Los Angeles: The World’s Greatest Sports City
Los Angeles is the world’s greatest sports city.
That’s a big claim, but here is why:
Forget that we have the best weather in the world, resulting in more Angelenos getting outside and playing sports 52 weeks a year… Forget that our games never get rained out… Forget that we produce more professional athletes than any other state… Instead, let’s just talk about our teams.
We’ll start at the top, with The Lakers, America’s Greatest Franchise. Yes, the Yankees and Cowboys have a claim here, but over the last 50 years, the Lakers are bigger than either of those teams.
“OK LACowboy, I’ll agree with you there… and the Lakers get all the bogus calls, just like the Yankees”
Now add to that one of baseball’s most storied franchises, the Dodgers. Sure the Dodgers are not the Yankees, but they were just purchased for $2 Billion dollars, which is the largest purchase price for a sports franchise in history. So right there we have two epic franchises.
“But LACowboy, plenty of cities have multiple great franchises. New York, Chicago, Boston”
Good point pretty girl, let’s look at some of the big, multi-franchise cities. New York has two of every Big Three sports team and some of them are legendary.
In addition to the Yankees’ success, the Giants have won four Super Bowls and the other clubs have won titles here and there. Most of the other NY clubs are known for overspending and under performing. Let’s accept that the Yankees and Lakers are equal and the New York Football Giants are almost equal to the Dodgers as a great franchise.
“See, so New York is tied with LA already! You suck!”
You should talk like a Lady. OK, let’s look at Chicago. Their fans are great, loyal and loud. They are willing to cheer their teams in the cold, the rain, and the snow. I fully accept that this is not something all LA fans will do.
However, Chicago’s teams, with a few notable exceptions (Jordan’s Bulls and a scattering of single modern titles by the Bears and White Sox), are known for their futility, instead of their greatness.
“Yeah, well how about Boston?”
Ah, good point. Boston has great teams, and an argument can certainly be made that the Celtics are equal to the Lakers in overall historical importance.
“And they have won one more NBA Title giving them 17 compared to the Lakers’ 16.”
However, since the end of the Celtics’ glorious run in the 1960s, the Lakers have been the bigger, more important, and more successful team. Therefore, let’s accept that the Celts and Lakers are equal.
The Red Sox are an incredibly storied franchise. That story, until 2004, was of course the story of Losing! But still, we need to give them credit. Let’s accept that the Red Sox are one notch above the Dodgers.
“So it sounds like New York is equal to Los Angeles, and Beantown actually beats LA as the world’s greatest sports city?! Nanananana!”
Calm down, we aren’t finished. Yes, so far, that is the case, BUT those rankings are about to change, for one big reason: College Sports.
Boston and New York are pathetic college sports towns. Teams like St. John’s, Boston College and Harvard have occasionally done notable things (Flutie’s Miracle Pass, Jeremy Lin, Lou Carnesecca’s sweaters) but none of the sports teams are particularly famous or significant –currently or historically.
LA on the other hand has the most storied team in men’s college basketball history, the UCLA Bruins AND the USC Trojans Football team, which probably follows only Alabama, Notre Dame, and Michigan as a football power. (Princeton and Yale also have more Championships than USC, but most were won in the 1800s)
These two college programs push Los Angeles past all comers to be named The Greatest Sports City in the World!
“You’ve won me over, LA is the Greatest Sports City… you know… you look pretty hot in that cowboy hat… I could… save a horse and ride a cowboy!”
ah, there’s a Mrs. LA Cowboy, but thank you anyway…
What do you think is The World’s Greatest Sports City? We Welcome your comments below. Thank you!