The Great Book of Los Angeles Sports Lists (Great Book of Sports Lists) PDF
Preview The Great Book of Los Angeles Sports Lists (Great Book of Sports Lists)
LosAngeles_Int.qxd 2/19/09 10:37 AM Page 1 THE GREAT BOOK OF LOS ANGELES SPORTS LISTS LosAngeles_Int.qxd 2/19/09 10:37 AM Page 2 This page intentionally left blank LosAngeles_Int.qxd 2/19/09 10:37 AM Page 3 STEVE HARTMAN AND MATT “MONEY” SMITH RUNNING PRESS PHILADELPHIA (cid:129) LONDON LosAngeles_Int.qxd 2/19/09 10:37 AM Page 4 © 2008 by Steve Hartman and Matt Smith All rights reserved under the Pan-American and International Copyright Conventions Printed in the United States This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system now known or hereafter invented, without written permission from the publisher. 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Digit on the right indicates the number of this printing Library of Congress Control Number: 2008926966 ISBN 978-0-7624-3520-3 Cover and Interior Designed by Matthew Goodman Cover photograph by Varon Panganiban Edited by Greg Jones Running Press Book Publishers 2300 Chestnut Street Philadelphia, PA 19103-4371 Visit us on the web! www.runningpress.com LosAngeles_Int.qxd 2/19/09 10:37 AM Page 5 CONTENTS 9 Acknowledgements 10 Introduction 12 The Best Fans in Southern California 15 Top 10 Reasons People Say We’re Terrible Fans 17 Top 10 Lakers Celebrity Fans 19 Top 12 Lakers Draft Picks 22 The 10 Best “Big Game” Players :: James Worthy 24 Top 10 Greatest Lakers Moments 27 The 10 Most Spectacular, Unforgettable and Surreal Moments from the Lakers’ Three-Peat Parades 29 The 10 Greatest Lakers 32 All-Time Lakers No. 1 to 10 34 Top 10 Lakers Who Made a Difference Off the Court :: Jeanie Buss 36 Top 10 Reasons Why Shaq and Kobe Couldn’t Work It Out 39 My Favorite Venues :: Kobe Bryant 41 The 10 Best Duos (or More) in Los Angeles Sports 43 Top 10 “Chickisms” 45 Top 10 Sportscasters in Los Angeles History 47 Top 10 Reasons the Dodgers Have Not Been to the World Series in 20 Years 49 The 10 Worst Draft Picks in Lakers History 51 Jim Hill’s All-Time Favorite Interviews :: Jim Hill 53 The Best Los Angeles Sports Blogs 55 The 10 Biggest Lottery Pick Busts in L.A. Clippers History 57 The 10 Worst Coaches in Clippers History 59 Top 10 Skateboarders of All Time 61 The 11 So Cal Punk Bands You Might Not Know but Should 63 The 10 Songs I’d Prefer to Never Hear Again at a Sporting Event 65 Top 10 Best Johnsons in L.A. Sports History LosAngeles_Int.qxd 2/19/09 10:37 AM Page 6 67 The All-Time 1-10 Roster by Uniform Number 69 Top 6 Things I Love About Going to the Ballpark 71 The 10 Best Individual Seasons in Angels History 73 The 10 Worst Managers in Angels History 77 The 10 Most Remarkable Numbers Associated with Nolan Ryan 79 Top 10 Reasons Why the Angels Won the 2002 World Series 81 The 10 Players Who Fell to the Curse of the Angels 83 The 10 Best Baseball Players to Attend High School in Los Angeles or Orange County 85 The 10 Best High School Athletes in the Past 30 Years :: Eric Sondheimer 87 Top 10 Los Angeles Area Sporting Venues 90 The 10 Best Bars/Restaurants to Watch a Game 92 Top 10 People Who Made an Impact with Both the Angels and the Dodgers 95 The 10 Best Rookie Seasons in Los Angeles Dodgers History 97 The 10 Best Nicknames in Los Angeles Dodgers History 99 The 10 Best Los Angeles-Area Athlete Nicknames :: Jimmy Kimmel 100 The 10 Biggest One-Year Wonders in Dodgers History 102 The 10 Worst Third Basemen in Dodgers History 105 The 10 Former All-Stars Who Wished They Never Played for the Dodgers 107 My 10 Best Teammates :: Eric Karros 109 The 10 Greatest Pitching Achievements in Los Angeles Dodgers History 111 The Best and Worst Post-Season Starts in Los Angeles Dodgers History 114 Top 10 Reasons Steve Garvey Should Be in the Hall of Fame 116 The Los Angeles Frankenstein 118 The “Unlucky Seven” Defunct Sports Franchises from Los Angeles and Orange County 120 Top 10 Uniforms in the History of Los Angeles Sports 122 Top 10 Reasons the Raiders Failed in Los Angeles 124 The 10 Worst Draft Picks in Los Angeles Raiders History 126 The 10 Biggest Characters on Los Angeles’ Only Super Bowl Winner LosAngeles_Int.qxd 2/19/09 10:37 AM Page 7 129 The 10 Biggest Pro Football Stars Who Played in Los Angeles on Non-NFL Teams 132 The 10 Worst NFL Quarterbacks in Los Angeles History 134 Top 10 Greatest Sports Video Games 136 Top 10 Reasons Why The David Beckham Experiment Failed 138 Top 10 Record-Setting Los Angeles Rams Players 140 My Top Ten Running Backs :: Eric Dickerson 142 Top 8 Reasons Why Georgia Frontiere was the Most Hated Owner in L.A. Sports History 144 The 10 Games that Crushed a True Rams Fan 147 Best Athlete Performances—on the Big and Small Screen 149 Top 10 Super Bowl Experience Observations 152 My 10 Favorite Los Angeles “Sports” Themed “YouTube” Videos 155 My 10 Best Sports Movies 158 L.A. Athletes One Celebrity Cousin/Comedy Writer/Undefeated Professional Wrestler Thinks He Can Best in a Fight :: Cousin Sal from Jimmy Kimmel Live 159 The 10 Greatest Moments in Kings History 162 Top 10 Los Angeles Kings 164 Luc Robitaille’s “Lucky Goals” 166 Top 9 Reasons Why “99” Was Bad for the Kings 168 Top 10 Reasons Why the Kings Will Never Win a Cup 170 The 10 Most “Interesting” Looking Athletes in Los Angeles History 172 Top 10 Reasons Why the Ducks Won the Cup in 2007 174 Top 10 Money Golf Courses in Southern California 176 Top 10 Los Angeles Area College Mascots 178 The 10 Greatest Baseball Players in USC History 180 The 10 Best USC Running Backs Who Did Not Win the Heisman 182 Top 10 USC Draft Busts in the NFL 184 The 10 Biggest Upsets in the USC-UCLA Football Rivalry LosAngeles_Int.qxd 2/19/09 10:37 AM Page 8 186 The 10 Greatest NFL Players Who Played at UCLA 188 The 10 Greatest Athletes in UCLA History 190 The 10 Greatest College Hoops Players Who Didn’t Go to UCLA 192 Rating the Post-John Wooden UCLA Basketball Coaches from Worst to First 195 The 10 Worst NCAA Basketball Tournament Losses for UCLA 198 The 10 Greatest Final Four Performances in UCLA History 200 The Five Biggest Surprises and the Five Biggest Busts for UCLA in the NBA 202 The All-Time Top 100 Los Angeles Athletes 214 Index 8 LosAngeles_Int.qxd 2/19/09 10:37 AM Page 9 Dedication Steve Hartman dedicates this book to his family: Denise, Garrett, Drake and Paris Matt “Money” Smith, unlike Steve, doesn’t need a book to show his family he loves them. Instead, he dedicates this to all the idiots (like himself) who wasted their em- ployers’ money arguing about sports during work hours. Acknowledgements Us. That’s right, us. We did it all—with the help of Al Gore’s invention (the Internet) and a few media guides. Matt’s friend Bob helped a little bit with the hockey, and Jim Hill had to put up with Hartman writing his portion of the book during his Sports CentralTV appearances on the weekend. We would also like to thank everyone who helped out with a “guest” list: Jeanie Buss, Kobe Bryant, Luc Robitaille, James Worthy, Erik Karros, Eric Dick- erson, Jim Hill, Jimmy Kimmel, and his Cousin Sal. A big thank-you to Greg Jones at Running Press for asking us to put this book to- gether; we certainly enjoyed the process. 9
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