My last NFL game was the Lost Angeles Raiders, months before the Rodney King Verdict Lost Angles Riots. Must have been Fall 1991.
My longtime friend had two season tickets, and I was one of his go-to guys if his wife said no to a particular game. I'd get a call Saturday, "do I want to go?" If so drive a few miles to his house.
He had a ritual, go early and have breakfast within walking distance of the LA Coliseum. II had first gone there, to see the newly arrived Dodger, in the 1950s.
Anyway we go to the game, to see QB Todd Marinovich. An Orange County high school phenom. Interesting game in Todd's short career, and I noticed nice new condos on the south side of the stadium. My thought at the time: LA is getting nicer, with such development next to the dregs of the Coliseum neighborhood.
Just a few months later, that temporary good feeling about the area and the city, was wiped off my colored glasses forever.
LA burned, south to Pacific Coast Hwy in Long Beach (one of my bicycle routes).
I haven't been back to any events in Lost Angeles, since. If it doesn't burn by the Olympics, if I live that long, I might try going in 2028. (I watched a world class track meet, summer 1968, prior to the 1968 Summer Games in Mexico City
).
I have no interest in pro football. They phuqued up their brand, bigly.
