A Day to Forget All Your Troubles

Driving downtown today at noon. Hanging around there until midnight.

Going with neighbors, thousands of neighbors, visiting, laughing, celebrating, living.

A party? A parade?

More like a potluck.

An unplanned, unexpected, undeniably hip potluck.

At noon, the L.A. Lakers are bringing the juice.

At 6:30 p.m., the L.A. Kings are bringing the ice.

Often, sports is merely a distraction from life. But sometimes, the scoreboards align, and the magic works, and sports is life.

Today is one of those days. Staples Center will be cooking. In its backyard, our kids will be playing.

At noon, Shaquille O’Neal is bringing the baskets.

At 6:30, Ian Laperriere is bringing the biscuits.

Said O’Neal: “I’m a hockey fan. I like sports where they let you release your anger.”

Said Laperriere: “I’ve never met [O’Neal], but I seen him walk by. He casts a large shadow.”

Today, that shadow is being thrown by an entire town undergoing a sports rebirth.

A year ago, Los Angeles had not won a pro sport title in more than a decade. Today, we’ll have a defending world champion and upstart contender competing in second-round playoff games in separate sports in the same building.

At noon, the Lakers will meet the Sacramento Kings in the first game of the second round of the NBA playoffs.

At 6:30, at the same Staples Center address, our hockey Kings will meet the Colorado Avalanche in the sixth game of the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Get there early. Stay late. And when is the last time anyone suggested that to you about downtown L.A.?

Sports can do that, you know. It can change things. It can fix things.

At its best, sports can paint a city’s walls and clean its sidewalks and bring people out from behind locked doors to dance.

When sports throws a party like today, everyone shows up, and everyone is on the same side, and a community feels like a community.

Sports can also make people drink too much and want to do stupid things to those walls, but we learned our lesson last June, right? That stupidity is not happening today, is it?

The Staples Center forces will be ready. The corner of 11th and Figueroa will be safe. A wonderful day for a potluck.

At noon, Tyronn Lue is bringing the, “Luuuuuuuu.”

At 6:30, Luc Robitaille is bringing the, “Luuuuucccc.”

Like those who follow them, the Lakers and Kings have little in common.

They practice in the same El Segundo facility. But because they are rarely home at the same time, they rarely see each other.

“About the only time we talk to them is when we ask them to move their cars because they’re blocking us in,” King Coach Andy Murray said. “You can tell the difference between a Laker car and Kings car by the wheels. Their wheels probably cost more than my car.”

They play in the same Staples Center. But usually on different days, with different locker rooms, and amid what seems like a 30-degree temperature difference.

O’Neal has filmed two hilarious promotions for the Kings scoreboard. But he acknowledged he has never attended a hockey game.

The Kings used to attend Laker games by sitting in a buddy’s suite. But that buddy was Rob Blake.

The Lakers are Hollywood. The Kings are community theater.

The Lakers have seven crowns. The Kings only wear one on their jersey.

One franchise has driven in the carpool lane, the other in the slow lane, the same direction but at vastly different speeds.

Until now, until today, brought together at the same off-ramp by circumstance and character.

At noon, the Lakers are bringing Dyan Cannon.

At 6:30, the Kings are bringing Dancing Boy.

The organizations finally shared something this spring when both were seriously questioned. Today’s appearance represents a sort of shared answer to those questions.

Before the playoffs, the feuding Lakers were described as being as emotionally fragile as a teacup.

But then they rolled over Portland in three games, looked even better than during last year’s championship run, and should have little trouble brushing away erratic Sacramento en route to a showdown in San Antonio.

The Kings faced the same doubts. Before the playoffs, with no championships and only one trip past the second round in their 33-year history, they were described as the worst sports franchise in Los Angeles.

But then they stunned the heavily favored Detroit Red Wings in the first round and have pushed hockey’s best regular-season team, the Avalanche, to a Game 6. Even though they must sweep the next two games to advance to the next round, is there anyone who would question their toughness to pull it off?

Incidentally, the same person wrote the bits about the teacup and the worst franchise.

My bosses claim that my column mug shot was removed today as part of a paperwide redesign, but I know better.

Not that anybody will be seeing anything today but Lakers and Kings.

At noon, Chick Hearn is bringing a Hall of Fame voice.

At 6:30, Bob Miller will make it a chorus.

Giddy times, indeed.

Less than two months ago, our two biggest college basketball teams played in the same NCAA tournament Sweet 16 regional in the same building in Philadelphia.

Next winter, the Rose Bowl is going to host college football’s national championship game. Shortly thereafter, the Staples Center will host the U.S. figure skating championships and the NHL All-Star game.

All this, and the first-place Dodgers have finally released Carlos Perez.

Lots of folks driving downtown today at noon, none of them needing Randy Newman to tell them why.

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Bill Plaschke can be reached at his e-mail address:

bill.plaschke@latimes.com.