Los Angeles 2020 city of champions
Written by RasMahddy on October 30, 2020
LOS ANGELES (RVSports) – The sports Gods smiled on Los Angeles in a year when it looked like nothing could go right, rewarding long-suffering fans of the city’s beloved Dodgers and Lakers with championships just weeks apart, but due to COVID-19, formal celebrations will have to wait.
On Tuesday, the Dodgers defeated the Tampa Bay Rays to clinch the club’s first championship in 32 years after suffering heartbreaking World Series defeats in 2017 and 2018.
Stunned by the death of former star player Kobe Bryant in a January helicopter accident, the LeBron James-led Lakers defeated the Miami Heat to end their decade-long championship drought earlier in the month.
The World Series was held entirely in Arlington , Texas, with a small number of fans attending to guard against the outbreak, while the NBA post-season took place in a fan-free, bio-secure bubble near Orlando.
But COVID-19 doesn’t have any off-season, over-ruling the players’ intense urge to parade their hardware in front of tens of thousands of loving fans.
“Man can we PLEASE have a parade!!!” NBA Finals MVP James, a diehard Dodger fan, tweeted after Tuesday’s game.
“I know I know we can’t but DAMN I wanna celebrate with our Lakers & Dodgers fans!!! LA is the city of CHAMPIONS.”
The pandemic also managed to snatch some of the attention from the victorious Dodgers on Tuesday when Justin Turner, the team’s third baseman, was taken out of the game in the eighth inning after testing positive for the virus.
Turner, who had said that he had no symptoms, ignored the orders of the league to separate himself and returned to the field to speak to his teammates during the celebration, raise the trophy, and take maskless photographs.
On Wednesday, MLB criticized Turner and said it was investigating the matter. How soon the Dodgers and Rays will also be able to return home is unknown.
While fans of both teams took to the streets in large numbers for outdoor rowdy celebrations on the nights of their victories in defiance of city orders, Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw preached patience.
“One day we will be able to celebrate,” he said.
“There will be a parade. I don’t know when, but when that day comes, Turner will be there.
“No matter what, we’re World Series champions.”
