Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up
All Scores
Odds by

Suns purchase ‘beat.la’ website to push rivalry with Lakers

BKN - NBA - LAKERS - SUNS

Los Angeles Lakers Kobe Bryant (L) shoots over Phoenix Suns P.J. Tucker (R) during the Lakers NBA match up against the Suns, at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California, February 12, 2013. The Lakers defeated the Suns, 91-85. Kobe Bryant finishes with only four points, nine assists and eight turnovers. AFP PHOTO / Robyn BECK (Photo credit should read ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images)

AFP/Getty Images

If you’re looking at rivalries from the Lakers side of things, teams like the Celtics in the East and the Spurs in the West are the ones that immediately come to mind for most fans in Los Angeles.

But in Phoenix, Suns fans loathe the Lakers more than any other NBA team, with the possible exception of those same Spurs.

Whether due to proximity (the two teams’ home arenas are just 375 miles apart) or due to the Lakers’ relative success breeding contempt, the “Beat L.A.” chants in the arena are fierce every time the purple and gold come to town.

When taking this into account, the team’s latest move on the digital side is perhaps less of a surprise.

From Domain Name Wire (via Eric Pincus of the L.A. Times):

As for the Phoenix Suns, the NBA team bought Beat.la for $5,300. GoDaddy just started a marketing push to help brand .la as the domain name for Los Angeles, even though it’s the country code domain for Laos. This is a clever domain for the Suns to drum up their rivalry.

The site is live now, and features two links on the home page. One takes you to a photo gallery depicting the rivalry over the years, while the other takes you to a video feature commemorating the first time the Suns beat the Lakers in the postseason back in 1990.

Lakers fans may want to laugh this off, but remember, Kobe Bryant holds a grudge for the beatings his teams took at the hands of the Suns in 2006 and 2007. Credit Phoenix for coming up with a creative way to keep the rivalry alive digitally for its fans.