The World Series went from a potential Freeway Series to a Noway Series in Los Angeles as the Dodgers were ousted from the playoffs and the Angels will soon follow. (Mark it down, the Angels are finished. There is no coming back three straight against this Yankee team. If I’m wrong I will eat crow, literally. I will go out find a live crow and eat it–oh wait, will that make PETA angry?). There will be a freeway involved in the World Series, but it won’t be the “5 Freeway” that some beloved Los Angeles fans, and the local media pined for.

From where I sit most of these fans didn’t deserve it anyway.

There was more hype in this city for the Lakers’ first round playoff matchup with the Utah Jazz than with the Dodgers NLCS rematch with the Phillies. There wasn’t a smorgasbord of Matt Kemp jerseys floating around the city or those mid-90s car flags with the Dodger logo flying from innumerable cars on that precious 5 freeway. (I won’t get into the lack of Los Angeles Angles of Anaheim Orange County Pacific Ocean, for there are so few actually in L.A. In fact I’ve seen so much more Yankee paraphernalia than Angels it makes me wonder if LeBron brainwashed everyone.)

Any of that buzz about a matchup between the Dodgers and Angels was media driven and lacked any of the gusto of a true rivalry.

Los Angeles remains anything but an baseball city.

The Lakers are numero uno. This is obvious to anyone in or outside the city. I won’t fault L.A. fans for this, the Lakers have been good and had stars much longer than the Dodgers. And anyone who follows sports knows the longer you are good the more bandwagon fans will say on board.

The worse injustice I’ve witnessed is that this is even more a football town than a baseball city. And they don’t even have a freakin’ NFL team. Charger, 49ers and Raiders jerseys can be seen in public with more regularity than any Dodger jerseys.  The hype over USC football is even bigger.

On Tuesday while the Angels tried to even their ALCS matchup and the Dodgers geared up to try and get back in the NLCS, guess where the local CBS lead sports anchor was. Outside USCs Heritage Hall interviewing  football coach Pete Carroll about Satruday’s game against a 4-2 Oregon State team.  Really, it’s true.

I realize that in a city like L.A. there is so much going on some things get lost in the shuffle. With the college football season in conference play and the Lakers about to start defense of their NBA title fans can’t follow everything. That doesn’t count the beaches that are still warm enough to frequent (85 degrees today…suck it Midwest) and other distractions outside of sports.

But you are in the middle of a not one but TWO Championship Series. If there ever was a time  a city should be buzzing about baseball it was the past week. But the buzz was as about loud as a baby beetle in heat.

It’s sad really. Sure fans showed up at the stadiums clad with their ugly Manny-wigs and Rally Monkeys, but outside of the stadiums you wouldn’t have known important baseball was being played.

Maybe fans were sheltering their emotions for the inevitable collapses they have been accustomed to, especially from their Dodgers. Or maybe people really could care less about baseball.

There was little outcry after the Dodgers were ousted from the playoff–much less than when Andrew Bynum went down with an injury last fall. There will be even less when the Angles are eventually chased from the diamond.

For all the claims that the media has an East Coast bias, the fans in Los Angeles did little to give them a reason not to focus on the Northeast when it comes to baseball.

But hey, at least Dodger fans are good at fighting:

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Kevin Patra lives by the adage: Those who can’t do or teach, write.  Currently, he is a graduate student at the University of Southern California studying online journalism, after spending four years at the University of Michigan obtaining a bachelors degree from the school of Language, Science & Fun.  Patra grew up watching the terrible Tigers teams of the 90s–Travis Fryman was his favorite player–and considers 2006 one the greatest summers of his life so far.

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