The Dodgers should win the World Series

Not for a sports reason, but because it would make dudes from LA even more sexy 2 me

Famously, I am a woman who loves sports. I would say I am first and foremost a basketball fan, a soccer fan when my friends invite me to watch it with them, and a baseball fan when the Oakland Ballers are giving away foam fingers to the first hundred fans who show up to a game on a random Tuesday night. All this to say, despite being a woman who loves sports, I have only started paying attention to the Dodgers (watching game highlights) now that they’re in the World Series. 

don’t ask me who any of these dudes are I genuinely don’t know

Admittedly, I have had a strained relationship with the Dodgers for the very specific reason that one of my neighbors growing up was removed from his home in Chavez Ravine for the city to build the stadium where it now stands. After learning his story, I watched a (PBS) documentary about the neighborhood that once was, and how it was home to predominantly Mexican-Americans who couldn’t find/afford housing elsewhere because of redlining. I remember the documentary had archival footage and photos of people being forcibly removed from their homes, and the violence I watched affected me so deeply that I felt I could not in good conscience support this team. And to the great disdain of my peers in elementary and middle school, I made sure everyone knew about the horrors that haunted the history of the team they loved so much. 

Kids playing above Los Angles skyline in Chavez ravine (more photos available here)

Since then, my feelings on the Dodgers have shifted to general ambivalence. I rarely pay them any mind and am, for the most part, clueless regarding who is on their roster and what skills they bring to the team. But I do pay very close attention to the Dodgers as an object of popular culture, a signifier of LA pride, and also a catalyst of very hot behavior. I’m referring, of course, to dudes repping where they’re from. 

Devoted readers of Agony Hour know that something I find very, very attractive is when men rep where they’re from. As I once elegantly noted in an essay about Simu Liu and Ben Affleck: 

“A man that loves where he’s from holds himself a little taller. His chest is always a little more proud. He walks with an easy swagger, a kind of comfort and freedom that only comes when you know you belong somewhere.”

While I would say that men repping wherever it is they happen to be from is always attractive to me, the past few days of watching TikToks and seeing Instagram posts of men specifically from LA has brought to the fore the specificities of LA masculinities that are so appealing to me. 

Let’s start first with the aesthetic. Los Angeles is a city that is notably invested in fashion and visibility. I often hear this framed as a complaint that people who are from LA or currently live in LA are vapid and shallow. And listen, I think that is the case for a lot of transplants who come to the city for the explicit purposes of becoming rich and famous as influencers or a specific kind of participant in the entertainment industry. But for folks like me, people who were born and raised in parts of the city that are untouched by the entertainment industry and have managed to evade or slow down gentrification, we dress well as a demonstration of ethnic and class pride and to show our deep connection to the city we love and live in. 

Dodger caps, jerseys, t-shirts, and pretty much anything else are part of how we display a sense of belonging and permanence. But for men especially, the occasion of a sporting event calls for articles of clothing and jewelry (ideally branded with sports logos) that might be seen as too flashy to be taken seriously in other settings and scenarios. But within the confines of Dodger Stadium, the sports bar, or the street, these shows of stylistic excess are a tool for expressing pride, confidence, and intentionality – qualities that are, for the most part, always attractive. While these pieces might not be too far outside of the usual LA hot guy uniform – cap, chain, open button-down with a tighter fitting tee underneath, dark wash jeans, and meticulously cared-for sneakers – there is something about the heightened stakes of dressing for a sporting event that seems to give some men a little extra swagger, which in turn, makes me AwoOOoga like a cartoon wolf. 

I feel very strange reproducing images of random fans so please enjoy this promo photo with hot players that also make me awoooga :)

In the same way that sports create a safe environment for men to play more with how they dress, it also, of course, allows for intense displays of emotion and affection that otherwise might not happen elsewhere/at any other time.¹ Men jumping, screaming, dancing, smiling wide-eyed, and even crying are all displays of vulnerability I think are worth treating as moments of tender intimacy. I’ve been especially touched by the TikToks I’ve seen recording reactions from boyfriends, brothers, and fathers who are being surprised with tickets moments before leaving for the game. In one TikTok, we see a father vacuuming in preparation for hosting people over for a watch party. His son walks up to the front door (dressed in a cap, open jersey, blue t-shirt, and immaculately white sneaks. Moosetache poppin' against a five o'clock shadow) and asks his dad, “why aren’t you dressed?” “I’m getting ready, baby,”  his father responds with a cheeky smile, hand still gripping the Dyson vacuum. “We’re going,” his son starts to say as if his father should have always known that was the plan, “we’re going to game.” The father stares back at his son, and his body shutters in disbelief. “What? No fucking way!” – it’s a slip that’s so earnest and wholesome the use of a curse word only underscores its innocence. After his son confirms they’re going to game one, the father finally lets go of his vacuum and hugs his son so tightly and lets out a little welp that sounds like he’s getting appropriately choked up as he’s laughing and smiling at the gift his son is giving him. The father and son stand embracing, and then the video cuts to them at the game. They are cheering and happy, and we watch them take in the same tender embrace as the game is called in the Dodger's favor. This is a narrative pattern I’ve gleefully seen play out over so many clips on social media. While each one is certainly playing upon the emotional impact of such a pure display of love and happiness, I also can’t help but respond to the way men are framing themselves as family-oriented, hard-working, and interested in caring for the men in their lives who also have worked hard and deserve a little treat of their own. It's a nice way to signal a sense of gratitude and humility that is very, very pleasing to me. It’s a good reminder that so many of us who live in LA are hustling and working to make our parents, our families, and our communities proud. 

@andiargo1Worth every penny @Los Angeles Dodgers #dodgers #dodgersbaseball

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This brings me to my last point. Los Angeles is often accused of being a city that lacks a sense of community and continuity. While it’s easy to attribute this to how big the actual city is and also how segregated it is across racial and class lines (an intentional outcome of how spread out the city is), the reality is – in my experience, at least – that lifelong Angelenos are deeply invested in community and that is seen explicitly in the way we engage with local popular culture such as sports. We are a city that mourns and celebrates publicly together. We hold each other’s grief and happiness as our own and make it visible through murals, music, fireworks, car-cruises, and, sometimes, simply taking over public space for the night. In these times, I am always stuck by how men are willing to make emotional displays in public that relay a deep attachment to the city that raised them. I suspect that this depth of feeling is maybe informed by a kind of patriarchal relation to space – men as conquerors or “naturally” territorial and such. But I think it’s also true that men have so few avenues to build a sense of pride and identity that developing a strong sense of community via sports and pop culture allows men to do that work without violating the stringent codes of masculinity. Men expressing so much love for LA, to me, is about expressing a kind of self-love and deep appreciation for the way this city shapes and moves you. Again, this demonstrates a level of tenderness and vulnerability that, most times, is inaccessible. It’s deeply attractive to see and, honestly, quite exhilarating to experience. 

I’ll be lighting a candle tonight for the Dodgers and sending prayers up that they keep winning, if only so I can see hot dudes being sexy in all their unbridled glory.

1. I am definitely focusing on the positive emotions but I think it’s also important to note that there is a documented pattern of domestic violence increase during important sporting events because men are so distressed and aggravated by their team losing. Find more data and info here and support resources here.