New York is a hard place to live even under the most ideal circumstances. Even at a festive time of year like this fresh off the lighting of the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree and the most-viewed Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade in its near-century of existence, the weather and the reality check of someone being able to murdered at sunrise mere blocks away throw a rather large damper on things.
And if you’re one who looks for escape from sports, as I often did when I lived there, you haven’t had all that much luck this fall. We all know what happened in the bigger summer sport; it will be a while before the fifth inning of Game Five of the World Series will be forgotten by any Yankee fan worth their salt. And yesterday, in Chamber Of Commerce perfect 70-ish degree sunshine, the less popular summer sport reached a similar conclusion. As SPORTS ILLUSTRATED’s Amanda Langell reported yesterday:
What a difference a year and a half makes for LA Galaxy. Greg Vanney’s side finished 13th in the Western Conference last season, prompting widespread protests from the club’s loyal fanbase. Now, they are once again MLS Cup champions…(winning) the Philip F. Anschutz Trophy for the first time since 2014 after defeating New York Red Bulls in the 2024 MLS Cup final.
And as THE ASSOCIATED PRESS’ Greg Beacham added, the way this all unfolded was actually even more of an inspiration that was the Dodgers bringing an end to 36 seasons of full-season championship drought:
When the Galaxy raised the MLS Cup again Saturday amid confetti and fireworks, their spectacular transformation was complete. In only one year, a team that was profoundly lost had rediscovered its peerless championship pedigree.
“We won this trophy, and it’s finally back where it belongs,” striker Dejan Joveljic said.
Joseph Paintsil and Joveljic scored in the first half, and the Galaxy won their record sixth MLS Cup championship with a 2-1 victory .
As ESPN’s Jeff Carlisle further noted, they accomplished that in lieu of someone more talented that steered the regular season renaissance:
As the LA Galaxy players waited to hoist their sixth MLS Cup trophy, midfielders Gastón Brugman, Edwin Cerrillo and Mark Delgado met on the field and engaged in a group hug. The celebration was well-earned. The Galaxy have bigger stars certainly. The trio weren’t even among the goal scorers Saturday… though Brugman and Delgado did deliver assists. But the three, comprising a makeshift midfield, played perhaps the biggest role in the Galaxy’s triumph.
The Galaxy even won this title without perhaps their most important player. Riqui Puig, the playmaking midfielder from Barcelona who ran their offense impressively all season long, tore a ligament in his knee last week in the conference final.
Puig watched this game in a suit, but the Catalan catalyst’s teammates hadn’t forgotten him: After his replacement, Gastón Brugman, set up LA’s opening goal with a superb pass in the ninth minute, Paintsil held up Puig’s jersey to their roaring fans during the celebration.
But as Langell noted, this wasn’t all that aberrative a performance for a Los Angeles outdoor major league sports team in 2024:
LA Galaxy came into the 2024 MLS Cup final as the favorites against the No. 7 seed, New York Red Bulls. The Western Conference champions scored a conference-high 69 goals in the regular season and outscored its opponents 16–3 in the 2024 MLS Cup playoffs leading up to the final.
That shade of blue in their uniforms sure looks like that of that baseball team. But that’s where the similarity might end. Because unlike the LAFC team that plays in downtown LA a couple of exits down the 110 freeway from Dodger Stadium–the one that was eliminated in the quarterfinals–the Galaxy plays in a stadium that was once the temporary home of the Los Angeles Chargers on the border of Carson and Dominguez Hills.
And the Red Bulls, unlike the NYCFC team that shared Yankee Stadium, play their matches in a lovely dedicated soccer facility in the bustling metropolis of Harrison, New Jersey.
So it wasn’t quite a civic pride rematch. The audience that watched it on FOX was substantially smaller than the eight-figure level that tuned in to baseball in October. And I can’t imagine there’s gonna be a parade of any kind, even one down Firestone Boulevard.
But it was exciting, even inspiring to an extent. And a reminder that especially this time of year, LA rules and NY drools.
Courage…