What was your excuse to ditch work. And if you did it to go to a baseball game, did you do it with trepidation that you'd meet your boss and the turnstile?

For years the Los Angeles Dodgers have traditionally opened their season with a day game.

Dodger opening day always draws a minimum of 50,000 people, so whenever there’s a day game, as the Dodgers played yesterday in Milwaukee, I always wonder how so many people can spend a pleasant afternoon in the sun with one of the country’s favorite summer entertainments.

Discounting percentages for kids, retirees and those who luckily have the day off or work the swing shift, or people who have a birthday holiday, get three personal days off a year or have time coming for overtime worked…still leaves a lot of people that you just know made up a whopper to get the day off.

If you’re one of those who use the death of a family member as a reason, you better keep a running list of which uncle bit the big one, because your boss might just remember that Uncle Henry died just about this time last year.

Some people dodge work without any qualms, while for others it’s guilty pleasure mixed with the fear of getting caught.

Years ago I did mine with guilty pleasure and no trepidation, which I should have.

A friend and I flew to Vegas for an escape day. What better fun that to get up before dawn, drive to Burbank Airport to catch a quick commuter flight to Sin City.

One problem. I didn’t know that half the middle manager bosses were catching the same flight for a business meeting.

Yeah, right! I didn’t buy their business meeting in Vegas any more than they bought my story of a miraculous recovery. I didn’t lose my job, but they lost theirs. Not.

Except for one thing, one of the perks of being a free lance writer is that I can take a day off without lying to the boss to explain my absence. That one thing is that I lie to myself all the time.

If I’m not using my time to write, and since I work out of my home, there’s always a ton of housework and repairs to be done. Therefore, I have to alibi and excuse myself all over the place for why I’m not doing any of them and watching a game purchased on the cable company’s baseball package.

The self-induced excuses range from I’ll do it later, which I won’t; to the chore won’t run away; to I need a break from sitting at the computer to sit in front of the TV.

Making up excuses to get out of work to go to Dodgers opening day games is a favorite yearly topic of morning drive-time KABC radio host, Doug McIntyre, who asks callers to phone in the tall tales they’ve use. This is after he tells his own story about his second day on the job in New York City and his brother said he had two tickets for the Met’s opening day.

As luck would have it, the boss announced he was going to New Jersey for the day, so as soon as Mr. Boss disappeared McIntyre was out the door and headed for the subway, fearing the entire time that the Boss was lying and really going to the game.

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