With the Clippers finally shedding the loser label (for now anyway), the bandwagon has gotten so full that even Jack has hitched on for a ride. This got me thinking. Nobody made a big deal about Jack being at Clips/Suns Game 5 the other night. Sure the TV's interviewed him, asked him if the Lakers were still his team, to which he gave a Kobe-Barkeley related response. Come to think of it, has Jack ever talked openly to the public about his love for the Lakers? Maybe he's not as hardcore a fan as we think he is. Would the public respond so nonchalantly if Rudy Giuliani was spotted at a Met's game? I think not. Only in LA. Remember last year when John Cusack tried to get tickets to a White Sox playoff game, but got the stiff hand from owner Jerry Reinsdorf? No way sir are the White Sox going to give tickets to an open follower of the church of Cubs. A problem back east is but a mere sidenote here in LA. Only in LA. The rest of the nation says we don't care about our sports out here. They're half right. We do care about our sports. We just don't care about them as much as the East does. And why would we? There's so much more out here to do. We've got the beach, Hollywood, a high amusment park concentration, great weather, first class shopping and dining, and did I mention the beach? Yeah, it's true not as many of us are die hards about our local teams, but would I trade that for everything else LA has to offer? Not a chance. This is the best place in the world to live. Only in LA can you openly root only for the hot team of the moment and get away with it. And who cares? We're all laid back here.

So what happens, when, the Dodgers start winning again and go on a pennant run, creating a bandwagon with even greater immensity than the Angels had in '02 (PLEASE GOD, LET THIS HAPPEN SOON)? All you on the east coast can frown upon us and call us unloyal, but why should any of us care? As far as I'm concerned, any Dodger supporter should be welcomed with open arms, no matter how fleeting his/her interest is. To me, there are only three golden rules, Blue Rules rather, that all Dodger fans must follow and embrace.

1) You must have, at some point in life, lived in the Los Angeles area.
This must be in the Los Angeles area, not just anywhere in Southern California. Orange County doesn't count (more on this later). San Diego doesn't count. You have your own teams there. This goes for anywhere you are. You should support the local teams. No "I root for this team cuz the local team stinks" or "I root for them cuz I like their uniforms" allowed. Local teams are there for a reason. You are only allowed to root for an out of town team if a) You had to move out of the area of that team because of work or family related reasons, b) The area where you live doesn't have a team so you just picked one, or c) Your team used to be where you lived, but they moved. (This is what all LA football fans have been doing for too long)

2) Complete and utter disdain for all things Angels.
This is the exception for LA in rooting for all the local teams. If you're a Clipper fan, you can root for the Lakers and vice-versa. Same goes for the Kings and Ducks. Angels and Dodgers? In no way can you root for both. You used to be able to root for both, but the whole "Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim" thing changed all that. We were all happy and good when the Dodgers were happy in LA and the Angels were happy in Anaheim. Then, the Angels had to go and try to take over our turf. This is absolutely unacceptable. Most Dodger fans still refuse to acknowledge the Angels as representing Los Angeles, and rightly so. They play in Anaheim. They should be proud of the city of Anaheim and give the OC a sense of identity by representing them. The whole market share thing is a greedy and unforgivable move by Arte Moreno. You don't see Frank McCourt (as cheap as he is) trying to take the OC market share by changing the Dodgers to the Southern California Dodgers of Los Angeles. Hell, why don't they just make it the Earth Angels? Then they'd be able to represent everybody! It's stupid. The Angels must pay.

3) Complete and utter disdain for all things Giants.
Now I have nothing against the city of San Fransisco. It's a beautiful city. The people are nice and the BART makes LA's subway look like the kiddy train at the mall. If it weren't for the hippies and the Giants I might even want to live there someday. But alas, hippies are real, and so are the Giants. It's absolutely required that Dodger fans hate the Giants. Everything from the rivalry in old New York, the Shot Heard 'round the World, moving to the west coast in the same season, to the whole Bonds thing has made Dodger fans abhor everything about the Giants. This rivalry is so heated a Giants fan got shot in the parking lot of Dodger Stadium after a game in 2004. Sometimes I see Dodgers-Giants couples at the stadium. This is acceptible only if a) No allegiance to the teams is ever wavered, b) The girl is incredibly beautiful, and c) It is agreed upon before hand that all potential children will become Dodger fans.

Follow these rules, and anyone can be a Dodger fan. Arent sports in LA great?