UCLA or USC? You Decide In The First Annual MILITANT BOWL!

It's that time of the year again, folks! It's the rivalry that dwarfs all So Cal sports rivalries! It makes the Dodgers-Angels rivalry look like a tee-ball game, it makes the Galaxy-Chivas rivalry look like soccer mom fodder, it makes the Kings-Ducks rivalry look like slushy Zamboni scrapings. It even makes the Lakers-Clippers riv...okay there really is no basketball rivalry in Southern California, but still, when it comes to intercollegiate sports rivalries in the same metropolitan area, This Is It. No other city in the USA, or even the world, can lay claim to a rivalry such as this.

This is, as you may or may not know, the weekend where the UCLA Bruins (6-5) face off against the USC Trojans (7-3; note: the Militant lists the schools in alphabetical order, hence the reason why UCLA goes before USC). Unlike the past several years, where the Trojans passed this off as a practice round before their inevitable new year's Bowl game glory, three stinging losses knocked them down to Earth from the Top 3 in the BCS rankings down to #20. The Bruins, playing a better-than-expected season this year with a few key victories, hopes to take advantage of the Trojans' fall from grace and become the city rivalry victor for the first time since 2006. However, history smiles more favorably on the Cardinal and Gold as the Trojans have won 9 out of the past 10 matchups, and lead the all-time record with 43 wins, 28 losses and seven ties.

The schools have fought for not only bragging rights, but a Victory Bell and a corporately-sponsored Gauntlet.

But what about the fans? The diehard Angelenos representing their schools, their ties to the schools, or their bandwagon statuses? How do they settle the score?

The Militant offers the solution: The Inaugural MILITANT BOWL!

It's like this: from the moment this post is published to the moment of kickoff at Saturday's game, UCLA and USC fans can post their respective roots and cheers for their school below in the Comments section of this blog entry. Points will be awarded (and deducted) and the winner will be announced via This Here Blog as well as the Militant's Twitter account.

The Militant will temporarily change out of his camo fatigues and into black-and-white referee stripes! [WHISTLE] So here are the rules! Read carefully!

MILITANT BOWL - OFFICIAL RULES

1. Post a comment below in the Comments section of this blog entry, beginning with "GO UCLA!" or "GO USC!" and then explain, in your opinion, why [UCLA/USC] rules or sucks.

2. ONE entry per person! Subsequent entries by the same comment poster account will be disregarded.

3. You are, however, more than welcome to encourage other fans to post their own comments!

3. Each comment poster must have a screen/user name. Any comments posted by "anonymous" will BE DISQUALIFIED!

4. Comment must be a clear root or diss towards one of the teams. Ambiguous comments will also BE DISQUALIFIED! Also, wise-ass comments irrelevant to UCLA or USC will also BE DISQUALIFIED!

5. Each root for one school or diss against the other school will earn 1 point for the appropriate school.

6. Profanity will be permitted but let's keep this (relatively) civil and respectful! No _____-ist or _____-phobic comments please. Any comment of that nature will be penalized -1 point!

7. A root or diss comment of an extremely witty nature will earn 3 points!

8. In the event of a tie, The Militant Angeleno may or may not exercise his right to use his personal bias towards his unspecified alma mater and name it as the winner of the tiebreaker. So yes, the Militant will have to reveal his unspecified alma mater! LET'S TRY TO AVOID THIS FROM HAPPENING, FOLKS!

9. The comment period shall begin from the moment of this blog entry's posting and will close at the moment of kick-off at Saturday's game (around 7 p.m. this Saturday)!

10. THE WINNER OF "MILITANT BOWL I" WILL BE ANNOUNCED BY HALFTIME OF SATURDAY'S FOOTBALL GAME!

Are you excited? The Militant sure is, and not just because his Comments section will artificially inflate for the next day and a half. But as you may or may not know, the Militant is a proud alum of one of the schools, and the rivalry is one of the highlights of the Militant's year! So get out there and post your comments! MAY THE BEST SCHOOL WIN!

Michael Jackson Memorial - The Militant WILL Be There!

The Militant woke up this morning and got the email.

No not that email. He already got the one that read:

Thank you for your registration.


Sorry, we regret to inform you that your registration to attend the Public Memorial Service for Michael Jackson was not selected.


Hundreds of thousands registered, but only a few can be in attendance.

No, this was a different email. One from an operative, who asked if the Militant wanted to go to the big Michael Jackson Memorial on Tuesday at Staples Center. "Of course!" The Militant replied. The operative, though, could not retrieve the tickets between the 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. pickup time at Dodger Stadium. So the operative forwarded the voucher (pictured left) to the Militant, who printed it out, and he volunteered to retrieve them at The Stadium.

Knowing it may or may not be a traffic snafu there, the Militant rode on his bike and was able to get in and out in a flash (if you saw a bike riding though the Dodger Stadium parking lot - it may or may not be the Militant himself)!

After riding in the main Sunset Gate where is voucher was scanned, he followed the auto traffic to a spot at Dodger Stadium Lot 3 near the Golden State Gate, where he ran into a section of the lot divided into several lanes by traffic cones. The first person he met asked to see his voucher and put a golden wristband on his arm. Yes, he has to wear this thing for the next 19 hours and use it to gain entry into the cordoned-off area surrounding Staples Center. A second wristband was handed over to him.

He was ready to leave, assuming they were the "tickets," when he decided to take more pictures of the goings-on. A few newsvans and police officers in cruisers and bikes (really, did there need to be that many?)were also in the house. Then he noticed staff handing out paper tickets and he wanted to know what was up.

Duh. So the Militant rode his bike to the end of the lane, where they took his voucher printout, tore it up, discarded it in a recycling bin and handed him a pair of purple tickets for the event.

Score! (Seat location and barcode pixelated out to maintain the Militant's anonymity in top picture)

As a long queue of cars waited to exit the Golden State Gate, the Militant rode on through on his bike, unencumbered. So long, suckas!

Now, the Militant knows what you're all thinking. "What's the deal with MJ, MA? It's soooo mainstream. Have you sold out?"

The Militant admits Michael Jackson is as far from the Militant as one can get (well, actually, not quite). He's never been to a Michael Jackson concert, never had a glitter glove, never had Michael Jackson posters in his room, never owned a red zipper jacket.

But the Militant, in his 30somethingness, can't deny MJ played a large role in his '80s music memories. He does own three unspecified Michael Jackson albums, two of them are on vinyl LP (You can pretty much take a wild guess at what one of them is). And the day the "Thriller" video came out, it was nonetheless a cultural event the day the Militant's dad came home from The Wherehouse and popped the tape into the old Betamax (The Militant certainly hopes no pictures of a 12 year-old Militant in a red zipper jacket ever surface).

But in the interest of Militancy, the Militant sees it this way: On Tuesday, July 7, 2009, the entire world's eyes will be focused on Los Angeles. At least for a few hours (again). we can lay claim to being the center of the world. In an age where collective consciousness is splintered into various niches, thanks to the Internet and specialized media, it's a rare sight to see such a major cultural event take place, the Militant will be there to witness it, and it's right here in our backyards.

The Militant will, of course, either be riding his bike or riding the (M)etro there. If you're going to the memorial at Staples Center Tuesday and don't, not only will you suck, but you're gonna make millions of other people's lives suck as well. The Militant can never suck!

The Militant will be Twittering (depending on signal quality) from Staples Center! Follow him at http://twitter.com/militantangleno!

Kobe Diem at the Coliseum a.k.a. LAKER-CON '09!

Before the Militant talks about his Wednesday celebrating All Things Lakers, he would like to tell all the celebrationphobes out there one thing:

THE MILITANT TOLD YA SO!!

Okay, now that he's gotten that out of the way, he'll run this real quickly, since by now you probably saw and read the Twitter tweets and Flickr albums containing various angles of the same thing.

The Militant, along with Militant Operative Valleypinoy joined some 94,998 others at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum to celebrate the tema's 15th NBA championship victory. Though many wussies out there feared teh worst, it was a largely positive, joyous event with people of all ages and ethicities, especially children, and women (Because let's face it, Sunday night's Kunckleheadfest was a bit too testosterone-driven)
in the house (and the Militant was quite glad to see some of the ladies there, rawwrr!).

You all know what happened, and the Militant was certain people in Orlando could hear the faint sound of the word "RING!" echoing from the west. The Militant was most fascinated by the sight of the actual Staples Center Lakers court floor, set up by the eastern end zone of the Coliseum (where the Sun Deck is for you USC Trojans fans). Just think, this was probably the very first time that the floor has seen the light of day (and what a day, in terms of weather - warm enough to be a Summer day, but cool enough for some nice breezes to blow through. And to boot, this was by far the largest assembly of Laker fans evar in one place. LAKER-CON '09!

Could this be the start of a new tradition? Say, in the near future, the first-ever outdoor Lakers game, with the court floor set up in the middle of the Coliseum field? The NBA's 2010 All-Star Game will take place in a football stadium, and we all know the Lakers' professional sports franchise neighbor up the 110 brought in 115,300 people for a baseball game last year (the Militant was there, of course!). Add to that the fact that the Lakers made Exposition Park their first home, and you can assume the Purple and Gold will one day play a special game in the home of Los Angeles' Olympic Gold.

Maybe LAKER-CON '09 was a big selling pitch for the Coliseum, which may or may not go on sale soon to the highest bidder as the State of California is desperately seeking to some revenue. Sale or not, the event did further solidify the venue as the heart and home of Los Angeles sports.

And if the Lakers do a back-to-back again next year, let's hope the (M) Expo Line gets finished early!

MORE PICS!!!!!!!1

This dude had the best hat in the entire Coliseum.

We're not 'Worthy!' This dude rocks it old school with a 1988 World Champs banner and cap, both signed by James Worthy!

Derek Fisher tells Laker fans to STAY MILITANT!

Phil Jack"X"on, riding in the Coachmobile.

Though there were a few minor incidents, the mood was cheerful and positive, even as people left the Coliseum.

Tons of Los Angeles sports fans in Exposition Park, not there for a football game. Now where has the Militant seen that before?

The people's parade: After the celebration, the fans made their own!

Your Fear Of Celebration?

The Militant feels compelled to make this one extra post tonight because he's been hearing this from a lot of folks:

"I'm gonna pass on the Laker parade tomorrow. Don't want to deal with the knuckleheads."

"I'm just gonna watch in the safety of my own home. Too many knuckleheads tomorrow."

"The Coliseum!? That's the worst part of town. F--- that! Stupid idea to have the celebration there. I never go to that side of town!"

What you have here folks, is the "F" word: FEAR.

Look, the Militant distinctly remembers going to Staples Center after the Lakers won the 2000 NBA Finals, and got out of there quick because of what went down (which apparently was much worse than what we saw on Sunday, but thanks to people's short-term memories, no one knows that). More people were arrested and more vehicles were destroyed on June 19, 2000 than on June 14, 2009.

That also didn't stop the Militant from attending the Laker parade a few days later, which went off without a hitch, and save for a handful of arrests, it was a peaceful and jubilant celebration for a team that brought back the Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy to Los Angeles after 12 long years.

For those of you who didn't understand what the Militant said in the past two paragraphs, the Militant will break it down in terms that you can comprehend:

2009 Laker Riot: BAD!
2000 Laker Riot: MORE BAD!
2000 Laker Parade: NO RIOT! STILL GOOD!

The Militant hopes you have the mental capacity to digest such complex axioms.

If you're not going to the Laker Parade tomorrow because you can't take the day off, no problem! But for those of you who are afraid of "the knuckleheads," then you're part of the problem! Basically you're letting them take over the event, much like people's attitudes towards neighborhoods, parks, and urban nightlife. If you truly are a Laker Fan, then don't let these punks take over YOUR event. This is YOUR event! Don't let them represent YOUR team! Take ownership, have no fear (As a certain Jedi Master once verbalized, "Fear is the path to the Dark Side...") and STAY MILITANT!

The Militant WILL be at the Laker celebration tomorrow at the Coliseum! (Remember to get there Militant Style: Ride your bikes or take the Metro Bus, folks!)

The Militant will leave you with this awesome Laker, the hero of Game 4, known for his class as well as his clutch, speaking from his purple and gold heart:

Vlogstyle 02: The Militant Takes You To The Coliseum!

So maybe the Militant is trying to make up for lost time and "pad up" his post count, but he really wanted to go all vloggy on you with the Coliseum game, so here it is, the Militant's second installment of "Vlogstyle!" -- especially for those of you who weren't there and didn't get to go because you had to fly back to another west coast state that day (That operative knows exactly who the Militant is talking about). Not only that, but the Militant wants his video to be one of the top-viewed YouTube vids for those of you who search for "Dodgers Coliseum." And come on, the Militant and his operatives worked real hard on this one.

SPECIAL CONTEST! The first person to spot Councilman Tom LaBonge in the video wins a Dodger-related prize! Email the Militant with the YouTube time code to enter!

The Exhibition at Exposition a.k.a. DODGER-CON '08!

The Militant, along with 115,249 other Dodger Fans (and about 50 Red Sox fans) made history Saturday night as the largest crowd ever to watch a baseball game.

The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum contained a crowd the size of two Dodger Stadiums, with enough left over to fill the Kodak Theatre.

Though the Dodgers lost 7-4, it didn't matter much since not only did the game not count towards the standings anyway, but the Militant, along with others in his generation and younger, simply went for the experience of watching a baseball game at the Coliseum. Besides, never before had so many Dodger fans, decked out in blue, assembled in one place before. From the moment the first tailgate canopy went up to the last person who got on the shuttle bus back to the Dodger Stadium parking lot (which should have been about 4:10 a.m. on Sunday morning), the whole day could have been called, "DODGER-CON '08!"

Perhaps the most storied of existing sports venues in the world, the Militant doesn't have to tell you the Coliseum hosted two Olympics, the first Super Bowl, a World Series, international soccer events, motocross, popes, presidents and rock concerts. But he just did.

But for all that history, watching a Dodger home game at another venue aside from The Stadium sure messed up everyone's baseball game paradigm.

The differences skewed with everyone's senses.

At the Stadium, the scent of Dodger Dog vapors and the aroma of beer fills the air. At the Coliseum, there were no Dodger Dogs (well there was a facsimile called the "Colosso Dog," also of Farmer John stock, but still not a Dodger Dog) and pre-game, the prevalent scent was the smell of kettle popcorn. The addition of funnel cake and other sorts of food stands gave the Coliseum a county fair-type atmosphere. But at least some of the booths, such as the nachos and jumbo dog booths, gave you a hefty portion for your money.

The acoustics were markedly different, without the reverberant concrete hallways under stadium tiers to amplify the sound, and with the Coliseum seats slowly rotting away, perhaps no one wanted to band their fists on them. The Militant was expecting deafening roars from the crowd, but it didn't really sound that much louder than a crowd at The Stadium.

It was also clear that the Coliseum's public address system was more antiquated than that at The Stadium, with Dodger announcer Eric Smith's trademark baritone voice missing a great deal of its characteristic bass. Even organist Nancy Bea Hefley sounded different, without the luxury of her Roland Atelier organ, she was relegated to playing a standard keyboard instrument up in the cruise ship-like Coliseum press box structure. And the Coliseum's scoreboard and videoscreen were less-than-adequate substitutes for the ones that loom over the Stadium Pavilions.

The Coliseum crew, decked out in yellow rain jackets, were way more chill than the Bermuda shorts army that tends The Stadium. When beach balls were thrown throughout the stands, not only did the Coliseum crew tolerate it, they helped hit the balls over the crowd! They weren't as chill when it came to fans in the extreme top row of the Coliseum taking down the blue and white Dodger flags that adorned the rim of the venue. Watch for them on eBay soon!

With no Pavilion section, where was the rowdy crowd to be seen? Where does The Wave generate? Never feat, for the section behind the 60-foot high left field (or lack thereof?) screen played the surrogate role of the Pavilion section on Saturday night. Of course, the dimensions of the field (and that dang screen) needed no mention. Neither did the 5-man infield the Dodgers decided to play. But hey, James Loney will go down in history as the only post-1961 Dodger to hit a Moon Shot in the Coliseum....

...That is, until 2058.

Most importantly, the Dodgers' Think Cure! charity raised at least $1 million for cancer research, which directly benefits Children's Hospital Los Angeles and The City of Hope.

But Saturday night had all the trappings of the right kind of event for the Militant -- The Dodgers, Los Angeles history and tons of Angelenos there to share in the sheer excitement (and also for the Militant to conceal himself in so he won't get noticed).

Even The Coliseum Has Better Bike Parking

Despite having massively skewed baseball field dimensions, peculiar acoustics and the lack of Dodger Dogs, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum does have at least one distinct advantage over The Stadium: Better bicycle parking.

Yes, one enterprising cyclist (in a rare declaration of specificity - not the Militant (otherwise the bike would be pixelated out in this photo)) not only had the ballz to chain his bike against the railing inside the Coliseum during the big Dodger game on Saturday, but apparently none of the yellowjackets who staffed the venue gave that person a hard time.

Something to think about next time you're off to Exposition Park for a USC football game, an international soccer event or a rock concert.

Fight On USCLA Fight Fight Fight!

Today is the 78th meeting between the UCLA Bruins and the USC Trojans, this time at the Trojans' home turf (at least for now?), the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

This is a difficult topic for the Militant, as in another persona, he is an ardent fan of one of those schools, of which he may or may not be an alumnus of. Revealing his allegiance on this here blog might alienate some readers from the other side...nah, screw that - it's only because it's going to be that much easier to uncover his identity.

But this is a huge game with a certain game on New Year's Day on the line for either school.

The Militant will say this though - you can keep your snobby, ivy-encrusted Harvard vs. Yale rivalry, stick your farm boy Michigan vs. Ohio State rivalry up your you-know-what, along with any other generic "University of [state name x]" vs. "[state name x] State" rivalry, because no other collegiate rivalry on this scale anywhere in the nation is contained within the same city's limits. That is something that ESPN, nor any other East-Coast biased media sports outlet will ever tell you. "L.A. isn't a sports town," you say? Silly transplant. The Trojan and Bruin fans of this town of many sports both agree to disagree with you.

May the team the Militant personally roots for win!

'08 Dodgers To Play In China, Coliseum? '07 World Series - Go Rockies?

Believe it or not, Angelenos, it's still baseball season...

First and foremost, the Dodgers. Now follow the Militant: Close your eyes, take a deep breath, inhale...exhale...think positive thoughts...ease your mind...forget about the second half of the 2007 season. There you go.

We all know that 2008 marks the 50th anniversary of the Los Angeles Dodgers, and that a Dodger float will run down Pasadena's Colorado Blvd. on New Year's Day. But according to Dodgers.com, some interesting preseason games are currently in the works.

First off, the MLB is working out an exhibition game in Beijing, China between the Daygo Padres and the Dodgers, at the 12,000-seat Wukesong Baseball Field, which will be a venue for the 2008 Olympics later that year. Should be even more interesting if Taiwanese players like Chin-Lung Hu, Chin-Hui Tsao or Hong-Chih Kuo are still on the team and get to play in the Mainland next March.

Next, the report goes on to reveal that the "home" games of the annual Exhibition Freeway Series against the Angels are slated to be played at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (pictured above), right where they first played ball half a century ago. Generations of Dodger fans, including the Militant, never got a chance to see a baseball game at the Coliseum, so this would be one totally awesome opportunity - left field screen and all - for today's True Blue to have that experience. Too bad this thing won't be open in time so that Los Angeles Dodger fans can finally dodge a trolley to see a game. But perhaps the Exhibition at Exposition will either open the dialogue on transit access to Dodger Stadium or even resurrect the idea of replacing the outdated Memorial Sports Arena with a new stadium for the Dodgers. Oh well, at the very least there's always Metro Rapid.

Perhaps the Dodgers should take it one step further in '08 and have their season opener at the Coliseum and an actual home opener back at the Stadium - that way we'd have two home openers in the same season.

Heck, if this offseason's Stadium renovation takes too long, that might just happen.

Rox, Not Sox!

The Militant just found out today that there's still some baseball being played somewhere in some old-ass green-colored stadium Out East. Though those Purple Pebbles have annoyed the hell out of this Militant all season long, especially having players with equally annoying-sounding names like Hawpe, Spillborghs, Tulowitzki and some dude named Yorvit, if they do win the World Series this year, they'd join the Dodgers (5 titles) and the Diamondbacks (1 title) as the only National League West teams to have ever won a World Series. And guess which NL West teams have an empty trophy case?

That's right...the Frisco Giants and Daygo Padres. Great way to stick it to 'em next season!

Oh yeah, one more reason for rooting for the Rockies right now: They're playing against the BoraSox. That's right, a team filled with hos that work for their pimp, agent (and baseball antichrist) Scott Boras. Especially when those hos have familiar names like J.D. Drew, Julio Lugo, Alex Cora and that skanky, gold-digging ho...ER*C G*GNE! (cough, cough, cough...damn, that smoke's still bothering the Militant...). 'Nuff said. Oh yeah, that and BoraSox fans are one of the most annoying in baseball. Yes, the Militant was on their side in the '04 World Series, and would be on their side anytime they play against a team from NYC, but sheesh, winning one title for the first time since before radio was invented does not automatically make the BoraSox baseball gods. Enough already.

Although the Rox were humbled by the BoraSox on Wednesday by losing their first game since September 28, maybe they can make a comeback. So go Rox! The Militant would really want to stick it to those Giants and Padres fans next season.