Pilgrimage to the Lakers home stadium in Los Angeles

Pilgrimage to the Lakers home stadium in Los Angeles (Alberta Times reported by Yang Qiwei) It was a sunny day, and my nephew in San Gabriel, Los Angeles drove his car...

(Alberta Times) Reported by Yang Qiwei) It was a sunny day. My nephew in San Gabriel, Los Angeles, drove his newly purchased Honda and took my husband and I on a pilgrimage to the long-famous Staples Center, the home stadium of the Los Angeles Lakers. The Staples Center is located in the center of Los Angeles. As we drove far away from the arena, we saw huge portraits of the three historical centers of the Lakers, Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and O'Neal, standing side by side on three buildings. The nephew said that this was an advertisement for Apple Computer on the three main buildings of the Le Figaro Hotel opposite the Staples Center. The three centers have different movements, with O'Neal in the highest position. Although this is a commercial, it most intuitively promotes the Lakers' most proud center tradition to people. After only a 20-minute drive, we arrived at the Staples Center Arena. This is the home stadium of two NBA teams, the Los Angeles Lakers and the Los Angeles Clippers, located in Los Angeles, California. Six large TV screens hang on the top of the arena, constantly showing every highlight of the game and the glorious history of winning the championship 16 times and entering the finals 30 times, as well as introducing the current Lakers stars. The arena is located next to Figueroa Street, which runs through the city center of Los Angeles. The tall office buildings in the business district make Staples look particularly unusual. Facing the low-rise buildings to the south, the extremely modern Staples seems too high-profile. In short, Staples was like an outsider who was incompatible with his surroundings in downtown Los Angeles, so lonely and different. Staples Center has a very immodest attributive – World Sports and Entertainment Center. However, when you walk into this huge basketball stadium and think of the basketball games played here and the concerts and other activities that Hollywood movie stars often hold here, this title is not too far-fetched. Staples Center is a symbolic building in Los Angeles and a blessed place in the sports world. In 1999, the arena was officially put into use, and the Lakers moved their home court here from the Great Western Forum Arena. What is amazing is that the Lakers actually won the championship for three consecutive seasons. In addition, the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks moved their home court here in 2001, and then won two consecutive WNBA championships in 2001 and 2002. This blessed land added a colorful page to the glorious history of the Lakers, and the Lakers created a new era. The nephew said that just as Milan's San Siro is the Garden of Eden in football fans' dreams, Staples is a must-see for basketball pilgrims. But underneath the San Siro Stadium, there is a museum that combines the history of AC Milan and Inter Milan, while the Staples Center does not have any museum with the history of the Lakers team, only a souvenir shop. "Everything about the Lakers can be found there." My nephew told us. We found that the huge Staples Center was almost a ghost town. The nephew said the place was empty except on game days. Although there will be an NBA game in two days, only two ticket windows at Staples are open, and very few fans come to inquire. My nephew said that there used to be long queues here before every game day, but now everyone either bought season tickets or simply bought them online, and very few people came to buy tickets on site. There was a dark-skinned staff member at the ticket window. He told us that the people who came to buy tickets were all outsiders or foreigners. Under the guidance of my nephew, we wandered slowly, watched carefully, and occasionally took photos. It's quiet around Staples, with no tourists, no noise, and none of the usual sights that can be seen everywhere. This trip made us a little regretful. We couldn't see the history of the club, we couldn't see the fanatical fans, and we couldn't even see people playing basketball in the open space. Staples is far from the perfect basketball holy land in our minds.