While this photo was taken in San Francisco at AT&T Park (home of the SF Giants), this story is really about what happened in Los Angeles last night, at Dodger Stadium.
Here is the setting: The Giants are playing the Dodgers in the next-to-last regular season game of the year. The Giant clinched the Western Division of the National League many days ago and are in the playoffs. The Dodgers are in second place, but are only two games out of the last wild card spot to be in the playoffs. For them to get in, they need the Cardinals to lose and they need to beat the Giants.
The Cardinals lose…so the Dodgers and their fans still have hope. But the Giants stomp all over their hopes by beating the Dodgers 3-2. Except for a meaningless last game to be played today, the Dodgers’ season is over. And I say, "Hooray for that." I despise the Dodgers. I don't want them to win anything. My favorite baseball team is of course, the Giants. My second favorite team is anyone playing the Dodgers at any time.
And I think you will find that most Giants fans, especially those from the Bay Area, feel the same way. True San Franciscans loath all LA teams. It's something that is instilled in you at a very young age. And rest assured, the same feelings toward San Francisco teams are held by Angelinos everywhere.
The San Francisco/Los Angeles rivalry is like none other. For instance, Chicago and New York, each have two teams (in baseball)...and I found out on my recent visits to Chicago, fans of one team hate the other team. When the White Sox were in the World Series a few years ago, Cubs fans rooted for the other team...vigorously!
But there is a big difference in New York and Chicago rivalries. Those teams play in different leagues. The Giants and Dodgers are not only in the same league, they are in the same division. Naturally, the rivalry is more intense, to put it mildly.
It was the same when the two teams were based in the New York area. New York Giants fans hated the Brooklyn Dodgers and visa versa. I talked to a woman recently who grew up in New York and whose whole family were intense Giants fans. She married another New Yorker whose whole family were devoted to the Dodgers. That marriage almost didn't happen.
In 1958, both teams moved...to San Francisco and Los Angeles respectively. The animosity was automatic as the rivalry between SF and LA had been long established by then.
Before 1958, there was an intense rivalry when LA had the Rams. San Franciscans, me included, despised the Rams. It was so wonderful when, in the 80's and 90's, the 49ers pounded the Rams, which they almost always did. I must admit, since the Rams moved to St. Louis, the rivalry lost its edge a bit. Rivalries are between cities, much more so than teams.
I was once an Oakland Raider fan and rooted hard for them. Then Al Davis moved the team to Los Angeles. That was the end of that relationship. You don't screw your local fans and move your team to the worst city imaginable! True, the Raiders are back in Oakland, but I don't care. Some sins are just not forgivable.
And just to put a final period on this, you must know that college fans of Stanford and Cal feel that extra surge of adrenaline when they play USC and UCLA...especially USC. We love to see them get crushed. Even here in Tucson, when UofA plays either team in any sport, I love seeing those LA teams go down to defeat. It feels so good.
Earlier this year, the Dodgers were here in Tucson to play a spring training game against the White Sox. Guess what baseball cap I wore? SF Giant...you betcha!! I don't hate the Dodgers or their players, I just despise all LA sports teams. Why? Because they are from LA and I am from San Francisco.
Sports just bring out the best in a person. Ain’t it fun?
(To see a larger version of this photo, just click on the image)
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