So, I spent some time out in Los Angeles, not too long ago, just trying to get a feel for the place. And wow, one thing that just jumps out at you is the sports scene. It’s everywhere.
You can’t really ignore it. Driving around, you see the flags, the bumper stickers, people wearing jerseys all over the place. It felt like you almost had to have an opinion on at least one team, you know?
Trying to Keep Track
Honestly, just figuring out who all the teams were took me a minute. It’s not just one or two big names. I started trying to list them out in my head:
- Basketball: Obviously the Lakers, everyone knows them. But then there are the Clippers too, right there in the same city. And the Sparks for the WNBA.
- Baseball: You got the Dodgers, massive history there. And then the Angels down in Anaheim, which kinda feels like LA, kinda doesn’t, but people definitely group them in.
- Football: The Rams are back, and the Chargers moved up too. So suddenly, two NFL teams.
- Hockey: The Kings. Can’t forget them.
- Soccer: This one surprised me how big it was. You got the Galaxy and LAFC. The rivalry there seemed pretty intense, even to an outsider like me.
It’s a lot to take in. Like, seriously, almost every major league has multiple teams or at least one huge name based right there.
Picking a Side? Nah.
I thought about trying to pick a team to follow, maybe go to some games. I looked into getting tickets for a Lakers game once. Let’s just say my wallet immediately told me maybe I wasn’t that interested after all. It reminded me of trying to get concert tickets for big bands back in the day – blink and they’re gone, or cost a fortune.
And the whole Lakers vs. Clippers thing, or Dodgers vs. Angels, or even Galaxy vs. LAFC… people seemed pretty passionate. You could feel the different vibes. Some felt like old-school loyalty, others felt newer, maybe a bit more aggressive in their fandom.
I never really latched onto one specific team while I was there. It felt like too much commitment, almost like joining a club with rules I didn’t understand yet. I just sort of observed it all. Watched games at bars sometimes, listened to people talk about it.
It’s funny, it made me think about my first job out of college. It was this big company, tons of different departments that barely talked to each other, all under one roof but doing totally different things. That’s kind of what the LA sports scene felt like to me – all these massive teams, huge fanbases, existing side-by-side in the same sprawling city, but each in their own world. You got your die-hard Dodgers fans who probably couldn’t care less about hockey, and Kings fans who maybe never watch baseball. But together, they make up this huge, noisy, passionate sports city. Pretty wild when you step back and look at it.
