CUP IS NO COUP WHEN COMPARED TO '59 DODGERS, '72 LAKERS AND OTHERS, THIS YEAR'S DUCKS COME UP SHOT.

Byline: DOUG KRIKORIAN

A few moments after the Ducks brought even greater anguish to the Kings' awful season by winning the Stanley Cup in only their 14th year of existence -- the Kings have been around for 40 -- I was asked by Tim Cates on the Joe McDonnell Show on KLAC 570-AM where this achievement ranked in the Southern California athletic pantheon.

I wasn't around in 1931 when a gentleman named Johnny Baker kicked a final-minute field goal to give USC a 16-14 win over Notre Dame, igniting the Trojans to their first victory in South Bend, Ind., ending the Fighting Irish's 26-game unbeaten streak and giving Howard Jones' Thundering Herd the school's second national championship.

I do know Mr. Baker's heroics caused quite a commotion on the local scene, as more than 300,000 people lined Broadway in downtown L.A. serenading the Trojans.

When the Bob Waterfield- Norm Van Brocklin-Tank Younger-Elroy Hirsch-Deacon Dan Towler-Don Paul Rams won the first NFL title in L.A. in 1951 by beating the Cleveland Browns, I'm sure the local natives also were quite joyous.

But for sheer widespread sporting euphoria, I doubt anything in these parts ever will match the outpouring of glad emotion that flowed in the wake of the Dodgers' implausible World Series title in 1959, one season after the team relocated here from Brooklyn.

Remember, that came a year before the Lakers had arrived from Minneapolis, and the Angels, Clippers and Kings, not to mention the Ducks, hadn't even yet been created.

The Dodgers played in the 92,000-seat Coliseum that season, and it was filled for the three World Series games against the Chicago White Sox.

The top pitcher on that team was a 22-year-old right hander from Van Nuys named Don Drysdale (17-13), but a 23-year-old left hander, Sandy Koufax (8-6), showed intriguing promise, posting 173 strikeouts in 153innings.

The team was a mixture of Boys of Summer leftovers: Duke Snider, Gil Hodges, Johnny Podres, Jim Gilliam, Carl Furillo and Clem Labine; proven commodities: Wally Moon, Roger Craig, Charley Neal, John Roseboro and Norm Larker; and bright newcomers: Maury Wills, Larry Sherry and Don Demeter.

The vital components from that team -- Koufax, Drysdale and Wills -- would form the nucleus of those 1960s Dodger outfits that would win three National League pennants and twoworld championships.

No way the Ducks will have the impact here that the 1959 Dodgers did, or even that of the 1971-72 Lakers, who finally ended years of frustration -- they had lost in the NBA Finals seven times since arriving here in 1960 -- by beating the New York Knicks for the team's first title in L.A.

Still, in those days, the Lakers hadn't ascended to the staggering heights that they would reach throughout the 1980s during the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar-Magic Johnson Showtime era, when they even leapfrogged the Dodgers in popularity and became a wildly thrilling commodity.

Indeed, the Lakers continued to command center stage in this community in the early part of this century, when Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant blended their considerable talents to lead the team to three more world titles.

The entire L.A. basin went slightly bonkers over these achievements, and huge crowds turned out to attend the Lakers' victory parade on Figueroa that culminated with speech-making merriment in front of Staples Center.

When the Raiders won L.A.'s only Super Bowl title in January of 1984 by beating the Washington Redskins, there also, of course, was great joy, but it was mild compared to other championship reactions for obvious reasons.

For one thing, the Raiders were only in their second L.A. season -- they had relocated here in 1982 from Oakland -- and for another there still were more Rams loyalists in the area.

The 2002 Angels certainly created their share of hysteria in these parts with their riveting seven-game World Series victory over the San Francisco Giants.

They far surpassed the excitement now being generated by the Ducks simply because baseball has a far greater following here than hockey and because that particular Angels team was so uniquely entertaining with its knack for making dramatic comebacks.

But in some respects, the Ducks' glorious triumph can be compared to the '59 Dodgers breakthrough because of its historic significance.

The Dodgers were the first baseball team on the West Coast to win a World Series.

And the Ducks are the first hockey team on the West Coast to win a Stanley Cup.

But it must not be forgotten that the Ducks are an Orange County entity.

I seriously doubt that there are many people in West Los Angeles or the San Fernando Valley who are now turning somersaults over Teemu Selanne, Chris Pronger, Andy McDonald, Scott Niedermayer and all the others who contributed so much to the Ducks' stirring triumph.

No doubt the Ducks have etched themselves a permanent spot on the list of memorable Southern California championships.

But like the modest Stanley Cup TV ratings, it's at the lower end of it.

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8 photos

Photo:

(1) USC quarterback Matt Leinart holds up the championship trophy after defeating the Oklahoma Sooners 55-19 in the FedEx Orange Bowl for the 2005 BCS Championship.

Brian Bahr/Getty Images

(2) Fans are reflected in the NBA championship trophy as Lakers guard Kobe Bryant celebrates the team's third consecutive NBA title in June 2002.

Lucy Nicholson/AFP/Getty Images

(3) Tommy Lasorda, right, and Orel Hershiser hoist the World Series championship trophy after the Dodgers' 1988 Series victory.

Getty Images

(4 -- 8 -- color) Scott Niedermayer (right) and the Ducks brought the Stanley Cup to Southern California, but the euphoria does not seem to compare to titles won by the Dodgers, Angels and Lakers -- all of whom were firmly entrenched -- or the Raiders, who have a loyal following, no matter where they play.