Oscar No-Show

Leo and I headed to the Temecula Valley on Saturday but not because we were in the mood to sip wine. That would have been too romantic. Instead, we went to Pechanga because I wanted to stalk Oscar De La Hoya. I saw billboards along the 215 freeway promoting Golden Boy Promotions a few weeks ago and bought tickets for the fights to be featured on Telefutura.

Boxing has been a part of my life since childhood. This doesn't mean I enjoyed watching the sport as much as I did watching and playing baseball. My uncle was a huge Julio Cesar Chavez fan and we'd gather in front of his humongous television and cheer on the Mexican fighters. I was more in tune with the sport after Oscar De La Hoya came to visit my elementary school after he won the gold medal in the 1992 Olympics. Ms. Tomomitsu, my fifth grade teacher, told us that we were going to go to the auditorium to listen to a boxer. To me, boxers were old men like Chavez and I didn't understand why someone like him would come and talk to us. But the idea was better than staying in the classroom and learning about states and presidents. I had no idea who Oscar was when he came out. I continued to believe that  he was an older man because he was wearing a helmet or a mask. I think it might have been the face guard boxers wear when they spar. As soon as he took it off, all of the girls in my class fell in love while I just fell into a crush. He was wearing his gold medal and he talked about being from East L.A. just like us and attending Garfield High School just like we would in a couple of years. During the Q&A session, the administrator chose one of my friends, a class bully. My buddy asked Oscar if he had a girlfriend because she had an older sister for him. Shows you bullies can be considerate. At the end of the assembly, his people passed around copies of his autographed Olympics picture which I'm sure is boxed somewhere in my parent's garage.

Born in East L.A.: me, Oscar De La Hoya, Cheech Marin

I am now further connected to the sport because my boyfriend is a boxing fanatic and guru. He too was a Chavez fan and wished he could have made boxing his career. He boxed for a time as a teenager and then took on the sport again in college as an exercise regime. We almost broke up soon after we got together because I was a De La Hoya fan and so was my family. Leo was at my house when we watched our first boxing bout together, Oscar versus Fernando Vargas. Oscar took out Vargas in a corner in a beautifully executed manner. My mom and I screamed with joy while Leo sunk into the couch where he growled at me if I directed a word to him.

I've been to the Staples Center twice and sat in luxury box seats.  I've sipped the complimentary beer and munched on chips and popcorn as I watched fighters take on their opponents on the big screen. You see, the box seats are way up high and the ring looks the size of a, well, ring, like those that fit on our fingers. So we were forced to watch the punches from the big screen, without the background noise of the commentators or Letterman's score card. In actuality, one is better off watching the action from the comfort of our own homes.

You can meet celebrities at the Staples Center, big deal. (With Bernardo Osuna)

I told ya, free beer. Pictures don't lie.

See, little ring.

But this time it was different. Oscar would potentially be 30 miles from my home and I couldn't let the opportunity of meeting him escape. I bought two general admission tickets and planned an outfit around my Mervyn's-bought Oscar De La Hoya '92 tee. I'm not kidding. I got black skinny pants from G-Stage last week for $16.99 because my black jeans are fading. Then I found a pair of beautiful Jessica Simpson shoes half off at DSW. My attire was done. The only thing missing were the accessories and I wanted to play off the red outline of the letters on my shirt. I had red hoops and a red bracelet, but I needed a ring. Luckily I found one on sale at Macy's and I was ready to go.

"You are beautiful, no matter what they say, words can't bring you down.."

Since I'm on vacation and not doing anything fancy, I warned Leo that we were going to seize this outing to have a nice dinner before meeting Oscar. We arrived at Pechanga and decided to dine at Paisano's, an Italian restaurant. I've had dinner at said eatery in Rancho Cucamonga but the menus were different. Nonetheless, the food was delectable. We started with the cheapest wines on the menu, White Zinfandel for me and Pinot Noir for him. Then I ordered cheese and spinach ravioli in pesto sauce and Leo got the rigatoni bolognese. Oh man, oh man, was that food scrumptious! I took a bite out of my ravioli and almost melted. Then I dug into Leo's dish and almost fainted. Pasta had never tasted so delicious. For the first time in my life, I allowed another person to eat off of my plate because I wanted to eat off of theirs. I should have taken a picture but I'm trying to quit taking pictures of food so I can upload them and enjoy it instead of making you jealous.

Me with my t-shirt and wine. The restaurant was beautiful.

Next, we headed to our feature presentation. I had imagined a large arena like the Staples Center but it turned out to be a ring in the middle of a banquet room. Even though we were nine rows behind the  ring, the view was excellent--close enough to see all of the action but far enough from the boxer's sweat that showers the audience with every punch. 

Fools in front of us who paid $20 more for "reserved" seating.

I think I look slim here :)

There were six fights scheduled, most of them only four rounds. The folks sitting next to us asked a worker if Oscar was going to be there and she had no clue. Women, I tell you. She said he has made appearances before but didn't know if he'd be present that night. I made it my mission to stalk the first couple of rows around the ring for Oscar's baby-face throughout the night. But he was a no-show. I had even towed my Sharpie so he could autograph my shirt. Then I would have a reason to put it in a 3D frame that I could find at the swap meet to display it in, like some girls do with their over-paid Quinceañera keepsakes. Oscar De La Hoya was MIA, but I found another idol of mine, Mr. Tae-Bo himself, Sir Billy Blanks.

See the cap? Billy is under it.

I'm not going to complain because I didn't get to meet Oscar and steal him away from Millie. I had a great time with my boyfriend. And now I can have sweet Paisano's Italiano dreams....