WELCOME TO LOS ANGELES SPORTS CAPITAL OF THE WORLD.Byline: KEVIN MODESTI Dear Everywhere Else, Whew whew interj. Used to express strong emotion, such as relief or amazement. whew interj an exclamation of relief, surprise, disbelief, or weariness ! I finally have a moment, as I take a breather Verb 1. take a breather - take a short break from one's activities in order to relax catch one's breath, rest, breathe intermit, pause, break - cease an action temporarily; "We pause for station identification"; "let's break for lunch" after the Stanley Cup Stanley Cup: see hockey, ice. Stanley Cup Trophy awarded annually to the winning team of the National Hockey League championship. Named for its donor, the Canadian governor-general Frederick Arthur Stanley, Lord Stanley of Preston Finals and the heavyweight title fight - and as I look forward to the World Gymnastics Championships The World Gymnastics Championships are held every year. Artistic World Artistic Gymnastics Championships have been held since 1903. Year Games Host City Country 1903 I Antwerp Belgium 1905 II Bordeaux and the Women's World Cup The Women's World Cup could refer to either the:
Founded in the late 1970's by former county squash coach Mike Ashley, the group Sports World International is now the UK's largest retailer of sports clothing and accessories. looks like. Wish you were here! By ``you,'' I refer to backwaters like New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of , Chicago and Atlanta, sick of switching on the TV set every weekend to see another big sports event taking place in the Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. area. It's been one thing after another here the past couple of years. It started with the Rose Bowl game between Miami and Nebraska deciding the college football national championship in January 2002. It won't let up until sometime after the Home Depot Center hosts the Major League Soccer championship game in November. In all, in the span of a couple of years, more than a dozen world championships, national championships and all-star games will have squeezed into Southern California's calendar, making it the magnet for the best of baseball, basketball, boxing, figure skating, football, gymnastics, hockey, horse racing, soccer and tennis. Hate to rub it in, but as I write this, it's sunny and 70 degrees and the forecast is for more sports history in the years ahead. I went out of the way to mention Atlanta above. It's not exactly the first place most people think of as a great sports town. Yet it's the U.S. city that seems to be the most strident in proclaiming itself ``The Sports Capital of the World.'' ``Home to seven professional sports teams, including women's professional soccer, Atlanta has state-of-the-art sports facilities,'' the Atlanta Sports Council Web site bragged in March, and I quote it just to demonstrate what a flimsy case it makes. ``Since Atlanta was awarded the (1996) Olympics, Atlanta has hosted two Super Bowls, two Tour championships and the PGA Championship and five World Series as well as the Atlanta Cup - youth soccer's largest state tournament - the WUSA WUSA Women's United Soccer Association WUSA Windows Update Standalone Installer Founders Cup II and the 2002 Men's Final Four. Atlanta will host the 2003 Women's Final Four, the 2003 NBA NBA abbr. 1. National Basketball Association 2. National Boxing Association NBA (US) n abbr (= National Basketball Association) → Basketball-Dachverband (= All-Star Game, the 2004 U.S. Figure Skating U.S. Figure Skating (USFS), officially called the United States Figure Skating Association or USFSA, is the national sport governing body for figure skating in the United States. Championships and the annual Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl.'' Now, it's true we in L.A. have never been able to land the vaunted vaunt v. vaunt·ed, vaunt·ing, vaunts v.tr. To speak boastfully of; brag about. v.intr. To speak boastfully; brag. See Synonyms at boast1. n. 1. Chick- fil-A Peach Bowl. And, owing to the fact we have too much going on to beg for pro football, we haven't hosted a Super Bowl since 1996, although San Diego has hosted two since 1997, and there's only a couple of hours of paved road from here to there. But it seems to me that what L.A. has done in just the past year and a half puts Atlanta to shame. I made an Internet search for the phrase ``Sports Capital of the World'' and found claims made for two dozen places to hold that distinction. Atlanta has a pretty strong argument compared with some of the others, including New York, New Jersey, Florida, Hawaii, Dallas, Denver, Louisville, Salt Lake City and Columbus, Ohio. Then there are a bunch of places with the good sense to put qualifiers on their boasts - Indianapolis (``Amateur Sports Capital of the World''), Lake Placid (``Winter Sports Capital of the World''), Boston (``Sports Capital of the World in 1986''), Cancun (``Water Sports water sports Urophilia, see there Capital of the World''), New Zealand New Zealand (zē`lənd), island country (2005 est. pop. 4,035,000), 104,454 sq mi (270,534 sq km), in the S Pacific Ocean, over 1,000 mi (1,600 km) SE of Australia. The capital is Wellington; the largest city and leading port is Auckland. (``Extreme Sports Capital of the World'') and Las Vegas (``Entertainment and Sports Capital of the World''). They're all pretenders. If sports fans paid for their tickets in taxes, the nation would be sending its checks to Los Angeles. Part of the credit for the steady march of the world's best athletes into our arenas goes to the Los Angeles Sports Council, the nonprofit outfit that has been effective at organizing local bids for big competition. It's a big step up from the old days, when a letter inquiring about Los Angeles' interest in hosting a particular event would go to City Hall. And if the event didn't fit the Coliseum or Sports Arena, the mayor was loathe to steer it toward the Rose Bowl (in Pasadena) or Forum (in Inglewood). Part of the credit goes to the builders of the arenas themselves, the additions of the Anaheim Pond (1992), Staples Center (1999) and Home Depot Center (this month) dotting the Sports Capital with Sports Capitols. When a schedule change prevented Indianapolis from hosting the World Gymnastics Championships, it turned to Southern California. When SARS prevented China from hosting the Women's World Cup, it turned to Southern California. And part of the credit goes to the Lakers, Angels and Mighty Ducks. It goes on: In the next few years, the Home Depot Center in Carson is scheduled to have cycling, beach volleyball and track and field championships. Said L.A. Sports Council president David Simon, ``I would tell you, if those come through, I think it's fair to say no city in the world has hosted so many world championships in the Olympic sports.'' Not bad for a town without a Chick-fil-A Bowl! I promise to drop you another line as soon as the schedule lightens up, if it does. Kevin TITLETOWN, USA? IT'S RIGHT HERE By the end of 2003, the Los Angeles area, including Orange County, will have played host to more than a dozen world and national sports championships and other major sports showcases in a two-year period. 2002 --NCAA football championship game (Rose Bowl) --U.S. Figure Skating Championships (Staples Center) --NHL All-Star Game (Staples Center) --NBA Finals, Lakers vs. New Jersey (Staples Center) --World Series, Angels vs. San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are a Major League Baseball team based in San Francisco, California that currently play in the National League West Division. New York Giants history Early days and the John McGraw era (Edison Field) --WTA Tour Championships (Staples Center) 2003 --Stanley Cup Finals, Mighty Ducks vs. New Jersey (Anaheim Pond) --World heavyweight championship fight, Lennox Lewis vs. Vitali Klitschko (Staples Center) --Breeders' Cup, Oct. 25 (Santa Anita) --MLS All-Star Game, Aug. 2 (Home Depot Center) --MLS Cup, Nov. 23 (Home Depot Center) --World Gymnastics Championships, Aug. 16-24 (Pond) --WTA Tour Championships, Nov. 5-10 (Staples Center) --Women's World Cup soccer final, Oct. 12 (Home Depot Center) --X Games, Aug. 14-18 (mostly at Staples Center) CAPTION(S): 3 photos, box Photo: (1 -- 3 -- color) (Clockwise from bottom left) The Los Angeles area is home to the world's finest sports venues, including the Rose Bowl (2002 college football national championship game), Staples Center (X Games X Games Sports medicine The official Olympics of 'extreme sports' sponsored by ESPN, held annually during the summer. See Extreme sports. ) and Dodger Stadium. Box: TITLETOWN, USA? IT'S RIGHT HERE (see text) |
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