CELEBRATING SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA'S WORLD CHAMPS SOUTHLAND TEAMS, FANS BASK IN TITLE OF CHAMPIONS.

Byline: KEVIN MODESTI

In the morning, on Main Street USA, they cheered the Angels' first-ever baseball championship parade. In the evening, at 11th and Figueroa, they cheered the Lakers' third annual basketball championship ring ceremony. One ever-so-pleasant Tuesday in October, two sports title celebrations in Greater Los Angeles. Fans have never had a day like this before.

Fans have never had a day like this before here or in any American sports capital.

By morning, a parade on Disneyland's main drag, a follow-up parade on the streets of Anaheim, and a rally drawing 100,000 ladies and gentlemen in red to the parking lot of the Angels' Edison Field. By night, a love fest in Staples Center, the presentation of the players' rings and the unveiling of a ninth gold-and-purple championship banner giving the usual capacity crowd something to cheer even before Lakers' first tip-off of the new season.

``That team is good for the city,'' National Basketball Association Commissioner David Stern said to a reporter at Staples Center - andin this case Stern was talking about the Angels.

The Lakers won their third consecutive NBA championship in June by sweeping the New Jersey Nets in the final series. The Angels became baseball's best Sunday by beating the San Francisco Giants in the seventh game of a thrilling World Series.

Whew! Throw in the Los Angeles Sparks, who in August won their second championship in the Women's NBA, and the Los Angeles Galaxy, which this month captured its first title in Major League Soccer, and Los Angeles and Orange counties reign over four professional sports.

New York, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, the San Francisco Bay Area - and all those other places where spirits rise and fall with the fortunes of pro teams - will have to pardon L.A. fans if we're a little full of ourselves these days.

Confining the discussion to the United States' four ``major'' sports, it's rare for one metropolitan area to be on top in more than one at a time. In 2000, the New York Yankees won the World Series and the New Jersey Devils - a tunnel away in East Rutherford - won the National Hockey League's Stanley Cup. Before that, the last such double occurred in 1988 right here in Los Angeles when the Kirk Gibson-led Dodgers won the World Series and the Magic Johnson-led Lakers won the NBA title.

Has any region without a pro football franchise ever had so much to shout about?

You'd think it would be hard for any other team to impress the Lakers. But the Angels did it.

Several Lakers players attended World Series games and were caught up in the drama as the Angels dodged elimination with a record-setting comeback in Saturday's Game 6.

``Man, I tell you what, those Thunderstix were going on the whole night,'' Lakers forward Tracy Murray said of the Angels fans' inflatable noisemakers. ``The fans out there are incredible. They are truly a 'sixth man.'''

Murray caught himself, remembering that baseball teams have nine players, so the fans would be a ``10th man.''

``They don't panic when things get hot,'' Murray said of the Angels. ``It's like that with championship teams.''

Lakers coach Phil Jackson said he followed the Angels' story, too. Jackson's praise for the Angels came with a dig at their sport.

``If I hear (Angels manager Mike) Scioscia right, he's always talking about 'staying focused,''' Jackson said before the Lakers' game against the San Antonio Spurs. ``I thought they really were able to maintain that focus that is so easy to lose in baseball because it's such a boring game. ... Yet they stayed connected to the game and found a way to come back in that eighth inning that was ultimately important. I think everybody was starting to think that the Giants were going to be the victors in the sixth game.''

It was a morning of carefree celebration in Anaheim, where fans began lining up before Disneyland opened Tuesday for the right to pay their way into the Main Street USA parade. Later, players and coaches rode through the crowd at Edison Field aboard Angels-red fire trucks to a raucous ceremony punctuated by fireworks and confetti.

``For all the Angels fans who have been here from the beginning,'' Scioscia said from the stage, ``and all the Angels we had above, this championship is for you.''

It was a night for the bittersweet in downtown L.A., where the ring-and- banner ceremony has always been emceed by Chick Hearn, the Lakers' play-by-play announcer from 1961 until his death this summer. Hearn's broadcasting partner, Stu Lantz, and Hearn's widow, Marge, were among those addressing the fans. Marge thanked fans for their support.

The cheers were mild as Lakers bench warmers walked onto the court to accept their championship rings but built to a crescendo when Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal took their turns.

Then the house went dark, and a spotlight fell on Randy Newman at a piano. Newman capped the ceremony with a pounding rendition of ``I Love L.A.''

On this beautiful autumn day, he took the words out of sports fans' mouths.

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4 photos

Photo:

(1 -- 2 -- color) Lakers Kobe Bryant, left, and Shaquille O'Neal admire their championship rings during a special pre-game ceremony Tuesday at Staples Center, above. While left, Angels catcher Bengie Molina hoists the World Series trophy amid a sea of confetti during a victory parade in front of Edison Field in Anaheim.

Andy Holzman/Staff Photographer

Greg Andersen/Staff Photographer

(3) Angels fans flood the streets of Anaheim during a celebration of the franchise's first-ever title.

(4) Marge Hearn, the widow of longtime Lakers emcee Chick Hearn, proudly displays a championship ring presented to her.

Greg Andersen/Staff Photographer

Holzman/Staff Photographer