I have lived in Los Angeles most of my life and have been following sports here for awhile. I started with basketball during the showtime era. In the old days, basketball was on local television for most road games. The home games were blacked out so you can go to them. When cable came around, they started to broadcast the home games, but my family did not have it. I remember watching the Lakers and UCLA basketball with my grandfather growing up. That's where I watched 4 of the showtime championships. UCLA basketball was on as well, but there were not as many games. My grandfather became a UCLA fan because of John Wooden as he was a basketball PE coach back in Taiwan.
Along the way, I also watched the Rams and Raiders on local Los Angeles stations back in the day. I gravitated toward the Rams more because of Dickerson, White, and Bell. I was also a fan of the Raiders as well. Both had mild success prior to their LA departures. I ended up going to college football until the end of Pete Carrolls run at USC. I followed both USC and UCLA.
My love for baseball is also there, but there are so many games and they take a long time. It is very hard to sit through games, so highlights are a very good thing. I have followed both the Dodgers and Angels. I was a fan or Reggie and the penguin as a youngster. I am big Ohtani fan.
When the Chargers moved to LA, I started to follow them a bit more. Now with Hubert, I am a fan and have enjoyed watching the games too.
When I got out of school, for the first time in my life, I had just a little bit more spending money, I got some really discounted Clipper tickets. They had just moved to Staples and could not fill it up like the Lakers. They ran these a package of 10 games with the likes of Iverson, Duncan, etc. for $200 in the nosebleeds. A bunch of us got the package. We would hang for dinner before the games. The games were always on the weekdays. It was fun and cheap. I always remember those years foundly.
Not sure why I like sports so much, but as I have gotten older, I have drifted more to football as it is the least commitment in terms of time. Basketball and baseball have too many games. Football is 20-21 games at most.
[Update] Vin Scully died Tuesday at the age of 94. Vin was the voice of the Dodgers for 67 years, retiring in 2016. Vin started Los Angeles broadcasting in 1958 when the Dodgers moved from Brooklyn New York to Los Angeles. My memories of Vin started in the 1980s listening to him on TV. When I started driving in the 1990s, I worked as a delivery driver for serveral years and caught a lot of games on the road, especially all the east coast games and day games. Vin was always a familar and calming voice. Vin's voice was so distinct that as he scaled back in his later years, I was never happy with the new guys.
I was also around for Chick Hearns last 20 years. I am very blessed to have regularly been in the preseence of these Los Angeles sports legends. It is very unlikely we'll ever get another Chick or Vin. RIP
No comments:
Post a Comment