On early Sunday evening at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, its hometown team, the Los Angeles Rams, triumphed in Super Bowl LVI by a final score of 23-20 over the Cincinnati Bengals to bring another professional sports title to Hollywood.
The Rams, led by Cooper Kupp, Matthew Stafford, Odell Beckham, Jr. (who got hurt in Sunday’s game), Aaron Donald, Von Miller, Jalen Ramsey and coach Sean McVay will be honored with a parade in the area of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum – where the team called its temporary home in the first few seasons the Rams were in LA after moving from St. Louis.
Los Angeles has been basking in the glow of its recent titletown status as of late. In 2020, amidst the backdrop of the pandemic, the Los Angeles Lakers, led by LeBron James, prevailed in the NBA’s bubble in six games over the Miami Heat to raise another championship banner to the rafters of Crypto.com Arena. Later that year, the Los Angeles Dodgers won MLB’s World Series.
Of course, the Lakers and Dodgers were sans celebratory parades because of pandemic concerns. The Rams will get a parade, but LBJ said himself he thinks there should be a joint parade honoring the Dodgers, Lakers and Rams. That obviously will not happen since the Lakers are in the midst of their season and the Dodgers are unable to promote its players because of the ongoing baseball lockout.
Ever since the Rams triumphed over Joe Burrow and the Bengals in Super Bowl LVI, lots of talk has likely ensued about Los Angeles sports championships – whether those have come from teams that play in LA proper like the Dodgers and Lakers or teams that play in suburbs such as the Rams or Angels.
There is another team that must not be forgotten when considering Southern California sports championships – the WNBA team that sports the exact same purple and gold as the Lakers with a tinge of teal as well.
For much of the history of the Los Angeles Sparks, the team has been consistent winners in the WNBA. We must not forget that on the heels of the Houston Comets christening the WNBA with its four championships from 1997-2000 to establish the W’s first dynasty, in came the Sparks led by Lisa Leslie that brought WNBA championship hardware to Tinseltown.
The Sparks, one of the WNBA’s Original Eight teams, won its first championship in 2001 over the Charlotte Sting when the Finals, simply referred to as the WNBA Championship at the time, was a best of three instead of its current best of five. Los Angeles also won the following season’s championship with a 2-0 sweep of the New York Liberty.
Leslie was Finals MVP both seasons.
The Sparks made it back to the Finals the following season in 2002, but were bested that season by the Detroit Shock in three games.
A number of seasons would go by before the Sparks met up with championship glory once again, but Los Angeles’ time to shine came once again in 2016 when the Sparks, at the time when the team’s rivalry with the Minnesota Lynx became the biggest story in the WNBA, brought championship No. 3 to the City of Angels.
Candace Parker won Finals MVP that season.
Los Angeles nearly picked up No. 4 the following season against those same Lynx, but Minnesota would prevail the following season for its own fourth championship, solidifying the Lynx as the team of the 2010s.
When discussing Los Angeles’ history of recent sports championships, the Sparks not only need to be part of the conversation, the team needs to be front and center as part of the conversation. And yeah, we can see the “nobody watches the WNBA” troll posts a mile away.
First of all – Nneka Ogwumike was part of a Super Bowl ad for Michelob Ultra (which holds naming rights to the Las Vegas Aces’ home arena) where the company pledged $100 million to support gender equality in sports. That spot also featured Serena Williams, Alex Morgan and Jimmy Butler.
Second of all – in the last “normal” WNBA season prior to the pandemic, 2019, only two teams averaged at least 10,000 fans per game. The Sparks were one of those two teams – the Phoenix Mercury were the other. Angelenos care about the Sparks – a lot.
Third of all – and this may be the most important stat – for a city that is teeming with professional sports franchises, the Sparks in the timespan from 2001 to today have brought more championships to Los Angeles than any other team except two – the Lakers (who have won six championships from 2001 to today) and MLS’ LA Galaxy who have been winners of five MLS Cups.
So while this week may be all about Stafford, Kupp and Donald, ensure that their names are firmly entrenched in SoCal sports history – as should be the case with Leslie, Parker and Ogwumike.
