Can some sports fans please advise us? We plan to be on vacation in Southern California (LA to San Diego) from November 8 to 22 this year and would love to see a football game, just for the experience. Never having seen a game before we are hopelessly ignorant on teams, how to get tickets, how much it costs etc. Suggestions please.

Are you interested in professional or college ball?

Most professional sports tickets can be purchased thru ticketmaster http://www.ticketmaster.com/section even if you have to wait until your in town this should give you some idea of prices, teams, etc. You can search by area I think.

Or you can go to http://www.nfl.com/ and take a look at the Chargers (SD).

LA does not have a professional football team. The Chargers play in San Diego on the 17th of Nov against the 49ers at Qoalcom park. check out www.chargers.com for more info and tix info.

We don't mind whether its NFL or college teams - we just want to experience the match atmosphere. Can you suggest some team names in addiion to the Chargers? Is there an NFL or well-known college team in LA area? Thanks

The college teams that come to mind in the LA area are UCLA (Univeristy of California Los Angeles) and USC (University of Southern California).

LA doesn't have a pro-football team. The Rams moved to St Louis and the Raiders moved back to Oakland.

If you aren't football fans and are just looking for the experience of going to a game, I'd suggest a college game. NFL games are pretty expensive. I don't know how much tickets are to a Chargers game, but to see the 49ers at home, tickets are about $55 each.

The University of Southern California Trojans are playing against Arizona State University on Saturday, November 16th at the Los Angeles Coliseum. You can link to ticket info on the USC Bruins website or go to the LA Coliseum website. Tickets are $30.00.

the usc and arizona game would probably be good. since they are fairly close, will probably have some arizona fans in the crowd which is always fun.

Graham, I reently took my brother and a friend, who live in Edinburgh, to a Chargers' game at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego. My brother knows a bit about American football, but this was his friend's first NFL experience. He was stunned. An NFL game is like nothing you have seen before. At times, the actual game is almost secondary to the other things to watch, especially the people. College games have their own atmosphere, with bands, etc and are also fun. I do recommend a Charger game, though. The game on Nov 17 against the 49ers might be busy, so I would strongly suggest buying tickets over the internet now. Tickets will probably be around $49-$59. If they offer you end zone seats, you want to face the scoreboard (another source of entertainment!)so you would sit at the west end of the stadium.You will pick them up at the Stadium on game day. If you decide to do this, take the Trolley to the stadium, then you don't have to worry about parking. The stadium has all kinds of food available, great BBQ, Rubio's fish tacos, Rally's hamburgers, Papa John's pizza, plus the usual hot dogs. One cautionary note, you can't bring food into the stadium and the concession prices are high. The gates open two hours before game time and you should arrive early to give yourselves time to eat if you're going to and to watch the teams warm up and people watch. To watch American football, you don't want to be too low down and close to the field. It's better to be higher up so you can get a better view of what happens. You may need lots of sunscreen and hats.

The San Diego State University Aztecs play Colorado State in also in Qualcomm Stadium on Saturday, November 16. Also not like anything you've ever seen!

Please feel free to email me if you would like more info. Have a great game! Go Chargers!!!

USC and Arizona State will be a good game. USC is big time football in this area, so be sure to buy tickets soon.

Many thanks for all the great info - I think we'll set something up for one of the college games.