger Stadium between the Blue Crew and the Cubbies, L. A. Times Publisher David Hiller did a pretty good job of delivering the National Anthem.

Because there has been a lot of demand for this video, we decided to post it here. Enjoy!

- Video and post by Tony Pierce

I was actually going to write something in response to Bill Plaschke's column this morning about Matt Kemp and the prospects that he might end up moving in a deal.  Good thing Molly Knight, a friend of ours from ESPN and a native and proud Angelino, was sufficiently outraged to do it first, freeing up the rest of my morning (ha ha).  BK

Earlier today this newspaper ran a column from Bill Plaschke that all but blamed Matt Kemp for the Dodgers' free-fall into fourth place, and suggested that club officials will consider trading him for a veteran in the offseason.  Why?  Because the amiable Jeff Kent told some reporters that during this, the sunset of his career, some of the young players don't understand how to be professional or how to manufacture runs, and alluded to his belief that they don't know how to respect veterans like him.

By defending themselves in the media after Kent's barbed comments, rookies James Loney and Kemp unwittingly cast themselves as targets in the media's assault on youth.  For reasons unknown to Dodger fans everywhere, certain veteran newspaper reporters snuggled up to the curmudgeonly Kent with boxes of Kleenex and abandoned puppies, and sharpened their pens to eviscerate the very young players whose performances have kept the team out of last place. 

The Dodger youth movement hasn't gotten old; Luis Gonzalez (40), Nomar Garciaparra (34, brittle) and Kent (39) have.

As most of you know, AK and I are, in addition to our duties as Lakers and Dodgers bloggers, contributing writers to ESPN The Magazine.  One of our compatriots with the Mag, Molly Knight, is down in Florida covering spring training.  A HUGE Dodgers fan, she was nice enough to send us this dispatch from Vero, along with some pics, and give us an inside look into life at Dodgertown. 

Greetings from Vero Beach, Florida, where the heat in early March makes you wonder who the heck could ever deal with living here year-round. I've been tooling around Florida doing Spring Training reporting, and it's definitely muggier here on the coast than it is in Orlando or Tampa. Before each game I've been to I've observed rather large canines sniffing around clubhouse areas. I was told they were looking for bombs, but I wonder if they sniff for steroids at Bud Selig's request.