logo
When did S.F. fans start chanting ‘Beat L.A.!'? We traced the battle cry to its start

When did S.F. fans start chanting ‘Beat L.A.!'? We traced the battle cry to its start

Tony Bennett was still singing and the seagulls hovered over Oracle Park in their pre-feast holding pattern, when I heard the start of a familiar chant.
'Beat L.A.! Beat L.A.!'
As thousands of fans shuffled down the northeast ramps, in no hurry after a 4-1 San Francisco Giants win on April 5, the three-syllable battle cry echoed against the concrete. A few fists raised in the air.
'BEAT L.A.!'
The opposing team that night: the Seattle Mariners. The Los Angeles Dodgers — targets of the chant — were 2,850 miles away, playing the Philadelphia Phillies.
When the Dodgers return to San Francisco on Friday for the first time in 2025, they'll face the Giants, 42,000 fans and a four-decade-old mantra that has come to define Bay Area sports fandom. Players, ballparks and entire teams come and go. But this perfect percussive call to arms endures.
I've taken the communal power of 'Beat L.A.' for granted most of my life, but that walk on the Giants concourse early this year made me ponder a key question: How did it start? Could archive research pinpoint it to a season, a game or, by some miracle, a patient zero moment when the 'Beat L.A.' chant was born?
The answer, it turned out, was yes.
When San Francisco baseball arrived in 1958 — the Giants and Dodgers both moved from New York that year — the new Los Angeles team was already living in our heads.
The Giants had Willie Mays, but the Dodgers were coming off 13 straight winning seasons, and would win three World Series in their first decade in California. Our players sold insurance in the offseason. Theirs showed up on 'The Brady Bunch.'
So when the Giants won their first home game at Seals Stadium on April 14, 1958, with diminutive starter Ruben Gomez outdueling hulking Dodgers ace Don Drysdale, the response was a sign of the over-the-top atmosphere to come.
'WE MURDER THE BUMS,' the Chronicle's first post-game Giants headline read, splayed across the top of the front page in a text size equal to a moon landing or declaration of war. San Francisco's hatred of Los Angeles sports teams proliferated from there.
I remember my grandmother and San Francisco-born mother in the early 1980s framing the sports rivalries as something that went far beyond the games. L.A. gave us Ronald Reagan. L.A. built a city in a desert. We're putting bricks in our toilets to conserve water, while L.A. residents take long showers.
A stadium chanting 'Beat L.A.!' was catharsis, a release of those feelings of inferiority and inequity. 'Beat L.A.!' made us feel seen.
We chanted 'Beat L.A.!' on the SamTrans bus to Giants games at Candlestick Park. We chanted 'Beat L.A.' on the BART pedestrian walkway to Warriors Games at the Oakland Coliseum. We chanted 'Beat L.A.' at San Francisco International Airport, in the pre-September 11 days when feral kids could walk right up to the gates, greeting Joe Montana and Ronnie Lott after their latest triumph.
But it did not start in San Francisco. The 'Beat L.A.' chant can indeed be traced to its origin — born on the other side of the country in the rivalry between Larry Bird's Boston Celtics and Magic Johnson's Los Angeles Lakers.
Joel Semuels was in his $19 seat on the upper deck of the Boston Garden on May 23, 1982, watching his sports life fall apart. The Celtics, with a young Bird and Kevin McHale, had won 63 games that season, the most in the NBA.
But Philadelphia 76ers stars Andrew Toney and Julius Erving combined for 63 points in a Game 7 rout of the Eastern Conference Finals. As Semuels sat in the oldest arena in the league, he was thinking about air conditioning.
'Boston Garden was a barn. It was used for circuses and auto races and boxing,' Semuels said, during a spirited video call earlier this week. 'We were jealous of the Los Angeles Lakers because they had air conditioning in the fabulous Forum. They had cheerleaders. We were the lunch bucket team against Hollywood style.'
With a minute left to play and the Celtics on the way to a 120-106 loss, Semuels and two friends stood up and did something unheard of in Boston: They started cheering for the opposition.
'We wanted Andrew Toney and Dr. J to beat the Lakers in the finals,' Semuels remembers. 'So we started saying, 'Beat L.A.! Beat L.A.!' and it caught on. If we couldn't win, we wanted the Sixers to win that year.'
The chant became so thunderously loud, it was easily audible on the CBS broadcast.
'Do you hear the crowd chanting to the Sixers? 'Beat L.A.,'' analyst Bill Russell said.
'Beat L.A. That's great, let's listen,' play-by-play man Dick Stockton responded, as the final seconds ticked off the clock.
There's something about the rhythm of the chant that was built for a packed arena.
Just as some kids' names seem louder when yelled in a mall ('Matthew!' carries farther than 'Chad!' for example), those three syllables — 'Beat! Elle! Aye!,' with a short pause between each, all in one breath — are calibrated for a slightly buzzed and motivated mob to warble together with fists pumping in the air.
'It just has a cadence to it,' Semuels said. 'We noticed it right away.'
'Beat L.A.!' spread quickly that year. Sixers fans chanted it in their NBA Finals loss to the Lakers. Then it landed in San Francisco, where the Dodgers and Giants were in an improbable pennant race.
Former Giants pitcher Bill Laskey, who now broadcasts the team's postgame radio show on KNBR, was a rookie from Toledo in 1982, and good friends with catcher Bob Brenly, another Ohio native. After Laskey pitched nine innings and beat Dodgers phenom Fernando Valenzuela in a summer game, he dropped a casual 'Beat L.A.' in a post game interview. Then, someone brought him a 'Beat L.A.' T-shirt with his name on it; the first documented high-profile sign of the slogan in the Bay Area.
'Brenly and I thought, 'What did we walk into?'' Laskey said.
The Giants in 1982 trailed the Dodgers and Atlanta Braves for most of the summer, but had a mammoth September, winning 20 of 26 games to pull within striking distance. If they swept the Dodgers in the final three home games of the season, they would win the pennant.
The Dodgers shut out the Giants 4-0 in the first game at Candlestick Park, then bombed them 15-2 in the second. The Giants were out of the playoffs, but the Dodgers needed to win the last game to advance.
The Giants' hopes dashed, Laskey said he showed up to pitch that final game and found the playoff atmosphere remained. More than 47,000 fans packed the park. Before the game, Dodgers pitcher Valenzuela began gesturing at his neck and pointing at Laskey.
'He starts screaming at me in Spanish.' Laskey said. '... He said, 'You're going to choke today.' And I said 'OK.' That just fueled the fire.'
On the Dodgers side, where future Giants manager Dusty Baker was starting in left field and batting third, he could see the tensions rising.
'(Dodgers manager) Tommy Lasorda fanned that a little bit. He was blowing kisses at the Giants fans,' Baker remembers, laughing. 'I was like, 'Tommy, leave it alone. We've got enough people here against us.''
Los Angeles took a 2-0 lead after a Ron Cey homer in the second inning. But Laskey retired the next 15 Dodgers batters. 'Beat L.A.!' rang through the stadium in larger and larger crescendos, the Chronicle reported, until Giants second baseman Joe Morgan stepped to the plate with two outs in the seventh inning and broke a tie, knocking a three-run homer over the right field fence. Final score: 5-2. The Dodgers had lost playoff hopes on San Francisco soil.
Laskey said the crowd rushed in from the stands, celebrating the Dodgers' loss. It was a victory of spite. A victory of 'Beat L.A.!'
'There was pandemonium all over the field, so the Dodgers had to come through our dugout, through the tunnel, through our clubhouse and back into their clubhouse,' Laskey said. 'And here we were in our clubhouse just screaming at these guys coming through. When manager Tommy Lasorda came in there wasn't one player who wasn't screaming at him.'
The chant has been a Bay Area staple ever since.
When the Warriors met the Lakers in the 1987 playoffs, the team handed out cardboard 'Beat L.A.' signs for fans. After the Warriors went down three games to none, columnist Art Spander quipped: 'So much for dreams. For Game 4, the signs should read 'WE SURRENDER.''
The Lakers in Game 4 pulled ahead 102-88 after three quarters. But Eric 'Sleepy' Floyd went 12-for-13 from the field in the fourth, scoring 29 of his 51 points as fans carried their 'Beat L.A.' signs to a 129-121 Warriors victory that endures in local sports history.
Oakland A's fans chanted it against the Dodgers in the 1988 World Series. San Jose fans chanted it when the Sharks made it to the 1994 conference semi-finals. I was inspired and proud last year during Bay FC's inaugural season, when the team hosted Angel FC and the (otherwise polite) home crowd broke into a spirited 'Beat L.A.!' Our new team had arrived.
After living the 'Beat L.A.!' life, I finally got to see the other side.
I moved to Hollywood in 1995 for a courtroom reporting job and quickly learned (Don Draper elevator meme) the Dodgers don't think about us at all. I never heard a single 'Beat S.F.' chant from a crowd. My Giants hats mostly drew indifference. The Warriors hats drew pity.
Baker, who spent eight seasons with the Dodgers and is now an ambassador for San Francisco, has seen the same. 'Maybe it was because (Los Angeles) had the weather, they had the beach, they had the population, they had the money,' he said of San Francisco's fixation. 'When I got to the Dodgers I didn't hear very much about the Giants.'
And Baker has the best explanation for the lopsided animosity I've heard: For most of the first four decades of this 'rivalry,' the Giants simply weren't very good.
'We were focused on Cincinnati, Atlanta and other teams,' Baker said of the Dodgers. 'It's hard to have a rivalry when one team is so much better than the other team.'
But the Giants finally arrived, winning the World Series in 2010, 2012 and 2014. More recently, the Dodgers and Giants played a fierce and dramatic 2021 division playoff. Los Angeles arrives this Friday on a six-game skid with the Giants within striking distance and inventing new and thrilling ways to win.
There are signs that the rivalry may be getting, if not less intense, more civilized. Laskey remembers fights between Giants and Dodgers fans every other inning at Candlestick. Fans burning Dodgers pennants in the bleachers. Teens jumping out of the stands and rattling the outfield fence.
You rarely see that now, for very good reason. But the chant remains as strong as ever.
Beat L.A. is San Francisco at its grittiest. Beat L.A. is San Francisco at its most optimistic. Beat L.A. is San Francisco at its most petty. And Beat L.A. is San Francisco unified, hopeful and proud.
'The rivalry will always be there,' Laskey said. 'They'll always be thinking 'Beat L.A.!' … And when we're beating Los Angeles, we'll want to drive it into them even more.'
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Which team has the best chance to go from worst to first in NFL in 2025?
Which team has the best chance to go from worst to first in NFL in 2025?

Yahoo

time16 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

Which team has the best chance to go from worst to first in NFL in 2025?

A team going from worst to first in the division is nearly an annual occurrence in the NFL. With last-place teams getting advantages like favorable schedules and higher draft picks, there have been 25 teams since the 2002 realignment that followed up a last-place finish with a division title the following year. While no team pulled off the trick last season, it had happened least once in each of the previous four seasons. Perhaps no team is better positioned to do it this season than the San Francisco 49ers, who followed up a Super Bowl loss in the 2023 season with a 6-10 last-place finish in 2024. The Niners were done in by a string of injuries to key players and now head into the 2025 season with the weakest projected schedule thanks in part to three games against fellow last-place teams Chicago, the New York Giants and Cleveland. Here's a look at the contenders based on their odds to finish first from BetMGM Sportsbook: San Francisco 49ers BetMGM odds to win division: +165. Reason for optimism: The 49ers still have star power with players like Fred Warner, George Kittle, Nick Bosa, Christian McCaffrey and Trent Williams and one of the top offensive coaches in the game in Kyle Shanahan. With the last-place schedule and a rotation that includes eight games against the weaker South divisions, the Niners are favored to win the NFC West. Reason for pessimism: San Francisco let several defensive starters leave in the offseason as part of a movement to get cheaper and younger. But if their rookie class can't step in and contribute immediately, the defense could have some holes even with the return of coordinator Robert Saleh. New England Patriots BetMGM odds to win division: +475. Reason for optimism: QB Drake Maye showed flashes as a rookie and should get a boost in Year 2 with a better coaching staff led by Mike Vrabel and coordinator Josh McDaniels. Reason for pessimism: Maye still has very little support even after the offseason acquisitions of rookie lineman Will Campbell and veteran receiver Stefon Diggs. Chicago Bears BetMGM odds to win division: +550. Reason for optimism: The Bears brought in the most highly sought after coaching candidate when Ben Johnson was hired after a strong run as offensive coordinator in Detroit. They also upgraded the interior of the offensive line by acquiring Joe Thuney, Drew Dalman and Jonah Jackson in the offseason to help second-year QB Caleb Williams. Reason for pessimism: Chicago is in a division with three returning playoff teams and has one of the more difficult schedules in the NFL. If Williams' struggles as a rookie were more about holding onto the ball too long instead of the surrounding environment, the upgrades might not be enough. Tennessee Titans BetMGM odds to win division: +800. Reason for optimism: Last year's struggles delivered Tennessee the No. 1 overall pick. QB Cam Ward brings his playmaking ability to Tennessee and should be helped by an improved offensive line following the additions of Dan Moore and Kevin Zeitler and anticipated improvement from recent first-rounders JC Latham and Kevin Zeitler. Reason for pessimism: Ward doesn't have a strong group of pass catchers even after the signing of veteran Tyler Lockett and Tennessee hasn't done much to upgrade a defense that allowed 27.1 points per game last season. New Orleans Saints BetMGM odds to win division: +1,300. Reason for optimism: The offense could get a boost if first-round tackle Kelvin Banks can step in immediately and receivers Chris Olave and Rasheed Shaheed are healthy. Reason for pessimism: New Orleans has uncertainty at quarterback after Derek Carr's retirement and is counting on either second-round rookie Tyler Shough or 2024 fifth-rounder Spencer Rattler to perform at a high enough level to compete. Las Vegas Raiders BetMGM odds to win division: +1,500. Reason for optimism: Perhaps no team upgraded at quarterback and head coach as much as the Raiders with Pete Carroll replacing Antonio Pierce at coach and Geno Smith coming in at quarterback after a platoon of Gardner Minshew and Aidan O'Connell. The offense under new coordinator Chip Kelly could be intriguing with record-setting second-year tight end Brock Bowers and rookie running back Ashton Jeanty. Reason for pessimism: Las Vegas is in a division that had three playoff teams last season, making it a difficult proposition to climb too high in the standings. There are major questions in the secondary that could prove fatal in a division with Patrick Mahomes, Justin Herbert and Bo Nix. New York Giants BetMGM odds to win division: +2,800. Reason for optimism: The Giants should have one of the top defensive lines with No. 3 overall pick Abdul Carter joining Dexter Lawrence, Brian Burns and Kayvon Thibodeaux. The return of left tackle Andrew Thomas after he missed 11 games last season should help boost the offense under new quarterback Russell Wilson. Reason for pessimism: While Wilson may be an upgrade at quarterback, his play has fallen significantly since leaving Seattle following the 2021 season. New York traded up to draft Jaxson Dart in the first round but he might not be ready to take over as a rookie on a team that still has many holes on offense. Cleveland Browns BetMGM odds to win division: +3,000. Reason for optimism: The Browns feature one of the game's top defensive players in four-time All-Pro Myles Garrett after he got a new contract last season and Kevin Stefanski has won AP Coach of the Year twice in five seasons with Cleveland. Reason for pessimism: Cleveland is still searching for a QB three years after trading for Deshaun Watson. Veteran Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett and rookies Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders are all in the mix but none provide immediate hope for success. ___ AP NFL:

Jets QB options: Kirk Cousins, Carson Wentz among choices after Justin Fields injury
Jets QB options: Kirk Cousins, Carson Wentz among choices after Justin Fields injury

USA Today

time18 minutes ago

  • USA Today

Jets QB options: Kirk Cousins, Carson Wentz among choices after Justin Fields injury

Playing quarterback for the New York Jets isn't for the faint of heart. Justin Fields learned that the hard way on Thursday morning. The quarterback was carted off the field during the team's second practice of training camp, which head coach Aaron Glenn later revealed to be a toe injury. Glenn didn't know the severity of the issue, so it's unclear how much time Fields will miss – if any. While Jets fans can seemingly breathe a sigh of relief for now, it's the unfortunate reminder of just how fragile an NFL season can be. It's been over seven months since the Jets played a football game that counted in the standings and the next season could've ended in the blink of an eye with a bad injury to the wrong player. In our fast-paced world, people will undoubtedly wonder what comes next. Whether Fields has to miss time or not, it's important to evaluate the options that are available if the quarterback will be forced out of action for any length of time. Jets QB options Taylor is the logical, and probably best, choice to step in for Fields. He has plenty of starting experience and signed to be the Jets' backup ahead of the 2024 season. As the clear QB2 on the depth chart, Taylor should get the first crack at the job. Behind Taylor on the depth chart are unproven players Adrian Martinez and Brady Cook. Martinez has only spent time in the NFL as a camp body and practice squad passer. Cook was signed as an undrafted free agent this offseason. There could be some bad blood between Cousins and the Jets, even though the old front office and coaching staff are no longer employed by the team. It's unclear whether they would actually pursue this option, but Cousins is the best quarterback that could be available via trade. There's a lot of money on the table for the guy that just signed with the Atlanta Falcons last offseason, however, and pressing this button may be a bit premature. The best of the free agent quarterback options, Wentz is far removed from his days of being an MVP candidate with the Philadelphia Eagles. While he didn't play in the New York market, he is familiar with the region thanks to his time with the Birds and comes with plenty of starting experience. Serving as the backup for Patrick Mahomes in 2024 is an added bonus and maybe he can recapture the magic that made him a tantalizing talent early in his career. Conventional wisdom suggests that the Jets and Giants wouldn't make a trade given their status as roommates. However, these teams have done business before as the Jets dealt Leonard Williams to the Giants in 2019. Winston is already relegated to a backup role behind Russell Wilson for Big Blue and Jaxson Dart is waiting in the wings. The Giants could benefit from cleaning up their quarterback room and Winston is someone that has played plenty of football over the years. It's a move that would make sense for both sides. All the NFL news on and off the field. Sign up for USA TODAY's 4th and Monday newsletter.

Which team has the best chance to go from worst to first in NFL in 2025?
Which team has the best chance to go from worst to first in NFL in 2025?

Associated Press

time19 minutes ago

  • Associated Press

Which team has the best chance to go from worst to first in NFL in 2025?

A team going from worst to first in the division is nearly an annual occurrence in the NFL. With last-place teams getting advantages like favorable schedules and higher draft picks, there have been 25 teams since the 2002 realignment that followed up a last-place finish with a division title the following year. While no team pulled off the trick last season, it had happened least once in each of the previous four seasons. Perhaps no team is better positioned to do it this season than the San Francisco 49ers, who followed up a Super Bowl loss in the 2023 season with a 6-10 last-place finish in 2024. The Niners were done in by a string of injuries to key players and now head into the 2025 season with the weakest projected schedule thanks in part to three games against fellow last-place teams Chicago, the New York Giants and Cleveland. Here's a look at the contenders based on their odds to finish first from BetMGM Sportsbook: San Francisco 49ers BetMGM odds to win division: +165. Reason for optimism: The 49ers still have star power with players like Fred Warner, George Kittle, Nick Bosa, Christian McCaffrey and Trent Williams and one of the top offensive coaches in the game in Kyle Shanahan. With the last-place schedule and a rotation that includes eight games against the weaker South divisions, the Niners are favored to win the NFC West. Reason for pessimism: San Francisco let several defensive starters leave in the offseason as part of a movement to get cheaper and younger. But if their rookie class can't step in and contribute immediately, the defense could have some holes even with the return of coordinator Robert Saleh. New England Patriots BetMGM odds to win division: +475. Reason for optimism: QB Drake Maye showed flashes as a rookie and should get a boost in Year 2 with a better coaching staff led by Mike Vrabel and coordinator Josh McDaniels. Reason for pessimism: Maye still has very little support even after the offseason acquisitions of rookie lineman Will Campbell and veteran receiver Stefon Diggs. Chicago Bears BetMGM odds to win division: +550. Reason for optimism: The Bears brought in the most highly sought after coaching candidate when Ben Johnson was hired after a strong run as offensive coordinator in Detroit. They also upgraded the interior of the offensive line by acquiring Joe Thuney, Drew Dalman and Jonah Jackson in the offseason to help second-year QB Caleb Williams. Reason for pessimism: Chicago is in a division with three returning playoff teams and has one of the more difficult schedules in the NFL. If Williams' struggles as a rookie were more about holding onto the ball too long instead of the surrounding environment, the upgrades might not be enough. Tennessee Titans BetMGM odds to win division: +800. Reason for optimism: Last year's struggles delivered Tennessee the No. 1 overall pick. QB Cam Ward brings his playmaking ability to Tennessee and should be helped by an improved offensive line following the additions of Dan Moore and Kevin Zeitler and anticipated improvement from recent first-rounders JC Latham and Kevin Zeitler. Reason for pessimism: Ward doesn't have a strong group of pass catchers even after the signing of veteran Tyler Lockett and Tennessee hasn't done much to upgrade a defense that allowed 27.1 points per game last season. New Orleans Saints BetMGM odds to win division: +1,300. Reason for optimism: The offense could get a boost if first-round tackle Kelvin Banks can step in immediately and receivers Chris Olave and Rasheed Shaheed are healthy. Reason for pessimism: New Orleans has uncertainty at quarterback after Derek Carr's retirement and is counting on either second-round rookie Tyler Shough or 2024 fifth-rounder Spencer Rattler to perform at a high enough level to compete. Las Vegas Raiders BetMGM odds to win division: +1,500. Reason for optimism: Perhaps no team upgraded at quarterback and head coach as much as the Raiders with Pete Carroll replacing Antonio Pierce at coach and Geno Smith coming in at quarterback after a platoon of Gardner Minshew and Aidan O'Connell. The offense under new coordinator Chip Kelly could be intriguing with record-setting second-year tight end Brock Bowers and rookie running back Ashton Jeanty. Reason for pessimism: Las Vegas is in a division that had three playoff teams last season, making it a difficult proposition to climb too high in the standings. There are major questions in the secondary that could prove fatal in a division with Patrick Mahomes, Justin Herbert and Bo Nix. New York Giants BetMGM odds to win division: +2,800. Reason for optimism: The Giants should have one of the top defensive lines with No. 3 overall pick Abdul Carter joining Dexter Lawrence, Brian Burns and Kayvon Thibodeaux. The return of left tackle Andrew Thomas after he missed 11 games last season should help boost the offense under new quarterback Russell Wilson. Reason for pessimism: While Wilson may be an upgrade at quarterback, his play has fallen significantly since leaving Seattle following the 2021 season. New York traded up to draft Jaxson Dart in the first round but he might not be ready to take over as a rookie on a team that still has many holes on offense. Cleveland Browns BetMGM odds to win division: +3,000. Reason for optimism: The Browns feature one of the game's top defensive players in four-time All-Pro Myles Garrett after he got a new contract last season and Kevin Stefanski has won AP Coach of the Year twice in five seasons with Cleveland. Reason for pessimism: Cleveland is still searching for a QB three years after trading for Deshaun Watson. Veteran Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett and rookies Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders are all in the mix but none provide immediate hope for success. ___ AP NFL:

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store