Everyone at UCLA should be rooting for one thing tonight ““
a Sacramento Kings victory.
This has little to do with your relative affection for or
probable hatred of our state capital’s beloved team.
It has everything to do with the darlings of this campus ““
the Los Angeles Lakers.
A Sacramento victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves tonight
would mean a reprisal of the biggest and most entertaining rivalry
on the West Coast ““ Kings v. Lakers.
As this university is a microcosm of the state, the rivalry here
is at its most explosive.
The teams’ epic seven-game Western Conference Final series
in 2002 was during my freshman year, and no experience I have had
here as a sports fan tops it.
For two weeks, the campus was electric. Everyone’s lives
and minds revolved around basketball.
With every big shot, the dorms and apartments erupted, either
with resounding joy or a string of vile curses sandwiching the word
“Bibby.”
Friends would get in ridiculously heated debates over whose team
was uglier (which really is not much of an argument), roommates
would deface each other’s posters ““ and then deface
each other while asleep.
Brave strangers sporting Kings clothing bonded on campus while
Lakers fans in Kobe jerseys hurled the always-classy cowtown
insults, which is perplexing directed at a city of half a million,
but it is nevertheless wildly fun to watch Sacto natives’
fury. Unfortunately for our state capital, our information comes
from our cow-tipping friends at UC Davis.
The interest goes beyond merely winning. This is for a
year’s worth of bragging rights (even today few conversations
between the two teams’ fans pass without a sly Robert Horry
mention). This is for that wonderful first time looking friends in
the eye with a haughty smirk. And most importantly, this is about
the ever-important NorCal-SoCal battle, an absurd war fiercely
waged in thousands of dorm rooms daily.
Going into the series, I had no idea Southern Californians cared
that much. The rivalry is hard to grasp if you’re coming from
somewhere else.
For most of the year, Lakers fans are hardly a hardcore group.
Many watch a few games here and there and express mild interest if
Kobe goes for 45 or they lose three in a row. But really, the Laker
nation remains more or less dormant until the playoffs, and
sometimes until after the first round of the playoffs.
Not that I completely blame them. The first five months of the
season are just a formality. When you have Shaq and Kobe, it really
doesn’t matter what seed you are or whether you lost to my
Golden State Warriors in December (the sports highlight of my
year).
Still, I realized during the series that there is not one
Southern Californian who at the mere mention of the purple and gold
will not profess his or her undying love. Lakers fans apparently
just conserve their outpouring for once a year.
On the other hand, there are the rabid, but much-maligned, Kings
fans.
Some are willing to give their right arm for the Kings to beat
L.A. I’m serious; I know a few.
At home, my dad and I sometimes eavesdrop on Sacramento sports
radio stations, which is like listening to a radio station devoted
to obsessive *NSYNC fans.
It’s July, square in the middle of the off-season, and
fans are pontificating on what side of the floor Webber should run
the pick and roll or what Vic from Rocklin saw Peja buy at
Albertson’s last week. In December, it’s, “Brad
Miller needs to box out better” and half an hour on why
“Coach Adelman is an idiot for not calling a time-out quick
enough” after a loss to my Warriors (sorry, I gotta milk
it).
Driving through Sacramento, you will see approximately 9,000,000
billboards with Vlade on them and car dealerships using little-used
scrubs to sell cars.
Sacramento may be more intertwined with its sports team than any
other city in the country. Even Angelenos have to be a little
curious to see what hell would break loose if the Kings actually
won the title.
As sports towns, Sacramento and Los Angeles are worlds apart. I
can’t wait to sit back and watch the circus when the two
worlds collide again.
Unfortunately, the T-wolves are going to win today. E-mail
Peters at bpeters@media.ucla.edu.