SoCal Sports

No matter what type of sports you're into, Southern California can easily accommodate you.  

NHL  Football:  ✔ (LA Rams) and ✔ (LA Chargers)

MLB Baseball:  ✔ (Anaheim Angels), ✔ (LA Dodgers) and  ✔ (San Diego Padres) 

NHL Hockey:  ✔ (Anaheim Ducks) and ✔ (Los Angeles Kings)

MLS Soccer:  ✔ (LA Galaxy)

NBA Basketball:  ✔ (LA Lakers)  and ✔ (LA Clippers) 

WNBA Basketball:  ✔ (LA Sparks)

NWSL Soccer:  ✔ (Angel City FC)  and ✔ (San Diego Wave) 

The above list doesn't include any of the colleges and universities schools in the area (Pepperdine, San Diego, San Diego State, Loyola Marymount, Cal State Fullerton, UCLA, USC, UC San Diego, UC Irvine, Long Beach State, Concordia, Chapman, Occidental just to name a few).  

And, on any given weekend you can head to the beach to catch international surf competitions (post about OC beaches coming soon!), kite flying competitions, sand art competitions, sport fishing and just about anything else you can think of!  There's also the Long Beach Grand Prix every April and NASCAR races, too!  Oh!  I almost forgot horse racing, golf and skateboarding!  

Some fun facts about California sports:

• California has produced the most Super Bowl winning Head Coaches in the history of the NFL, whether born or raised in the state (at least having attended High School in CA). Collectively, California Head Coaches have accounted for 17 Super Bowl wins. In chronological order of first Super Bowl win: John Madden (Jefferson HS, Daly City), Tom Flores (Sanger; Sanger Union HS), Bill Walsh (Los Angeles; Hayward HS, Hayward), Joe Gibbs (Santa Fe HS, Santa Fe Springs), George Seifert (San Francisco; San Francisco Poly HS), Mike Holmgren (San Francisco; Abraham Lincoln HS), Dick Vermeil (Calistoga; Calistoga HS), Brian Billick (Redlands HS, Redlands), Sean Payton (San Mateo), Pete Carroll (San Francisco; Redwood HS, Larkspur), Andy Reid (Los Angeles; John Marshall HS)
  

• California is also home to the oldest college bowl game, the annual Rose Bowl in Pasadena.  We had the pleasure of viewing the parade this year (I'm sure I'll post about it at some point!).  The stadium opened in 1922 with a capacity of 92,542.  Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum opened in 1923 and can hold 77,500 fans.  The most recent stadium built in the state, the architectural marvel that is SoFi Stadium, was finished in 2020 and can accommodate over 70,240 fans. Coach & I were two of those fans on September 12, 2021 when the Rams hosted the Chicago Bears for the first ever regular season game at the stadium with fans in attendance (thanks Covid!).  Petco Park (one of the prettiest baseball parks I've been to) was built in 2004 and can fit 42,445 Padres fans.  Dodger Stadium holds 56,000 Dodger fans whereas the Angel Stadium of Anaheim was built in 1966 for 45,050 fans. Crypto.com Arena (the stupidest name ever for an arena.  It will always be the Staples Center to be because that's where I saw my first Lakers game) can accommodate 18,997 fans for Clippers games, Lakers game, Kings games and Sparks games.  Closer to home and the home of the Anaheim Ducks, the Honda Center seats 18,211 comfortably.

View from our seats

LeBron on the Court and Flea (from the Red Hot Chili Peppers) seating a few rows in front of us

SoFi Stadium

Field level suite at SoFi

•  According to the list of American universities with Olympic medalist students and alumni the top 4 universities on the list are, #1 USC Trojans (326), #2 Stanford Cardinal (302), #3 UCLA Bruins (270), and #4 Cal Berkeley Golden Bears (223). Also on the list of top 50 universities are, #27 Cal State Long Beach 49ers (47) and #38 UC Irvine Anteaters (33). Referencing a differing source, OlympStats (as of 2017), the all-time total number of Olympic athletes from California universities (1668) was nearly triple the amount from the next state, New York (559). The medal count was even more impressive, with California (678) accounting for more than 4 times the Gold medal count than the next state, Texas (157).  

• California has produced the most Heisman Trophy winners. Fifteen winners were born in and played high school football in the Golden State. Additionally, Mater Dei High School has produced 3 Heisman winners; more than any other high school in the country. Seven Of these winners played collegiately at USC and one each at UCLA, Stanford, Army, Texas, Colorado, Notre Dame, Miami, and Alabama, 

• California has hosted the Olympic Games three times. Los Angeles, the largest city in the state, hosted both the 1932 and 1984 Summer Olympics Squaw Valley, California hosted the 1960 Winter Olympics. Los Angeles and San Francisco were in the race for the United States Olympic Committee nomination to host the 2016 Summer Olympics, but eventually lost to Chicago. Los Angeles will host the Olympic Games for a third time in 2028.
  

• Skateboarding is a sport heavily associated with California as it is the place where the sport started. Professional skateboarder Tony Hawk was born in Carlsbad, California in 1968 and was involved in many bowl riding and vert competitions there.

• Surfing was introduced to California in July  1885.  Three nephews of Hawaiian King Kalakaua were studying at the military academy St. Matthew’s Hall in San Mateo. David Kawānanakoa, Jonah Kūhiō Kalaniana’ole, and Edward Keli’iahonui were on summer break, staying with a former royal family caretaker in Santa Cruz.  The three teenagers shaped 15-foot boards out of local redwood trees (maybe they were bored?  homesick?).  On a busy beach day, they paddled out to the waves breaking at the mouth of the San Lorenzo River (a rare treat that hasn’t happened in the summer since the 1980s), stunning locals with their near physics-defying pastime.  

While virtually unknown to the rest of California, the moment sparked local interest in the sport with a small surfing culture cementing into the Santa-Cruz lifestyle as early as 1896.