Sports in Los Angeles - Los Angeles Hotels .com

When you think of LA you might gravitate toward warm beaches, cold Hollywood celebrities, and bad traffic, but local Angelenos know their city as one of the best places for sports in the country. Travelers can take in one of the city's many professional sports teams, or try their first stab at surfing in one the beach towns that made the sport what it is today.

What LA doesn't have in professional football they make up for in baseball, basketball, soccer, and hockey. And of course, who needs anything but college football when your two local NCAA teams are bitter rivals UCLA and USC? Many greats have donned Los Angeles uniforms, including Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Sandy Koufax -- and currently, soccer star David Beckham.

Downtown Los Angeles is the place for soccer at the Home Depot Center, and everything from the Los Angeles Kings hockey team to a handful of basketball teams -- the Lakers, the Clippers, and the Laker's sister team, the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks -- at the Staples Center.

Baseball is a whole 'nother ball game. The LA Dodgers play their home games at Dodgers Stadium in Chavez Ravine and the Angels make their home 28 miles to the south in Anaheim -- best known as home base for Disneyland. The NHL's Anaheim Ducks also play their hockey games down here.

Of course, what would a trip to LA be without the beaches? Malibu and Santa Monica are just a couple of the beach towns famous for surfing and beach volleyball. Whether you're a pro itching for a little friendly competition or a beginner with even an ounce of adventure, make it a point to hit the sands of at least one of LA's 20 beaches.