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lakersfanjeff
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Post subject: Fans of the LA Lakers? Really good fakers
 Posted: Nov 03, 2009 - 03:05 AM PST
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Laker GM
Joined: Aug 12, 2009 Age: 23
Posts: 3093
Location: Pasadena, CA
  
votes: 14
Status: Offline
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A funny thing happened last week when I turned on the Lakers-Mavericks game. There were eight minutes left in the fourth quarter, and Los Angeles was down 14. Kobe Bryant was fouled and stepped to the line. Inexplicably, the crowd at the Staples Center started an “MVP” chant.
Normally, this might make sense. After all, Kobe is one of the best players in the league and won the NBA Finals MVP award last year. That night, however, Kobe was hardly an MVP.
The Lakers fans must have been too busy checking their BlackBerrys and looking for B-list celebrities to notice that Kobe had 15 points and was 5/18 from the field at that point. Hardly MVP numbers. Yet, as Lakers followers will happily tell you, Kobe Bryant is the greatest player to ever live and always plays well. Always.
This all feeds into my overriding point: Contrary to popular belief, Lakers fans really aren’t that great. The national media treat the Lakers as one of the premier franchises in all of sports, and the team’s fans are often lumped into that category as well.
The truth is that many Lakers fans pretend that they’re dedicated, but most of it is just an elaborate put-on. Sure, they’re on their feet when the game starts and Kobe makes his first shot of the game. But at the first sign of adversity, a couple missed shots or a bad pass, they fall noticeably silent. As ESPN’s Bill Simmons has written, “They don’t stand unless it’s the last two minutes of a big playoff game, or the Staples Center is on fire.” They might throw an MVP chant in every once in a while, but that’s more out of blind love for Kobe than passion for the team itself.
Take, for example, opening night against the Clippers. The Lakers had come out a bit flat after their triumphant ring ceremony, and the Clippers were down by only one in the fourth quarter.
The creepy automated voice that haunts every arena urged the crowd to get into the game. “DE-FENSE, DE-FENSE,” the emotionless man droned. Normally, a crowd that actually cares about the game would drown out the robotic voice and cheer its team on. Not this time. As they so often are in crunch time, the Lakers fans were mostly silent, allowing the automated voice to continue awkwardly in the background.
Watching in disgust, I imagined what two Lakers fans might have been doing at the time.
Fake fan #1: “Man, we just need Kobe to score 100 again like he did that one time.”
Fake fan #2: (Looking intently at tmz.com on his BlackBerry) Yeah … (finally looks up) hey, isn’t that Tobey Maguire?”
Yes, Spider-Man is one of the many celebrities who attend Lakers games and pretend to watch the game when all they really want is to be noticed by people and seen on TV for five seconds.
Of course, not all Lakers fans are famous. There are plenty of Kobe-worshippers who are everyday people, just like you and me. The thing is, most of them aren’t much different from the celebrities in terms of how much they care about basketball. They go to games because it’s cool, the celebrities do it and they just might be seen a few rows
behind Denzel!
It also doesn’t hurt that the Lakers routinely put great teams on the floor and have won 15 championships. I’ll admit, there are plenty of Lakers fans who do care about basketball and pay attention when they attend games. But, seriously, how many of those people would still be “die-hard” fans if Kobe Bryant had never come to town and the team wasn’t a perennial contender? You’re kidding yourself if you think the majority wouldn’t jump ship at the first sign of trouble.
How do I know this? Because almost all of the Lakers fans I’ve encountered barely watch any games when the team is good! They float through the regular season, spitting plenty of game about how good their team is but never bothering to watch them in action. Then the postseason rolls around and suddenly they are glued to the games, holding onto every play like it’s between life and death.
As a Cubs fan, this drives me crazy. How is it that my franchise, with loyal fans who actually know what they’re talking about, manages to go 101 years without a championship while the Lakers win four in 10 years? And what about Trail Blazer fans? They haven’t won a title since 1977, and as an impartial observer I can tell you that their fans are 100 times better than Lakers’. Such is life, I guess.
To the four or five (if that) true Lakers fans reading this: I apologize. I may be wrong about you. Just know you’re in the minority. Most of the “fans” around you are just like Jack Nicholson: they’re great actors.
Link: http://www.dailyemerald.com/sports/fans ... s-1.857674 |
_________________
Chick Hearn will always be my favorite Laker. The Lakers are the champions, you don't have to like it, but you have to live with it.
There's no "i" in team, but there is in win.
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PlzOPH3T
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Post subject: RE: Fans of the LA Lakers? Really good fakers
Posted: Nov 03, 2009 - 03:18 AM PST
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Big-Time Laker Fan
Joined: Jun 16, 2009
Posts: 507
votes: 10
Status: Offline
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So Laker fans were just being nice when they chanted MVP for DJ Mbenga?
I agree, there is an abnormal amount of followers who just go to games cus its the hottest spot in town on that particular night. But so what? They pay money for those seats, they can shout whatever they want as long as they don't impede other's enjoyment of the game.
Portland Trail Blazer fans are so loyal because it's either the Blazers or the Salem Quacking Ducklings.
I will never truly understand Cub fans though... |
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cuckooroller
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Post subject: RE: Fans of the LA Lakers? Really good fakers
Posted: Nov 03, 2009 - 10:08 AM PST
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Lakers Topbuzz Hall of Famer
Joined: Mar 27, 2008 Age: 59
Posts: 6661
Location: Italy
votes: 65
Status: Offline
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Big Deal! I defy any fan of any NBA franchise to tell me with a straight face that they would view a regular season game, e.g., a home game against Sacramento, with the exact same interest and fan fervor, as they would in viewing a post-season game that clinches the Championship for their team. Any takers? If not, this writer that gets even the obvious wrong, should take his Oregon dumplings and cram them up his butt.
The next time the Aimless Wanderers beat some regular season, bottom-feeding sad sack in Fartland, I expect all of those fans to rush screaming out of the Hose Harden, saddle up their racing cows, and parade through the streets honking their noses, and waving their brown-eyed underwear in celebration... If they do not, then they are obviously, by the definition posited above, fakers!
The inordinate amount of time that the Wanderers fans spends thinking about the Lakers, their fans, Los Angeles, etc., leads me to believe that they are all envious voyeurs, and need their daily fix of reflected light! Without the Lakers, these people would have no life at all. The sooner the Sasquatch descendants figure out and accept that the rivalry existing between the franchises, exists only in their disturbed minds, the better. The Aimless Wanderers, and their team, have always been, and will always be, unworthy of any sort of attention by either the Lakers themselves, or their knowledgeable fans. |
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Steve
"Sasha Vujacic. The All-Time YWCA Scoring Leader".
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ReliveThe3PEAT
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Post subject: RE: Fans of the LA Lakers? Really good fakers
Posted: Nov 03, 2009 - 01:23 PM PST
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Lakers Topbuzz Hall of Famer
Joined: Jul 19, 2008 Age: 18
Posts: 12663
votes: 58
Status: Offline
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Cant say I disagree with him about some Laker fans. He certainly nailed it with the Staples Center crowd. That arena is pathetic... It seems like its empty the way how loud chants/cheerings are.
I also agree with the Kobe MVP chants that day. Kobe was so bad, he missed layups. I dont know if Staples Center chanted "MVP", to give motivation to Kobe, or if they were just being delusional.
But one thing I do disagree with is him saying that THE COMPLETE Fan base is like that. We LTBers certainly know it isnt like that. |
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"I just wish more people would celebrate Kobe. I really do. We spend so much time trying to tear him apart and I think we're missing how great he is" - Doc Rivers
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lakeshowsd
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Post subject: RE: Fans of the LA Lakers? Really good fakers
Posted: Nov 03, 2009 - 05:41 PM PST
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Laker GM
Joined: Dec 20, 2008 Age: 28
Posts: 2594
Location: North Bend, OR
votes: 32
Status: Offline
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| Laker tickets are not cheap. A lot of the most loyal fans simply can't afford to attend a game more than once or twice a year, if that. If he's judging all Laker fans based on who shows up to Staples Center on game day, he's clearly not giving the real Laker fans a fair shake. Besides, L.A. is a much more laid back crowd than some of the insane, nutball fans we see in other NBA arenas. We know our team is good and maybe a lot of us don't feel the need to scream ourselves into a migraine just to prove it. |
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"No center in the NBA scores 20 per game easier than Andrew Bynum." - lakeshowsd
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lakers4life21
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Post subject: RE: Fans of the LA Lakers? Really good fakers
Posted: Nov 03, 2009 - 06:33 PM PST
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Die-Hard Laker Fan
Joined: Aug 30, 2007
Posts: 2096
votes: 15
Status: Offline
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| What an insult. |
_________________
“I’m definitely going to L.A.—to sign, yeah. Lakers, Lakers, Lakers. I’m in L.A. right now.”
-Ron Artest
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spankees
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Post subject: RE: Fans of the LA Lakers? Really good fakers
Posted: Nov 03, 2009 - 06:45 PM PST
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Die-Hard Laker Fan
Joined: Dec 15, 2008 Age: 100
Posts: 1851
Location: Los Angeles
votes: 16
Status: Offline
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Yeah, Los Angeles does have a few crazy Laker fans......
 [/img] |
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Stay Thirsty My Friends!
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