When Sam Levitt, a lifelong Dodgers fan, moved into his apartment at the beginning of the year, he proudly adorned the wall with a poster of Mannywood, a tribute to former Dodgers slugger Manny Ramirez.
Not long after, Levitt, who lives with three die-hard San Francisco Giants fans, returned to find the poster had been adorned with Post-it notes covered with inappropriate drawings ““ a lighthearted tribute to one of the most storied rivalries in sports.
“I fixed the poster, and it’s still there shining brightly,” said Levitt, a second-year economics student. “It was all in good rivalry fun.”
The fun of a rivalry game was amplified for many Bruins on Tuesday night, as UCLA Night at Dodger Stadium offered students and alumni a reserved place in the All-You-Can-Eat section and free speakers adorned with a UCLA-and-Dodgers theme. The game saw the Los Angeles Dodgers lose to the San Francisco Giants, 2-1, just one night after a decisive 9-1 victory to open the series.
Despite the loss, however, Dodgers fans are finding plenty to celebrate about.
Recently, the Guggenheim Baseball Management group spent $2 billion to buy the franchise, which had struggled for years under the management of former owner Frank McCourt.
“I really can’t think of any lower point in Dodgers history than the McCourt era,” said Andrew Chang, a UCLA alumnus who attended Tuesday’s game. “But I already feel the excitement. This city is finally getting into the Dodgers again.”
With both teams fighting to return to the top, there is a renewed spark of the animosity that dates back to the 19th century, when hostility began between the Manhattan-based Giants and the Brooklyn-based Dodgers.
When the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles in 1957, their owner persuaded the Giants to make the cross-country move as well to preserve the rivalry.
The teams have been in close contention ever since. Each squad has six World Series titles and 21 National League pennants.
Both Levitt and his roommate, Giants fan Jack Cole, say the neck-to-neck nature of the rivalry makes the game even more exciting. Both students say their allegiance to their teams ““ and the rivalry that comes with it ““ has been a big part of their lives.
“I didn’t have much of a choice growing up,” said Cole, a second-year economics student. “I’ve been going to a lot of Giants games, every season, since before I can remember.”
But it was only once coming to UCLA, which has students from all over California ““ with all kinds of athletic allegiances ““ that Levitt and Cole discovered the joy of the rivalry firsthand.
“At my high school (in Burbank), everyone was a Dodgers fan,” Levitt said. “Now, it’s just way more exciting to watch games and follow the sport.
“It’s really just way more exciting to have enemies,” he added with a laugh.
But like many other rivalries, the Dodgers-Giants animosity sometimes transcends the boundaries of harmless fun.
“The hype around these games is really fun, but it gets taken a little too far sometimes,” Cole said. “When I wear my Lincecum jersey (to Dodger Stadium), I’m just hoping I don’t get beer thrown at me.”
For some fans, however, participation in the rivalry goes beyond beer-throwing and trash-talking. Over the last several seasons, there have been several incidents of serious fan-on-fan violence, including stabbings and severe beatings.
Since these tragedies, however, security presence has skyrocketed, and the teams themselves have come together to ask for civility from their fans.
And for at least one night this season, UCLA’s Dodgers and Giants fans alike put their differences aside and focused on their common loves: baseball and being a Bruin.
“I always want to see the Dodgers win ““ losing to the Giants is never a good thing,” said fourth-year political science student Justin Young. “But when it’s UCLA Night and you’re all there as Bruins, that really brings everyone together.”