Now that they are not the favorites to win the title, it dawned on me that I am a Laker fan.
It was easy to root for them when Magic was dishing no-look passes in the 80's and I was mimicking how they played when I was playing barangay liga-type basketball when I was a tween. Or when Kobe and Shaq had a doze of Zen and were stamping fear into the hearts of their opponents in the early 2000s. Or when a Zen-ed Kobe had Gasol, Bynum and Odom. It was easy.
Now, well one can hope things won't be that bad. But I don't think it will be that bad. Kobe is still Kobe. Chance always exists. With Nash and Gasol, hmmm, I am smiling now :- )
But what draws me deeper into this team more than the casual observer who sees "Ws-Ls", is that they are an organization who lorded over a former world that's shifting towards faster. A world where pace and athleticism seems to be dialed in and stuck at 28 years old. When cap room is very punitive. And when one can not simply spend to get to contender status. Now, it has to be built.
Over the last two years, where the trophy went to the Heat, I rooted for teams that actually lost. No, I am not Lebron-hater. I think Pat Riley's Heat took a page or two from his old Showtime Lakers. (Miami to me is the Showtime Lakers of the East.) Its just that I am drawn to how an organization can built a team to become what is now known as Durant-Westbrook Thunder or Duncan-Ginobli-Parker Spurs.
I am now more interested in the process, when in the past it was simply about the results. Or better yet, I am now more interested on the process that brings an organization to the result they want :- )
So, for 2013-2014 season I will be glued to everything purple and gold. Not because they are favored to win the championship. But because they (players, coaches and executives) will absolutely struggle and honestly look for ways to win every single game.
"... why think like mere men?"
