Worst (Long) Weekend In LA Sports History?

If you're a local sports fan, hopefully you had Columbus Day (International Day of Solidarity with Indigenous People, whatever) off to nurse a wicked hangover. In fact, maybe you should take tonight off from Sports Center, too. It's Leif Erikson day. Honest. Even George W. Bush knows that (and don't worry, he's probably not working today, either).

Maybe it wasn't the worst, but it was up there. T.J. Simers hit the nail on the head with his column entitled "Local teams really put the loss in Los Angeles" -- and he was only talking about college football. Let's take a gander back at the last few days. A very slow, painful gander.

Stanford 24, USC 23 - My cell phone exploded when this one ended. Normally the Coliseum crowd decimates reception, but the text messages wouldn't stop. I was standing on the sideline as one of the greatest upsets in college football history unfolded. The picture above, taken outside a frat party following the game, explains it all. For full coverage on my blog over at latimes.com, you can read a story, photo essay, Q&A, and watch a press conference video. Yes, Trojan fans, that sensation in the back of your mouth? You just threw up a little bit.

Notre Dame 20, UCLA 6 - When UCLA signed coach Karl Dorrell to a contract extension a couple years ago, USC fans celebrated. But things are getting so ugly over there that the impossible may be happening -- Trojans feeling bad for the Bruins. That's pretty bad considering the unprecedented humiliation suffered by USC this weekend. LAist's Henry David didn't really want to talk about it. Ryan Young wants you to email the UCLA athletic director and demand Dorrell's ouster. What are you waiting for? Notre Dame was 0-5 coming into the game and should have been 0-8 next month. The Bruins ruined the nation's big season of South Bend schadenfreude.

Red Sox 19, Angels 4 - The BoSox swept LAnaheim in the playoff series by a combined score of, yes, 19-4. Gary Matthews Jr. missed the series with an injury and Garret Anderson struggled with conjunctivitis. He looked like he was batting with one eye. Casey Kotchman missed the final game for an unknown medical reason. The Halos were an earthly .192 at the plate over the three games. They've now lost nine in a row to Boston in the post-season, and seven in a row overall.

Hockey 0-for-3 - This is getting long, so let's cut to the chase. The Ducks lost 4-0 in Columbus on Friday night, then 5-4 in Pittsburgh on Saturday. The Kings didn't fare much better, falling in their home open to St. Louis. But Eric Locko gives fans something to be optimistic about.

Only In LA(ist) - I'm not sure if I have a new found respect for Jimmy and his NCAA Homo Top 15 Rankings, or if I think he's crazy. He proved himself not to be a Pac-10 homer (pun intended? you guess) by keeping LSU ahead of USC the past few weeks. But after USC lost, he still has three Pac-10 schools in his top five -- the final spot being held by the Trojans. It takes balls (and common sense) to say that USC is better than Boston College, South Florida, and South Carolina. But #5? It certainly takes balls. Damnit Jimmy, we love you ... LAist Editor Tony Pierce noticed that New York doesn't care about losing the Dodgers. In LA you just have to transpose two words. Despite record breaking attendance, this town is big on winners. Baseball is over, and LA doesn't care about the losing Dodgers.

Elsewhere (Escape from LA?) - Congratulations, Mike Gundy. You must be famous when local used car salesmen make fun of you one TV ... We're hiding this at the bottom, but it was actually a big weekend in local soccer. More on that in the previous post.

Photo by Adam Rose.