Tags
Bleacher Report, Chargers, Dodgers, Fansided, Friday Night Lights, High School Sports, little league, Los Angeles, NFL, Rams, SoCal Sports Annals, Southern California, Southern California sports, sports, UCLA, USC, World Series
The Coliseum & USC are undergoing a massive renovation of the historic venue. This is what it’s going to look like when they’re done, in plenty of time for the 2028 Olympics. Photo courtesy of la.curbed.com
THREE YEARS OF SOCAL SPORTS ANNALS
It was three years ago yesterday.
After seven years of writing and blogging about sports – UCLA and otherwise – for Bleacher Report and the Fansided Network, where I helped create UCLA’s site http://www.GoJoeBruin.com,
As well as write for SoCalSportsHub.com, The110Report.com and LASportsHub.com, (which were really the same site that changed their name) and even serving as editor for SoCal Sports Hub,
It was high time that I declared my independence and start my own sports blog, where I can write about the happenings in the Los Angeles area without any authority over me, where I can write however I wanted.
In other words, a blog where I can be completely free – essentially having my own business.
That was how SoCalSportsAnnals.com was born.
I noticed that it was three years ago today that I wrote the first real article for this site, called “Will The National Football League Ever Return To Los Angeles?”
Which considering what we all know happened in the fall of 2016 is quite amusing to read now.
In fact, in preparing to write this piece I was thinking about what the biggest things to happen in the sports scene in Southern California since I wrote about how I didn’t think the NFL would ever return to L.A.
The return of the most popular sports league to Los Angeles definitely tops my list, as in a span of twelve months the number of pro football teams in L.A. grew from zero (where it had been for 21 years) to two.
The other significant thing to happen in this region’s sports scene in the three years of SoCal Sports Annals was of course the Dodgers’ return to the World Series after 29 years.
Even though we were all disappointed at the outcome as there wasn’t a victory parade in downtown Los Angeles afterward – I still think the Dodgers more or less gave that Fall Classic away as they should have beaten the Houston Astros in five games and won their 7th championship – the fact that those Dodgers had such a monumental season cannot be overlooked.
One significant event to happen during the three years of SoCalSportsAnnals.com’s existence: The Dodgers winning the National League Championship and going to the World Series for the first time since 1988. Photo courtesy of WTOP.com
More than anything else, however, my personal highlight in having this blog is being able to cover various sports events and issues that are not usually covered in the mainstream newspapers and sites.
UCLA’s Gymnastics team is certainly one example, as I’ll bet anything that no one outside of UCLA’s student newspaper, the Daily Bruin, gives more coverage to those wonderful bunch of Bruins (who I still consider my favorite team in all of sports) than me.
The Crosstown Rivalry story I did two months ago, featuring a trio of brothers – two of them playing in the UCLA Marching Band while the third one joined the crosstown rival band at USC despite his mom, a Rose Parade Queen, being a prominent Bruin alum, as is the whole family – was the most successful story I did on this site as it was very well received.
Here’s the link to that article: https://socalsportsannals.wordpress.com/2017/11/14/crosstown-rivalry-2017-a-house-divided-among-marching-band-lines/
As well as another example of the goal of covering things that aren’t usually covered.
I perhaps most enjoyed checking out the high school sports scene, going to several events at my town’s high school to check out not only the Friday Night Lights that football provides, but also basketball, baseball, softball, and volleyball to watch my cousin play.
Indeed, I plan to go to a girls’ soccer game later this week and do an article about that experience. I also plan to check out a lacrosse game as that virtually never gets written about; I think experiencing that sport will be fascinating.
I also plan to venture to high school events outside my immediate city and various college sporting events not involving UCLA and USC this year; writing about sports at that level will help to keep this site from being merely about the pros and major colleges.
As well as perhaps spend some time at my town’s little league and write about that, where I coached in the early 2000s; it has been sixteen years since I was there.
It will also keep this blog interesting, I feel.
It should go without saying that I see these three years of having SoCal Sports Annals as an accomplishment, something to be proud of.
And it should also go without saying that I’m very much looking forward to seeing what these next twelve months and beyond will bring.
Los Angeles Rams running back Malcolm Brown #34 is pushed out-of-bounds by Los Angeles Chargers free safety Dwight Lowery #20 in the first half. The Los Angeles Rams and the Los Angeles Chargers played a pre-season game at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, CA 8/26/2017 Photo by John McCoy/Los Angeles Daily News (SCNG) An illustration of the #1 thing to happen in SoCal sports in the three years of this blog: The return of the NFL to L.A. Photo courtesy of ocregister.com
