Michigan alums in Southern Cal/West Coast?
I'm expecting Staples Center to be rockin' with Michigan fans come Thursday night. Many alums in that part of the country! Should we expect an environment similar to MSG during the B1G Tourny?
hell yea I'll be there! Saturday is my birthday so we'd better win both games!!!
and I was there all 4 days. Cannot describe the pure joy of the team raising a trophy on your birthday.
I hope for you that you get to experience what I experienced.
I'll be in LA, too, and close enough to the floor, and arena shaking loud, as per always.
Michigan is the most well-represented Big Ten school on the West Coast in terms of alumni, but there are still probably not nearly as many here as there are on the East Coast simply due to distance and population. Public transportation and traffic are also a lot worse in LA than they are in the NY area, so Staples Center is harder to get to for those who live on the outskirts of LA than MSG is to get to for those in NJ, CT, or other parts of NY.
I still expect us to outnumber TAMU fans, but I doubt it will be as home-like as our BTT games at the Garden were.
the UM Alumni Club of LA is the third largest outside of Michigan (after Chiago and NYC) and there are a ton of alums/fans here that will attend the game.
And with UNC and Xavier not making it, I think we'll easily outnumber the other three fanbases (I'm certain about FSU and TA&M, and I'm just assuming Gonzaga just doesn't have the volume but maybe they have a very loyal base of traveling fans?), so the atmosphere should be very good for Michigan fans.
Unlike NYC fans that get a visit from Michigan almost every season, we on the west coast have far fewer opportunities to see the team and I think fans are going to take advantage.
Tri-state area fans correct me if I'm wrong but if you're coming from NJ, CT, LI, etc, you're still looking at an hour plus commute, correct? Only the furthest reaches of the LA metro area exceed that commute time to LA Live at the times people will be making it (blessing in disguise about the game time is that if you can get the afternoon off, your ride in at 3pm is a little easier than for a 7pm game).
I'll be taking public transportation into town. It's better here now than a lot of people realize. People are so in the habit of driving and not even considering public transportation in this town.
This is exactly what I was thinking. I'm one of those car/Uber dependent Angelenos and have never used the Metro here but I'm not far from 2 Expo stations in Culver and there's a station a block from Staples. This seems like the perfect time to take a train instead of driving.
i live in newport beach but i have a panic attack everytime i have to venture east of the 405. further, as someone who has lived in manhattan for over 30 years, i hate driving and i'm terrible at it. that said, i'll be there on thurs and, with a win, saturday...
just take your private helicopter
SNA doesn't have chopper rideshare. gotta go to burbank for that. kinda defeats the purpose.
there are far worse places to be as a young single, if you are in socal. however, i was traffic averse then (worse now) and it would take a lot for me to hustle up the 405 on a thursday afternoon.
March 20th, 2018 at 12:43 AM ^
if you ever want to leave Balboa and hate traffic. Great place if you don't care to ever leave.
and the island was no big deal to leave. the peninsula, on the other hand, i think bears out your comment. but maybe things have changed in the interceding decades.
Maybe you can ride in on Kobe's chopper? I'm sure he's going to check out JPoole. Back in the day, Kobe used to land that thing on top of the JW at LA Live.
You must live in the poor section of Newport Beach otherwise a stretch limo to and from Staples should not be a problem. /s
i'm on the ghetto wedge
Lucky you! I have been there numerous times. I still remember my friend laughing at the waves and about a 1/2 hour later being dragged out by a lifeguard after being hammered by a huge wave.
That's what I do when I go downtown. Park at the Westside Pavilion and take the Expo line
i can take the train from irvine to union station. although the irvine station is technically east of the 405, it is basically 405 adjacent, making this trek bearable with a half xanax...
from Irvine to DTLA a few times. It's not bad at all. About an hour from Irvine less from Santa Ana, so door to door probably a little longer than driving, but...beer! And no parking at Staples to deal with!
I am on the fence. If I were younger, or my girls were older, this would be a no-brainer.
Kids too young don't need to go, but true fans do!
Like I used to tell my accidents, errr, children: Have a nice weekend while I'm at the party!
sadly
Zags fans will show up. They overrun the Orleans for the Big West tournament every year in Las Vegas. Staples is over twice as big, but I bet there are 5000+ Zags fans at their game(s).
Ha, right. I think the NCAA selection committee has the same issue. Conference doesn't deserved to get remembered correctly when St. Mary's goes 26-5 and then hosts NIT games.
March 20th, 2018 at 12:44 AM ^
and I bet we have about 8k for the first session with TA&M and FSU splitting the remaining 6k at 3k each. Maybe 4k for A&M to 2k for FSU since A&M is a little better and a closer/easier flight.
I'm seriously considering a roadtrip down from the Bay if we make the E8.
I'll be there like whoa.
Also, The LA Alumni Club sent out on FB today that they're hosting a pre-game "tailgate" at Tom's Urban @ LA Live -- right across the street from Staples. So for anyone on the fence about trying to come down and find a ticket there should be a solid Michigan-friendy backup spot to stay and watch if you get priced out.
https://www.facebook.com/events/178000732823675/
Weather's supposed to be crap on Thursday though, so there's that.
but the national weather service is saying 100% chance of rain for Thursday! That's a bold prediction for three days out but that would indeed be crappy for LA standards.
Yeah this one's not missing us, big system coming slowly across the pacific, dangerous potential for floods and mudslides in the areas that were hit by wildfire, but probably just a wet and windy day in DTLA. When they see them coming like this they can usually tell a week or so ahead it's gonna be gross.
http://www.intellicast.com/Storm/Hurricane/PacificSatellite.aspx?animate=true
https://www.weather.gov/wwamap/wwatxtget.php?cwa=lox&wwa=all
March 20th, 2018 at 12:46 AM ^
that sounds terrible. We're so spoiled here.
that means near-monsoon conditions. and angelenos are the best rain drivers anywhere. really.....