LA Sports Teams
Los Angeles Lakers
The Los Angeles Lakers are a National Basketball Association (NBA) team based in Los Angeles, California. The Lakers play their home games at Staples Center, which they share with their fellow NBA rival, the Los Angeles Clippers, and their sister team, the Los Angeles Sparks of the WNBA.
From the George Mikan-led Minneapolis Lakers teams of the '40s and '50s to the "Showtime" era Magic Johnson teams of the late 1980s to Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant's dynasty of the early 21st century, one thing has been consistent about the Lakers: winning. The franchise has boasted a host of Hall of Famers and has compiled a string of championships which has scarcely been rivaled in the history of American sports. The Los Angeles Lakers hold records for having (at the end of the 2010-2011 season) the most wins (3,118), the most NBA Finals appearances (31), the least non-playoff seasons with five (tied with San Antonio Spurs), and the second most NBA championships with 16, behind the Boston Celtics' 17.
Los Angeles Clippers
The Los Angeles Clippers are a professional basketball team based in Los Angeles, California. They play in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and are members of the NBA Western Conference's Pacific Division. The club's home games are played at the Staples Center, which they share with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Los Angeles Sparks
The Los Angeles Sparks are a Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) team based in Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1997, the Sparks are one of the eight original WNBA teams. Also one of the teams that participated in the league's inaugural game, the Sparks are the sister team of the Los Angeles Lakers. Since their inception, the Sparks have been a focal point of the league. The team's major star has always been former USC standout Lisa Leslie, who has led the Sparks since the team's inception.
Los Angeles Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers are a Major League Baseball team based in Los Angeles, California. The team is in the Western Division of the National League. Established in 1883, the team originated in Brooklyn, New York, where it was known as the Brooklyn Dodgers, before moving to Los Angeles before the 1958 season. The Dodgers have won six World Series titles in their history.
Los Angeles Kings
The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles, California. They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL). Founded on February 9, 1966, when Jack Kent Cooke was awarded an NHL expansion franchise for Los Angeles, the Kings called The Forum in Inglewood, California their home for thirty-two years until they moved to Staples Center in Downtown Los Angeles to start the 1999–2000 season.
Los Angeles Galaxy
The Los Angeles Galaxy is an American professional soccer club based in Carson, California. The club plays in Major League Soccer (MLS); America's highest division of soccer. In 1995, the club became one of the ten founding franchises of MLS. The name "Galaxy" refers to Los Angeles being the home of Hollywood "movie stars". They have won the MLS Cup three times (2002, 2005, 2011).
Chivas USA
Club Deportivo Chivas USA (short form: C.D. Chivas USA or Chivas USA) is a professional soccer club based in Carson, California, United States and participates in Major League Soccer. The club, founded in 2004, plays its home games at The Home Depot Center, sharing it with arch-rivals the Los Angeles Galaxy. The official colors of Chivas USA are red, white, and blue, the same as Club Deportivo Guadalajara, one of the most widely-supported teams in Mexico.
Cal State Northridge
CSUN fields 18 sports at the NCAA Division I level, including both men's and women's teams in basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, swimming, track and field, and volleyball. CSUN has a men's baseball team, and women's softball, tennis, and water polo teams. Currently, Men's Soccer is the powerhouse of the school, reaching the NCAA 3rd Round in the 2005-2006 season, knocking out Big West Conference rival UC Santa Barbara in the 2nd Round. However, both the men's and women's Track & Field teams won Big West titles in 2007. CSUN made the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament during the 2008-09 Basketball season seeded #15 in the Western Region.
Loyola Marymount University
Athletic teams at Loyola Marymount are known as Lions; the school's primary athletic affiliation is with the West Coast Conference. While LMU has had success in several sports, it is probably best remembered for its men's basketball teams between 1985 and 1990, with Paul Westhead as coach. To this day, LMU games occupy the top five spots in the list of highest-scoring NCAA Division I basketball games.
Pepperdine University
Pepperdine University participates in the West Coast Conference, a conference made up exclusively of religiously affiliated schools in which it is the only member that is not Catholic. Appropriate for its location adjacent to the Pacific Ocean, Pepperdine's teams are known as the Waves.
Pepperdine University was recently ranked by the Sears Cup as having the most successful athletic program for non-football Division I schools. (UCLA was ranked the most successful Division I athletic program with football.) Pepperdine University sponsors fourteen NCAA Division I intercollegiate athletics teams: baseball, basketball, cross country, golf, tennis, volleyball and water polo teams for men; and basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, swimming, tennis and volleyball for women. There are also a number of intercollegiate sports clubs such as men's soccer, men's and women's lacrosse, Ultimate Frisbee and ice hockey.
UCLA Bruins
As of December 2011, UCLA has won 108 NCAA team championships, and 128 total national team championships—more than any other university. Over the past three-plus decades, no school can match UCLA's combination of NCAA team and individual championships, football bowl games, men's basketball NCAA Tournament appearances and Olympic participation. UCLA is the only school with a No. 1 overall pick in the MLB, NFL, NBA, MLS, and Women’s professional soccer. UCLA is also the only school with winners in top football (Heisman Trophy), men's basketball (Wooden), and baseball (Golden Spikes) awards.
University of Southern California
USC athletics participates in the NCAA Division I-A Pacific Twelve Conference and has won 116 team national championships, 94 of which are NCAA National Championships. The NCAA does not include college football championships in its calculation. Though there are multiple organizations that name national championships, USC claims 11 football championships. Trojan men athletes have won more individual NCAA titles (302) than those from any other school in the nation and the Women of Troy have brought home another 55 individual NCAA crowns for a combined 357 individual NCAA championships.
