Clanging Endorsement for Sacto

SACRAMENTO

Thankfully, with the Lakers-Kings playoff series now over, we’re less likely to be hearing that insulting “cow town” talk from L.A.

It’s almost as offensive as the idiotic cowbell clanging in Sacramento.

You may recall the history: Lakers Coach Phil Jackson branded Sacramento a “cow town” two years ago. (Still running, perhaps, from his prairie roots in North Dakota.) Then a Sacramento entrepreneur made a killing by selling thousands of cowbells to loonies sitting behind the visitors’ bench.

And it deteriorated from there.

Jackson called Sacramento basketball fans “semi-civilized.” This was a semi-compliment, the coach explained, because he was comparing Sacramentans to fans in Puerto Rico, where “when you won on a visiting floor, your tires were slashed and you might be chased out of town with rocks.” In Sacramento, he continued, “those people are just maybe redneck in some form or fashion.”

Oh, OK. Sure do appreciate that, Phil.

It didn’t stop with Jackson. He inspired others to pile on with put-downs, including sports writers at this newspaper, which paradoxically is trying to sell subscriptions in the state capital.

“Yokels,” we were called--”those sentenced to life in Sacramento.”

“Farmers.” Actually, there are nearly as many farmers in L.A. County as in Sacramento, except that most L.A. farms are puny.

The Kings play in a “barn,” it’s repeatedly written, where fans clop in their “work boots.” It is true that a substantially larger percentage of Sacramentans work--hold jobs--than do Angelenos, according to unemployment stats.

But if Arco Arena is a barn, what is Staples Center? An armory? A National Guard staging area for the post-game riot?

By the way, you’ve got a 72% greater chance of being killed by a bad guy in L.A. than in Sacramento, according to the latest state crime report.

Let alone be pulverized by an earthquake.

And Sacto “yokels” seem to be more computer literate than Angelenos, a survey by the Public Policy Institute of California found. Computer usage is higher here.

You’ve guessed it, I’m biased, having moved to Sacramento three times--from congested, high-cost, high-strung Washington, L.A. and San Francisco.

I grew up in Southern California and still am amazed there are two big rivers here that actually run year-around, carrying salmon and steelhead. There are laid-back restaurants up and down the Sacramento where you can tie up a boat.

The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, 25 miles down river from the capital, has 1,000 miles of meandering, navigable waterways. Much of it is shaded by cottonwoods, sycamores and oaks, with wild berries and bass. It’s not Disneyland, but it’s real and it’s free.

Cow town? If only it were true. One local gripe is that Sacramento is starting to resemble L.A.

Bay Area people are pouring into the valley looking for affordable housing. (Home median prices: Bay Area $402,000, L.A. County $254,000, Sacramento $180,000.)

But this still is not L.A.-like.

Angelenos spend 65% more time stuck in traffic than do Sacramentans, one think tank estimates.

Smog here is not getting worse. It’s getting better--just not as fast as in L.A., which nevertheless remains smoggier.

“L.A. air has improved as fast as Sacramento’s basketball team,” notes Jerry Martin, spokesman for the state Air Resources Board.

There’s a myth--maybe born of L.A.’s own frustration--that people living outside of L.A. are envious of those stuck inside. That everyone else is living under L.A.’s shadow.

Sorry. Except for politicians, few here think much about L.A. It’s not envied nor hated. People just thank their lucky stars they don’t live there.

But enjoying Sacramento does tend to be an acquired taste. Some never acquire it.

“To me, it’s where the Capitol is,” quips veteran Sen. Tom McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks). “Why I don’t know. I wasn’t consulted.”

But Sen. Joe Dunn (D-Santa Ana) says: “I love Sacramento. It’s very similar to a lot of Midwest cities. It’s got small town ideals--community, family....

“I’m a rabid fan of the Lakers, but I have to respectively disagree with Phil Jackson.”

“I’d move back in a heartbeat,” says Joan Stern, who left Sacramento for L.A. 19 years ago. But her husband, Bob Stern, president of the Center for Governmental Studies, says, “I’m not so sure.” They live in a Malibu townhouse overlooking the ocean.

Sen. Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles), who just bought a home close to the Capitol in a neighborhood called Hollywood Park, says: “It’s a nice town, but not at playoff time. At playoff time, it’s a cow town.”

Just don’t call us redneck yokels.

But you can call us lousy free throw shooters.