What started as a quick trip to cover a Raising Cane’s event celebrating the UCLA Bruins Women’s Basketball Team’s first-ever NCAA championship, left me with a full heart and about a million photos to show all my friends.

As always, the Raising Cane’s team is something else.

I am genuinely, constantly amazed at how they pull events together that give athletes like Lauren Betts and Kiki Rice a platform to be fully themselves. Celebrated, seen, and given the space to show the world a side of them that goes beyond their stats.

Shoutout to Miss Amy Utley, who was so helpful and organized, she is definitely the kind of person you can tell is the reason everything runs so smoothly.

There was one moment at the event that truly stopped me in my tracks. It was during the press conference when Kiki Rice said this:

“To see the growth in women’s sports and women’s basketball over the past few years has been fantastic. The support, the love, all the congratulations that we’ve been getting over the past few days has been really fun. And it obviously shows that when you invest in women’s sports, you get a great turnout… I feel like there’s a lot of people interested in our stories, that want to cover us and hear what we have to say, so it’s just really cool to have opportunities like this.”

As a young woman working in sports media, let me tell you — I had to take a breath after that.

Women’s sports is not just on the rise. It has always been here.

What’s changing is the attention, and it is long overdue. Events like this one are proof of what happens when brands actually invest, when they show up, show out, and give these athletes the celebration they deserve.

It’s our job now, as fans, as media, as sports lovers, to nurture that growth. To keep showing up. Because one day, women’s leagues will stand just as tall as any male-dominated sport out there, and trust me, we’re already halfway there.

Now that I’ve poured my heart out on this page, let’s talk about something equally important to me: the Clippers game.

My cousins Cindy, her husband Rey, and brother George all live in Los Angeles, so getting to spend time with them while I was out there made the trip even sweeter. We had an absolute blast, but I’ll be completely honest, I had an agenda walking into that arena.

I’ve been following Jared McCain since his Duke days, and what’s always drawn me to his game isn’t just the talent, it’s the personality. He’s unapologetically himself, goofy and stylish, that kind of authenticity is rare at any level of the sport. All I wanted was to see the guy play!

And he did not come out for the first… many… minutes of that game. I was anxious, fidgeting, even. I may have said a small prayer. But, finally, with about three minutes left in a game OKC was already dominating, he got put in.

And he made a 3!

I’m choosing to believe it was for me, and I don’t think anyone will ever convince me otherwise.

I keep saying everything was my favorite but I truly cannot pick a winner!

Especially when thinking about my view from the Hollywood Grande where I was staying for these two wonderful nights. I had a direct view of the Hollywood Sign and just at the edge of my window I could make out a blue building with words painted on it: “you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love.”

For the chronically online among us — yes, that’s the name of Olivia Rodrigo’s new album.

I felt completely wrapped up in the pop culture bubble that is Los Angeles. This city doesn’t just exist in real life. It exists in the cultural conversation 24/7, and being inside it, even just for 48 hours, felt like being in on the best inside joke.

(Also, the streets were noticeably quieter than I expected, and then I remembered: it was Coachella week. Of course half the city had migrated to the desert. Makes sense.)

After the Cane’s event wrapped, I got some writing done back at the hotel, then met back up with Cindy for dinner in Little Tokyo.

My whole dad’s side of the family are Dodgers fans through and through, so seeing how that neighborhood has completely embraced Shohei Ohtani was genuinely moving. Murals, advertisements, Dodgers gear in every window. This man has become a part of the fabric of the city in a way that feels so fitting.

We wrapped up the night walking the shops, getting some ramen and just taking in the views. One of the last shops I passed by caught my attention, not only because it was a packed house, but because it had a sign on it that read:

“Little Tokyo welcomes ALL immigrants”

I stood there for a moment longer than I expected to because it felt like a summary of everything I’d experienced in those 48 hours.

A city that is loud and glittery and chaotic and cool, but underneath all of that, genuinely open. Genuinely celebratory. Of athletes, of cultures, of women, of stories that are finally getting to be told.

I don’t know if that’s always the LA experience, but it was mine and I’m holding onto it.

I came back to my hotel room that last night with a full heart, a full camera roll, and the very specific feeling that I am exactly where I’m supposed to be, doing exactly the kind of work I’m supposed to be doing.

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Sarah Villalobos is a guest contributor here at The Underdog Tribune (as well as a fantastic human being and a diligent worker). She puts her heart and soul into her craft and is a well-rounded creative who can tell stories in a thousand different ways. Check out her work and connect with her at her website.