They've been friends since they were each 7 years old. They may soon be two of the biggest stars in a town full of them.
When news broke Saturday night that the Detroit Lions were reportedly trading quarterback Matthew Stafford to the Los Angeles Rams in exchange for quarterback Jared Goff and draft picks, this immediately occurred to many SoCal sports fans: Stafford and Clayton Kershaw were going to be back together again, in Los Angeles.
One of the greatest pitchers of all time and one of the NFL's elite QBs go way back, to the days when they played baseball, basketball and soccer together as kids. Both of them graduated from Highland Park High School in University Park, Texas. They're even nearly the exact same age -- Stafford is about six weeks older than Kershaw.
The similarities don't end there -- both Kershaw and Stafford were selected in the first round of the MLB and NFL Drafts, respectively (Kershaw out of high school in 2006, and Stafford out of the University of Georgia in '09). Stafford even named a play "Kershaw" after his buddy, using it in a game against the New York Giants back in 2017.
The two have spent their professional careers with a pretty large geographic distance between them, but that may be changing soon. The Dodgers are the defending World Series champs, so Kershaw's got his ring. Stafford has yet to get a championship ring, but perhaps he'll lead the Rams to their first Super Bowl title in more than two decades.
In the meantime, maybe Kershaw will name a pitch after Stafford. The Stafford Slider, perhaps?