Saturday was undoubtedly a terrible day for college football in the city of Los Angeles.  As I live in Southern California, I get to hear all the radio call in shows, local TV sports analysis and water cooler talk about the Trojans and the Bruins.  Except for the fact that there are no radio call in shows, local TV sports analysis and water cooler talk about the Trojans and the Bruins, everything else I said is totally true.

LA is as fair-weather a football fan base as I have ever witnessed (save possibly for Berkeley, CA), and when things turn even slightly bad, most of the paying fans fail to get riled up about the decline of the only football available this side of the LA river.  The reasoning?  There’s other stuff to do.   There are celebrities to gawk at (it happens, even though celebs are everywhere), there are parties to be seen at, and there is traffic to be stuck in.

Is this a good deal for the sports teams?  Perhaps.  If your team sucks, you don’t have to worry about a rabid fan base booing their own team and calling for the coach’s head.  In fact, if you’re in the running for a head coaching job, go ahead and take any job available in LA, because it’s almost like a government job: very secure.

It’s also good for the local media because they don’t have to worry about reporting on a crappy team that no one gives a crap about.  Instead, they can talk about some dude breaking into Nick Cage’s house, and standing in his bedroom wearing nothing but Nick Cage’s leather jacket (true story).

Is this a bad deal?  Well, of course it is, because for me, it proves that the fans don’t really care.  But to be fair, I’m one of those fans that stays until the end of a 41-14 game against Georgia when everyone else has left during halftime (the circle drill was fantastic).  Every town and every team has fair-weather fans and it’s just easier to pick on a city that’s not really known for being a huge “college football” town.  But for what it’s worth, Neyland always sells out.