Michael Ventre

In Southern California, they’re just wild about their Lakers. The franchise has brought championship hoopla and glamour to a town that knows a little about entertainment. But alas, they haven’t won a championship since 2002, and their star player has thrown almost as many tantrums this summer as he takes shots in a typical game.

The Dodgers also have an illustrious past filled with thrills and glory. But they haven’t won a World Series since 1988, which also happens to be the last time they won a playoff series.

The Angels won a world championship in 2002, but haven’t seriously threatened since, although they currently have the best record in the majors.

The Los Angeles Kings reek. The Los Angeles Clippers are consistently disappointing. More people follow Victoria Beckham around Beverly Hills than follow the L.A. Galaxy. There is no NFL team in L.A. and there may never be again, and San Diego’s Chargers fired their coach after he went 14-2, putting preposterous pressure on his replacement to do even better.

Yes, USC is still in the hunt for national titles in football, just as UCLA is in basketball. But as far as professional franchises are concerned, the pickings are slim in one of the richest and most populous areas of the U.S.

Woe is Southern California.

But now there is hope. An unlikely group of heroes has emerged. It’s as if somebody were casting a movie, couldn’t find any matinee idols willing to take on the challenge, and had to settle for a bunch of no-names who had only ever worked as extras.

Meet the saviors of Southern California sports: your Anaheim Ducks!

Ducks win first Stanley Cup      Ducks crush Senators in Game 5  |    Images Scott Niedermayer wins Conn Smythe     Opinion: Sweet Finn-ish for Selanne     Schwarzenegger joins over 15,000 in celebration Ventre: Ducks could spark other SoCal teams Opinion: Ducks won't repeat  |  Why not? Sens' 'screwup' on Ducks' key goal  |  Uh, oh Notebook: Carlyle to savor first Cup       Discussion boards: Sound off on Ducks' Cup Previous Stanley Cup champions

The Ducks finished off the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday with a 6-2 victory in Game 5 at Anaheim. In the hockey realm it was significant because it marked the first time the Stanley Cup was won by a team in California and, in a quaint bit of puck esoterica, the first time the chalice went to a West Coast team since the Victoria Cougars of the Western Canada Hockey League defeated Montreal in 1925, two years before NHL clubs began playing exclusively for the Cup.

In fact, the Victoria Cougars, who disintegrated and eventually morphed into the Detroit Red Wings, still have a better shot at bringing another championship to the West Coast than the Kings or Clippers.

Meanwhile, the Ducks have sent the area into a sedate frenzy, or if you prefer, a languid state of pandemonium. Sports championships in Southern California tend to produce rather brief periods of jubilation, because fans leave early to beat the traffic so they can go home and call a sports radio talk show and complain about why the other teams in the area haven’t won.

MSNBC video Brotherly love June 6: Ducks captain Scott Niedermayer says handing the Stanley Cup to his brother Rob the highlight of his career. NHL Productions

Into this cynical maelstrom step the Ducks, from a city so nondescript that the owner of the Angels has fought court battles to give his club a “Los Angeles” identity. And the city of Anaheim has made headlines lately with another legal tussle, this one against Disneyland, over a tract of land the theme park wants to use to expand, but which the city wants for low-income housing.

It’s almost like the Ducks had to politely interrupt in order to get some attention. If Anaheim stages a parade, most of the Ducks might be mistaken for the drivers.

Yet, a championship is a championship. The Los Angeles Kings had their shot in 1993. Led by Wayne Gretzky, they eliminated the Calgary Flames, Vancouver Canucks and Toronto Maple Leafs in the playoffs, but fell to the Montreal Canadiens in five games in the finals. In a bit of bum luck that continues to haunt the franchise the way Bill Buckner’s ground ball shadowed the Boston Red Sox for many years, Marty McSorley’s hockey stick was deemed too curvy in Game 2, which eventually led to the Canadiens winning that game and the next three.

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