On a doubleheader day at the Staples Centre in mid-December, the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers are first out of the gate and playing to a half-filled building against the Memphis Grizzlies. Even though they have the hottest young player in the game, Blake Griffin, an improving team and two visiting players with close ties to the market, O.J. Mayo, the former USC star, and Zach Randolph, the Clippers are barely registering a ripple.

Next up, the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings, playing before a sellout crowd of 18,118 even though the opponent is the Minnesota Wild, a comparatively nondescript team against whom they have virtually no history or rivalry to speak of.

But the building is jumping, loud, raucous and enthusiastic, and it isn’t just because the Kings have made the long-awaited trade for Marco Sturm that day, adding another veteran piece to their rebuilding puzzle.......

Kings pretty much sold out every game this year.