Why Shohei Ohtani is an icon while Justin Herbert is just a dude dating Madison Beer

Justin Herbert has had quite the long weekend.

After destroying the Minnesota Vikings on Thursday Night Football, the Los Angeles Chargers $262.5 million franchise quarterback, $133.7 million of it guaranteed with a no-trade clause through the 2029 season, has been hitting the town with his pop-star girlfriend Madison Beer.

Madison Beer attends the 2025 Vanity Fair Oscar Party at Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on March 02, 2025 in Beverly Hills, California. | IMAGO / imageSPACE

First they sat courtside at the Los Angeles Lakers game on Friday night, where Mr. Chivalry saved the Victoria's Secret Angel from a stray basketball. Then it was off to the Chargers Halloween party on Saturday, where plenty of photo and video evidence showed the pair having a great time with teammates and their WAGs as matching sailors.

Justin Herbert and Madison Beer have been living it up together ❤️🔥

(h/t @StevenIHaglund, anniebuerk/IG) pic.twitter.com/BYI4hqqvxD
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) October 28, 2025

Finally, it all culminated last night when the pair took in Game 3 of the World Series, witnessing one of the best postseason games in MLB history as the Los Angeles Dodgers, Shohei Ohtani, and Freddie Freeman outlasted the feisty Toronto Blue Jays in 18 innings in another Ohtani game for the ages and Freeman's walk-off home-run heroics.

Ohtani, Shohei Ohtani — Oct. 27, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani (17) celebrates after winning in the eighteenth inning against the Toronto Blue Jays in game three of the 2025 MLB World Series at Dodger Stadium. | Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images

Oh, and no big deal, Ohtani is the starting pitcher for Game 4, already acting like a kid in Little League.

Another face in the crowd vs. the LA king

Justin Herbert, Madison Beer — Oct. 24, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert (left) and girlfriend Madison Beer attend the game between the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Los Angeles Lakers at Crypto.com Arena. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

And yet if Herbert, who seems like an awesome dude, was not there with Beer, who also had global pop-icon Canadian Justin Bieber sitting beside them for part of the game, rocking a Blue Jays Shane Bieber jersey, no one at Dodgers Stadium would have ever noticed the NFL QB besides some diehard Chargers fans. More on that later. (Also, fun fact, Bieber was the one that originally discovered Beer.)

NEWS: Justin Bieber greeted and sat next to #Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert and Madison Beer at the World Series tonight.

🔥🔥🔥

Hell of a trio.
pic.twitter.com/wfRIORZszk
— MLFootball (@MLFootball) October 28, 2025

Ohtani, on the other hand, is the undisputed king of Los Angeles. No one is even a close second. The closest is probably the Los Angeles Lakers' new franchise centerpiece, Luka Doncic. (Many fans who don't live in Los Angeles would argue LeBron James. But if you live here, it's now clearly Luka's team at home games. LeBron has become King Distraction, not King James.)

Let's get into the why.

Los Angeles is a Dodgers and Lakers town first and foremost

Full transparency, I grew up in the Philadelphia suburbs, and then moved to Los Angeles when I graduated college from a stuffy east coast university.

One of the first things I learned is that while I was not alone, the two teams that were the lifeblood of the City of Angels were the Dodgers and Lakers. And as far as football goes, it's the USC Trojans easily trumping both the Chargers and Los Angeles Rams.

June 12, 2002; East Rutherford, NJ; The Lakers Kobe Bryant holds up the Championship trophy. | Asbury Park Ppress-USA TODAY NETWORK

Ohtani was the amazing sideshow that was happening down in Orange County for the Anaheim Angels, which is what we in Los Angeles still call them. Two unanimous AL MVPs later, and it was time for him to come to the Boys in Blue and turn into the biggest global MLB superstar of the 21st century.

$700 million well spent by the Mark Walter ownership group, who bought the Dodgers in 2012 when the Lakers were easily the most dominant team in LA coming off the Kobe Bryant back-to-back championships. (Walter's ownership group will soon own the Lakers officially too.)

Thanks to Ohtani's two-way dominance, not to mention winning the World Series and NL MVP in his first year with the franchise, the Dodgers surpassed the New York Yankees, the team they beat last year to win it all, as the most lucrative MLB franchise, joining the Dallas Cowboys as the only other North American to hit $1 billion in revenue.

So then why would I diss Herbert, the analytics darling? I'm not. It's just the reality that in LA, the Chargers will always be way behind the Dodgers and Lakers for relevancy.

For football, it would be USC, then probably the Rams, who won the Super Bowl in 2020 with Matthew Stafford in SoFi Stadium, and then probably the Chargers competing with the UCLA Bruins.

Jan. 04, 2005; Miami, FL, USA; USC Trojans quarterback Matt Leinart in action during the 2005 Orange Bowl against the Oklahoma Sooners . Leinart, who threw 5 touchdowns, was named the game's MVP. | Matthew Emmons-Imagn Images

Will Herbert ever be more than "just the dude dating Madison Beer"?

Madison Beer, Justin Herbert — Oct. 24, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert (left) and girlfriend Madison Beer attend the game between the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Los Angeles Lakers at Crypto.com Arena. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Probably not. But in the Chargers defense, even though they play in the Rams' stadium, they seem to have a consistently more loyal home crowd than even the Rams. The problem is that's the same diehard fanbase we mentioned earlier. They are extremely loyal, but it doesn't proliferate into the culture of the city like the Dodgers and Lakers.

(Heck, I haven't even mentioned the LA Kings or soccer teams like LAFC, who also have a passionate followings. It's just a niche crowd.)

Having so many transplants doesn't help either, me included. Loyalties die hard from hometowns, like this author with the Philadelphia Eagles. I've told my kids though that they can choose LA teams over Philly teams, since this is where they were born.

Oct. 23, 2025; Inglewood, California, USA; Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert (10) as he leaves the field following the game against the Minnesota Vikings at SoFi Stadium. | Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

Fellow transplant Bill Simmons, the famous Spotify media mogul, podcaster, and "The Ringer" founder, was also at the same Lakers game as Herbert and Beer. Also, funny enough at Game 3, where he too was getting called out for being disloyal to his beloved Boston Red Sox.

"Herbert was there sitting under the basket with Madison Beer," Simmons said in his latest episode. "And it was the day after they beat the Vikings. They showed him on the Jumbotron, like mild applause. I just don't think the Chargers are resonating in LA yet. Like this guy is the star quarterback, he's one of the ten best quarterbacks in the league, and he plays for an LA team... if they had shown Flea [of the Red Hot Chile Peppers], the place would have gone nuts. It was just interesting."

Unfortunately, Simmons is right. If you saw Herbert walking along The Strand in Manhattan Beach, where most professional athletes live in Los Angeles, and Beer was not with him, you'd only probably notice he was 6-foot-6.

Wow, that's a really tall dude. No, that's one of the ten best quarterbacks in the NFL!

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