Another day of L.A. sports that will go unrivaled

Today is a show-and-tell for Los Angeles sports.

Today, we respond to Herb and Gus in the ice-fishing shack in Minnesota. They once went to a Dodgers game, then went home and laughed to their friends about how we all left early. Button your parkas, guys, and flick on your portable TV.

Today, we atone for when we used to sell quiche at concession stands at hockey games at the Forum. We have changed, and if you don’t think so, we’ll send one of our enforcers from the Anaheim Ducks of Los Angeles to cross-check you.

We can’t really be big league without an NFL team, you say. Well, watch Sam Baker and Dwayne Jarrett play for the Trojans and explain how the talent is that much better just because it gets paychecks.

Today, our sports cup runneth over.

It begins at 1 p.m., with the NHL’s Ducks playing the Kings at Staples Center. Bruce McNall envisioned this rivalry years ago, and if Wayne Gretzky hadn’t retired, we’d have one. Right now, the Orange County toughs have the high stick.

At 1:30, just up the Pasadena Freeway at the Rose Bowl, UCLA plays USC. The only things at stake are pride and an all-time rivalry upset for UCLA. For USC, nothing more than a spot in college football’s national championship game.

At 7:30, back at Staples, they’ll cover the ice and make room for the NBA, and for the Lakers of Kobe Bryant and the Clippers of Elton Brand. The Clippers are no longer a joke, and the Lakers still have Phil Jackson. Try to find story lines like that in Memphis.

That’s not all. Nor is today that unusual.

Hollywood Park has nine thoroughbred races, topped by the $100,000 Vernon Underwood Stakes. Post time, 12:30.

USC’s men’s basketball team takes on Loyola Marymount at the new Galen Center on campus. Tipoff is at 6.

The Lakers’ Jordan Farmar takes on the Dodgers’ Eric Gagne in a sandcastle build-off at Santa Monica beach. First shovel at 1. (Nope, we didn’t make that up).

And so on.

You like sports? We got ‘em. You like variety? You’ve come to the right place.

It’s early December and much of the rest of the country is bringing in the firewood. Here, week after next, Tiger Woods and some of his closest friends will be playing tournament golf in shirt sleeves at Sherwood Country Club.

Next weekend, some of the best college basketball teams in the country will be in the Wooden Classic at the Anaheim Honda Center of Los Angeles. At the moment, the host team, John Wooden’s beloved UCLA, is ranked No. 1.

What you have here is the greatest sports marketplace in the country.

Tim Leiweke is chief executive of AEG, the former Anschutz Entertainment Group. He survives and thrives by, among other things, having his finger on the pulse of L.A. sports.

“In another market, a day like today would be one of their great days,” he says. “For us, it is like this two or three times a year, at least.”

Where others see our horn of plenty as reason to celebrate, Leiweke sees leverage for more.

“We are negotiating for the De La Hoya-Mayweather fight on Cinco de Mayo at Staples,” he says. “I take a day like Saturday and use it like a springboard. I tell Oscar and [Golden Boy Promotions Chief Executive] Richard Schaefer that Los Angeles is the place, that in Vegas, it is just another fight.”

This is a sports marketplace of quantity and quality. We are blessed with a climate and lifestyle that allow us to be picky. If the teams are lousy, we ignore them and go to the beach. Or the mountains. Or Disney Hall. Or the Getty.

All of which creates incentive for teams not to be lousy, for stars to want to be here.

If that weren’t the case:

* Phil Anschutz might not be building fancy hotels and restaurants next to his fancy Staples Center.

* Jackson might not be coaching here.

* Vin Scully might not be broadcasting here.

* Pete Carroll might not be chasing Wooden’s image.

* Gretzky, Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar might not have passed this way and stayed so long.

* And Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal might not have battled so hard to be king of the Hollywood Hill.

Nor would the International Olympic Committee have blessed us with two Summer Games, 1932 and 1984. Which is one of two reasons for pointing out this Saturday showcase.

Soon, the United States Olympic Committee will decide which U.S. city it will put forth as its candidate for the 2016 Games. It is down to Chicago and Los Angeles, and whichever gets the nod from the USOC has a real shot at getting the Games from the IOC.

That’s because, by 2016, it will have been 20 years -- 1996 in Atlanta -- since a Summer Olympics was held in the country whose television networks pay most of the IOC’s bills.

It is understandably difficult to persuade a gathering of international elitists to take their big show back to the same place for a third time. But with days like today, with high-profile activity in so many existing facilities likely to come off with minimal stress to our infrastructure, it produces an Olympic dry run that is hard to ignore, even as far away as Switzerland.

So we make our gesture to the sports world, and especially to those running the Olympics. Today, figuratively, we raise our hand and beckon them.

The other reason today is such a big deal? Well, if nothing else, we can show the NFL we don’t need it, we are fine, we have plenty to keep us occupied, it needn’t pay us any more attention than it has since it let the Rams and Raiders leave 12 years ago.

Our gesture to the NFL will also be with a raised hand and a motion. This time, we’ll wave goodbye.

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Bill Dwyre can be reached at bill.dwyre@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Dwyre, go to latimes.com/dwyre.

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

UCLA-USC game information

Today’s 1:30 p.m. UCLA vs. USC game is sold out. Rose Bowl officials advise fans to arrive by 10 a.m. and strongly discourage those who don’t have tickets from coming to the game.

Getting to the game

Transportation

Because Rose Bowl parking is limited, spectators are urged to use public transit or free shuttle services in Pasadena.

Gold Line

For Metro Rail passengers, the Memorial Park station is a three-block walk from the Parsons parking lot’s free shuttle stop. The stadium’s shuttle stop is near Gates B and C. (See map.)

Limited parking/shuttle service

Rose Bowl parking lots open at dawn. The cost is $10 for cars, which will be parked five deep in some areas.

Park and shuttle rides are available at the Parsons parking lot, 100 W. Walnut (shown on map) at $6 per car. Fans driving to the game are advised to approach the stadium from the Northwest. From the Foothill (210) Freeway take Berkshire Place, Arroyo Boulevard/Windsor Avenue or Lincoln Avenue exits.

The free stadium shuttle runs continuously from four hours prior to kickoff to one hour after the game.

For updated information go to rosebowlstadium.com

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Sources: Tournament of Roses, Rose Bowl Operating Co.