Everything good must come to an end. And yesterday night, with parker and manu dancing around shaq in the lane and duncan doing his mvp thang, it was the end of the line for all of us in Lakerland. Finally, the entire Laker-hating nation has their day. I wonder if it was as they thought it would be.
It has been a good ride. I remembered the days when jerry west just traded vlade for kobe, and then sign Shaq with the cap room. Fisher was backing up for Van Exel. We traded away Elden and Eddie Jones for Glen Rice. But the pieces weren't all together until Phil Jackson came. In 2000, we had a new stadium, new coach, and it was the beginning. The team was hungry. No one really hated the Lakers. Heck, we even had A. C. Green and Kurt Rambis on the team, linking the 2000 team with the past glorious 80's teams. Chick Hearn was still the announcer and I still remember him mistaking kobe for eddie, or eddie for kobe. Didn't matter. He was the Laker soul. When the Lakers won in 2000, it was like Laker days are here again. Going down to LA, everyone had their Laker flags on top of their cars, and you'd see a ton of them on the freeways, stuck in traffic but it didn't matter. Sometimes, the real Laker fans are the blue collor workers who will never sit at the luxury seats. When games are on TV, yeah, the rest of the nation sees LA fans leaving when it's a blowout. But what the camera doesn't show is all the diehard fans up on the cheap seats, still cheering the team on.
They would win 2 more championships after that, but with each new season, the roster became more depleted. The champs became more complacent. I guess that's how it always is. The circle of life in the L. Sooner or later, somebody who are more talented and hungrier will come and dethrone you. Well, this is the end of the line. San Antonio is the better team. I guess it's a case of "The King is dead, Long live the king." Congrats to the spurs and David Robinson. I've always liked him and so it's nice to see him go out with one more ring if everything goes well. I guess I take basketball entertainment too seriously, like it's life or something, kinda like those european soccer fans, but right now I'm just sitting back, knowing that it had been a good ride, and that no matter what, I'm a Laker fan, for life.
It has been a good ride. I remembered the days when jerry west just traded vlade for kobe, and then sign Shaq with the cap room. Fisher was backing up for Van Exel. We traded away Elden and Eddie Jones for Glen Rice. But the pieces weren't all together until Phil Jackson came. In 2000, we had a new stadium, new coach, and it was the beginning. The team was hungry. No one really hated the Lakers. Heck, we even had A. C. Green and Kurt Rambis on the team, linking the 2000 team with the past glorious 80's teams. Chick Hearn was still the announcer and I still remember him mistaking kobe for eddie, or eddie for kobe. Didn't matter. He was the Laker soul. When the Lakers won in 2000, it was like Laker days are here again. Going down to LA, everyone had their Laker flags on top of their cars, and you'd see a ton of them on the freeways, stuck in traffic but it didn't matter. Sometimes, the real Laker fans are the blue collor workers who will never sit at the luxury seats. When games are on TV, yeah, the rest of the nation sees LA fans leaving when it's a blowout. But what the camera doesn't show is all the diehard fans up on the cheap seats, still cheering the team on.
They would win 2 more championships after that, but with each new season, the roster became more depleted. The champs became more complacent. I guess that's how it always is. The circle of life in the L. Sooner or later, somebody who are more talented and hungrier will come and dethrone you. Well, this is the end of the line. San Antonio is the better team. I guess it's a case of "The King is dead, Long live the king." Congrats to the spurs and David Robinson. I've always liked him and so it's nice to see him go out with one more ring if everything goes well. I guess I take basketball entertainment too seriously, like it's life or something, kinda like those european soccer fans, but right now I'm just sitting back, knowing that it had been a good ride, and that no matter what, I'm a Laker fan, for life.
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