Hello there, so for week 2 my job happened to give me free tickets to a soccer game to watch the LA Galaxy team at the Home Depot Center in the city of Carson. Los Angeles happens to be a lively sports city with die hard fans for about every team it has. I believe that sports brings people in a city together to enjoy something they appreciate and have in common.
The location of the stadium is a neighborhood full of homes and the stadium itself shares common grounds with California State University, Dominguez Hills, which is a heavy commuter school. The location of this stadium makes it convenient for local fans to go to games regularly because its right in the middle of so many homes.
The reason I thought doing a sports game in LA would be perfect for this project was because I was especially aware of how much diversity there was at this game, yet fans felt comfortable within the atmosphere of the game to interact with one another. The amount of diversity that was brought to American soccer was interesting. A group of season ticket holders who were of Hispanic descent brought drums to the game and it brought such a fun and lively atmosphere to game. The sounds of the drums made me want to consistently get up from my seat and cheer throughout the whole game. With the sound of the drums also came cheers that were closely tied to the rhythm and it was interesting to see everyone of all races in that section get up and jump side to side to a very Hispanic dominated rhythm. This comes to show that even though we were all watching American soccer, everyone was able to bring a part of soccer from different home countries where soccer is celebrated and enjoyed differently. This is what is so great about LA, that people can bring so many different backgrounds together and enjoy a similar interest without letting differences get in the way.
The quote that we discussed in class about boundaries which was central for this project came to mind many times throughout this game. The one time I did see boundaries in this stadium was with the seating. It was obvious to see the economic hierarchy associated with race and who dominated the lower level seats (better view, more expensive) and who dominated the higher level seats (less of a great view, cheaper). There were also reserved suites where people could eat dinner and watch the game with a better seating view. This was the only time, I was able to see the social difference in terms of economic status and type of race that dominated these seating areas.
I think that I got the overall diverse Los Angeles experience at this soccer game. Seeing the many different people come together to enjoy something they all enjoy which in this game was the sport of soccer, was amazing. In such a homey neighborhood, such a lively stadium in the middle made going to see a soccer game comfortable, convenient, and fun.
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