Attending UCLA has exposed me to a diverse group of people,
perhaps none larger in number than Bay Area sports fans.
Growing up in Orange County, I never truly gained an
appreciation of their background, but in my four years here,
I’ve really learned a lot of things just by listening.
From the cowbell King girl to the Halloween-clad Giant fan,
they’ve all made me a more educated person in one way or
another. The one thing they all seem to have in common is their
utter hatred toward their Southern California counterparts.
When listening to these Bay Area natives, I rarely hear them
talking up their own teams, and it’s not hard to imagine why
these days. Instead, I get the typical diatribe about how horrible
their neighbors down south are. It comes across as that speech my
parents would always give about how fortunate I am and how I take
things for granted. Northern Californians are a little more subtle
in their language though.
First and foremost is their complaint about fans showing up late
and leaving early. There’s really no way to deny this one.
Television cameras frequently pan out to an empty Dodger stadium
after the first pitch and later show fans still filing in during
later innings. What they don’t show are shots of the Harbor
freeway during rush hour.
Southern California fans leave for games just as early, if not
earlier, than most in the country. It just takes twice as long to
get to the final destination. I remember going to a Dodger-Giants
game as my counterparts strolled into the stadium midway through
the third inning. I think I may have also seen a tail in between
their legs, but it was a night game so I couldn’t tell for
sure.
Unlike the Bay Area, this sprawling region doesn’t have a
fully effective public transportation system. Unless weekday games
are scheduled for 9 p.m., latecomers are inevitable. As for the
fans who leave early, I’d chalk it up to good, solid
intuition. Possessing a stronger ability to predict the future,
southlanders don’t have much need to see it actually played
out in person. Sure, there’s an occasional slip-up, but what
psychic has a perfect batting average?
The second claim Bay Area fans make is that fans down south
don’t know anything about what they’re watching. With
A-list celebrities scattered across the premier seats,
there’s this assumption that sports are a foreign film in
Hollywood. I’m not sure how many of these Northern
Californians have gotten a chance to pick these celebrities’
brains about sports, but I’ll make my own assumption and say
it’s not many.
In any case, is it really detrimental for a sporting event to
double as a fashion show? It gives fans a two-for-one, meaning they
won’t have to tape Entertainment Tonight when going to the
big and seeing the same Bay Area residents who ridiculed their
Southern California game.
What riles Bay Area fans even more are the wave and beach balls
floating around at Southern California stadiums. It’s
unfortunate that these are considered cheap gimmicks to distract
fans from a game they don’t care about because I’ve
always appreciated the locals’ ability to multi-task. Some
fans enjoy outside entertainment and I don’t see the
difference between tossing a colorful ball around and sliding down
a giant Coca-Cola bottle in left field.
Lastly, there’s this perpetual criticism that Southern
Californians are fickle bandwagon fans. When teams are doing well,
they’re the hottest thing in town and when they struggle,
everyone forgets about them. Whether this is unique to Southern
California is debatable in itself, but I’m willing to play
along as though it is.
Fans down here have what few other markets possess ““
options. With two franchises in baseball, basketball, hockey and
soccer, teams have to fight for the allegiance of fans and not vice
versa. There’s competition in the marketplace, and it
doesn’t take more than five minutes in a lower division
economics course to realize the positive outcomes produced. For
evidence, just take a count of championships won during the past
few years by the local teams.
It’s something that is often taken for granted.
E-mail Finley at afinley@media.ucla.edu if you think San
Diego always gets lost in the shuffle.