“I am a diehard Colorado Rapids fan.”
Now there’s a sentence you don’t hear often. But it’s true — I am. I’ve lived in Denver and played soccer my whole life and my dad and I had season tickets to the Rapids for eight years before I came to college.
Saturday game days became a ritual that I looked forward to every week, when I could don my Cole Bassett jersey and Rapids scarf (signed by the 2016 team), eat very mediocre stadium popcorn and participate in the beloved Colorado tradition of booing the opposing team’s left back.
On a totally different but slightly related once-the-point-of-this-article-becomes-more- clear note, I’m also a big San Francisco Giants fan. This obviously does not stem from a hometown loyalty, but I love watching baseball and idolized (and also maybe had a small crush on) Buster Posey when I was younger and my first trip to Oracle park sealed the deal. My dad and I still go to San Francisco once a year to see a game, though we have yet to kayak in McCovey Cove … sigh, one day.
Any college student who’s a fan of professional sports knows that watching your team from your dorm room pales in comparison to the feeling of being at the stadium with your friends — a drink in hand (under 21 so non-alcoholic of course), hearing the various cheers and inevitably being incorrectly dressed for the weather. Even if you don’t religiously follow one team, going to games is an experience that doesn’t just have to do with the sport.
Not long into first semester I got a text from my older cousin, who came from Philadelphia to visit friends from college, asking me if I wanted to take the train into Union Station and go to a Dodgers game with him. Having only been on campus for a couple of weeks I was already so excited to go into LA, see my cousin and do one of my favorite activities ever: watch live baseball (even if it was the Dodgers). So I hopped on the Metrolink and traversed downtown LA, eventually making my way to the stadium.
Pro-tip to anyone going to Dodger stadium for the first time: They’re pretty strict about bringing things into the park (my cousin had to stuff my bag down his pants before we walked through the metal detectors), so make sure to pack light.
Dodger stadium, with its low outfield, incredible view of Los Angeles and an insane organ player, is a pretty unique ballpark. Our seats were down the first base line, just beyond where you would be covered from the sun. Surrounded by rowdy, day-drunk Dodgers fans and their incessant chatter about Freddie Freeman, I felt relaxed. It was so fun hanging out with my cousin and his friends (who very kindly accepted the random college girl tagging along) away from campus for the day, even if I did come back exhausted and showing off awkward sunburn lines.
Fast forward to just a few weeks ago, when I was looking at the Giants schedule and saw they were headed down south for the Dodgers 2024 home-opening series. I thought about buying tickets, but didn’t know if any of my friends would want to go all the way to LA just to watch a baseball game (none of them care about the Dodgers, the Giants, or like baseball at all). But when part-time TSL staffer Harold Fuson PZ ’26 told me that he and his roommate, Jamie Miller PZ ’26, were going to game one, I saw my perfect opportunity to hang out with some cool people and watch the Giants dominate at the second coolest ballpark in California. So I invited my friend and the four of us drove (thank you, Harold and Jamie) to the park. I had a great night, even though the Giants lost and so did my friend, who was a little confused about why they were taking a break between innings and cheered for both teams, but nonetheless enjoyed her Dodger Dog.
Sometimes it can feel hard to get out of the Claremont bubble. While I love the bubble, and I love watching both P-P and CMS baseball mercy rule Redlands, sometimes going to Dodger stadium and throwing peanut shells on the ground and high fiving random adult men after a home run and eating nachos out of a helmet can be a very freeing experience. I urge anyone who wants to go to a game (LA has no shortage of professional sports teams) to reach out to a friend, or even just someone you think would want to go with you — chances are you’ll have a lot of fun.
And for someone who’s only current source of money is the paper you’re reading right now, trust me when I say you can find seats within your budget and still have a good time.
The Rapids haven’t come to LA while I’ve been here, but when they do, I’m so ready to get back on the train, or in someone’s car and make the trip with the few people at the 5Cs who would ever go to an MLS game. So if you ever see that girl in McConnell wearing a Rapids jersey on Saturday nights, just know that she loves Pitzer, but would rather be at BMO stadium watching Colorado destroy LAFC.
Charlotte Renner PZ ’27 is from Denver, Colorado and is quite possibly the biggest Colorado Rapids fan living in California. She is hoping that writing this article will secure her a job with the team after college.
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