Barstow Sports Blog

According to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim’s Web site, Shannon Ebel, Barstow native and wife of Angels third base coach Dino Ebel, gave birth to a boy at 10:45 p.m. on July 25 in Las Vegas. Brady Alex Ebel weighed 7 pounds, 8 ounces at birth.

The Angels finished up their series with Oakland on 25th and were off on the 26th before beginning their explosive sweep of Tigers.

The oddest part of the baby news might be where else it landed. Brady’s birth made the Celebrity Baby Blog. You can find the Ebel’s entry right below one on Christina Aguilera.

Dino might be the last person you’d think of as a celebrity. Sure, he has a prominent position with the AL-West leading Angels, but he often returns to his hometown, can go practically unnoticed at Barstow sports events and preaches hard work to make it in life. I don’t know any other celebrities with those qualifications.

— Matthew Peters, Sports Editor

West Barstow Little League’s Ryan Lara cut off several years of hair after promising to do so if his Junior Division All-Star team took the District 49 tournament. Well they did, and so did he.

With the Section 8 tournament arriving, former West Barstow President Jim McCall made a similar deal. He promised to shave his facial hair if the team took the Section 8 tournament. Well once again they did, but the team wanted more from McCall than just his beard. They asked him to dye his hair West Barstow colors, blue and gold, and carve a WB into the side. Well apparently McCall can’t say no to kids.

—Matthew Peters and David Heldreth

We’ve been talking about getting blogs for several months at the Desert Dispatch. As getting them became more of a reality, we started having discussions on what to post. After first we weren’t entirely sure. However, after a while certain things began popping up that were clearly blog worthy.

This photo is just such a case. I received an e-mail for invitation to NHL post-season kickoff in Beverly Hills just as the playoffs were beginning in April. As soon as I saw Lil’ Jon in the photo, I figured it had to be joke.

I know the NHL has serious marketing problems, but this looked like it came from an alternate universe. I just can’t take a guy seriously who has braces and a sippy cup both encrusted with diamonds. The juxtaposition of him and hockey’s holy grail just seemed bizarre.

I soon learned he really is a hockey and an Atlanta Thrashers fan. Who knew?

You couldn’t make this stuff up …

— Matthew Peters