a confused Lakers fan

[Guest shaqaustin34]

I really like the Lakers, but I have a hard time rooting for them because I like Shaq and I hate hate hate Kobe Bryant. Does anybody else have the same problem?

[Ripper 0]

Then you aren't a Laker fan, you are a player fan. I don't care if Karl malone, Bruce Bowen, Kobe Bryant, Alonzo Mourning and Derek Fisher all got traded to the Suns (theyare my all nba "I don't like these guys" first team) I would still route for the suns like a mutha fucka.

[Guest shaqaustin34]

If kobe leaves i would gladley go back to being a laker fan even if they suck, it's just I can not stand kobe.

[Crimson Platypus 0]

Then you aren't a Laker fan, you are a player fan.  I don't care if Karl malone, Bruce Bowen, Kobe Bryant, Alonzo Mourning and Derek Fisher all got traded to the Suns (theyare my all nba "I don't like these guys" first team) I would still route for the suns like a mutha fucka.

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I'd kill myself before rooting for that group of shitheads (minus Zo, still don't know why he gets so much hate).

[Guest]

If kobe leaves i would gladley go back to being a laker fan even if they suck, it's just I can not stand kobe.

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It's never going to happen, so find another team. If you are in this situation in the first place, chances are that you hopped on the bandwagon once the Lakers won titles, and now you need to get off.

[Guest Vitamin X]

^^^

 

The man's got a point. Don't hate on Kobe, anyways. I can see why people dislike him, but I don't understand the furious hate some people seem to have. It's incredibly lame.

[razazteca 0]

Get off the Lakers bandwagon and jump on the Clippers bandwagon.

[bob_barron 0]

(minus Zo, still don't know why he gets so much hate).

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Because he's a worthless sack of shit who deserves to be elbowed in the kidney as hard as possible?

[Kurt Angle Mark 0]

Get off the Lakers bandwagon and jump on the Clippers bandwagon.

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That's what I did when the Lakers got rid of Eddie and Nick.

 

Signing Shaq made me go from worshipping the Lakers to just liking them(I fucking hate Shaq), but once they got rid of my two favorite players I became a Laker hater for life.

[Crimson Platypus 0]

How can you "fucking hate Shaq"? Seriously he seems like one of the nicest guys around in every interview or television spot he does.

 

 

I agree with VX though, while I dislike Kobe, it's no where near what people seem to feel toward the guy. Personally I just think he's a cocky ass, but that's not anything to go hating on him over.

[Kurt Angle Mark 0]

How can you "fucking hate Shaq"? Seriously he seems like one of the nicest guys around in every interview or television spot he does.

 

 

I agree with VX though, while I dislike Kobe, it's no where near what people seem to feel toward the guy. Personally I just think he's a cocky ass, but that's not anything to go hating on him over.

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No question that Shaq is a great guy off the court, But as a Basketball Player I think he is the most disrespectful guy in the league. He always goes out of his way to put down his opponents and even his teammates. However he gets away with it because he does it in an entertaining and comedic fashion. If Kobe says the things Shaq does people would be calling for his head

[Precious Roy 0]

Get off the Lakers bandwagon and jump on the Clippers bandwagon.

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that's surprisingly good advice....

 

I'm like Ripper, I'll cheer the Knicks til the day I die, in the face of all logic and personnel moves. If trading Ewing for GLEN RICE, Camby for a dude coming off MAJOR knee injuries, Sprewell for a bag of chips (aka Keith Van Horn), and hiring Isiah Thomas couldn't run me off, then nothing can.

[nl5xsk1 0]

Keep on rooting for the Lakers, but root against Kobe ... if that makes sense.

 

While I admit I'm not a huge Red Sox fan, I found it quite easy to want them to win even while wanting Pedro to get shelled last year. And there definitely some people who could come to the Bruins or Patriots that I'd root against while still rooting for the teams to do well.

[Mr. S£im Citrus 0]

How can you "fucking hate Shaq"?

I can't speak for anyone else, but I'm a Kings fan; if I have to explain why I hate Shaq, there's probably not enough common ground for us to even have a decent conversation.

 

And Ripper, I have to disagree with you on your "cheer for whoever's wearing my team's uni" point-of-view; while I've never cheered for any one player more than any other, I've most definitely rooted against players in the league. There are two players in particular who, if they ended up on the Kings, I'd probably quit watching basketball until they either got traded or retired, because I'm not really a fan of another team, but couldn't bring myself to root for those two players.

[Precious Roy 0]

I'd root for Satan himself if it got the Knicks the Larry O' trophy

[The Czech Republic 0]

I'd root for Satan himself if it got the Knicks the Larry O' trophy

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The Sabres won't be of any help in basketball

[razazteca 0]

How can you "fucking hate Shaq"?

Buy this and Shaq's music from Amazon.com...

[Guest Smues]

How can you "fucking hate Shaq"? Seriously he seems like one of the nicest guys around in every interview or television spot he does.

 

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Kazaam, Shaq-fu, Any of his rap albums, etc.

[Guest Smues]

How can you "fucking hate Shaq"?

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My god Kazaam got a DVD release? Who thought that was a good idea?

[Rendclaw 0]

Zo acting the way he was in the series against the Pistons used up about all of the goodwill I had towards him. He was always in need of a tranquilizer through most of his career.

 

I loved the Lakers when I was a kid, but after Kareem retired and Magic got HIV, most of the reasons why I watched them went away. The struggles during the early 90s, the fleecing of Shaq from the Magic, Kobe's ball-hogging ways, the hiring of Phil Jackson, all of this turned me off of the Lakers despite their success... it seemed to me that they sold their soul for those titles.

 

Now I just hope and pray that the re-hiring of Phil blows up right in Jerry Buss' face.

[Vern Gagne 0]

I think Shaq's a big phoney. He acts like Mr. Nice Guy and is always quick with a funny line in front of reporters. He was just a big a bitch has Kobe with Lakers. He was fat, out of shape and showed little interest in Los Angeles.

[UZI Suicide 0]

I think Shaq's a big phoney. He acts like Mr. Nice Guy and is always quick with a funny line in front of reporters. He was just a big a bitch has Kobe with Lakers. He was fat, out of shape and showed little interest in Los Angeles.

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Ding ding ding. We have a winner

[Vern Gagne 0]

Thanks.

[Guest Vitamin X]

Yes, Shaq fits right in with the materialistic, overly image-conscious, egomaniacal fat people here in Miami.

 

He deserves at least twice the heat that Kobe's gotten, especially considering that Bryant was acquitted in the rape trial. Kobe really ought to sue for slander, since it's ruined god knows how many merchandising deals he had previous to that whole scandal, and everything has gone downhill for him since then. He's no worse than any other gifted pro athlete, but is villified beyond belief. Shaq demanded to be traded because he refused to co-exist with Kobe, and the feud only worsened the better Kobe got, and the more the Lakers shifted their focus to building around him rather than Shaq, who is nowhere near the dominant force he used to be, although is still one of the best centers in the game.

 

I root for the Lakers no matter what, even though my personal favorite NBA player isn't even on the team (Allen Iverson). Kobe's also one of my favorites, but he takes a hit on my list for taking too many stupid shots and silly chances, even though it works a lot of the time. But yeah, this kind of question was proposed to me a long time ago when someone asked if I'd still be a Packer fan if Favre left via free agency or trade, and I said absolutely... my loyalty is to the franchise, players come and go, but the history belongs to the team and the franchise, as well as the fellow fans.

[Art Sandusky 0]

But unless he ended up on another NFC North team you'd still root for him, right? I love the guy, but if he was in any of those other three division uniforms I think I'd puke.

[iggymcfly 0]

Shaq's tight. Don't be hating. Kobe's a whiny bitch. I really hated him before the rape trial, (his stupid fucking ads drove me crazy), although I kind of felt bad for him after all that happened, and now I won't actively root against the guy.

[Art Sandusky 0]

I never liked Shaq from the start because even at the age of eight (how old I was when Shaq was drafted I think) all I saw was a dude who just did stuff inside the paint and couldn't shoot free throws. Ooh, look at that, he broke a backboard. How neat. Let's hype this guy up. Fuck THAT, I've been a Bulls fan my whole life (I was so happy to see them back in the playoffs this year, even more improvement is on the horizon) and to me the stars of that team (first threepeat team) were players meant to be idolized instead of some big guy who was really strong and big and did we mention he was strong. Guys who could dunk and SHOOT THE FUCKIN' BALL FROM A DISTANCE, those were the players I always liked, and still do, players with balance.

[Guest shaqaustin34]

The first time that I ever watched basketball was when I saw the Lakers when I was nine so thats why I like them not because of championships. Plus if Kobe leaves and lakers are the crapiest team in the league then I would still root for them. Plus since I am a huge huge huge Shaq fan, I feel disloyal if I root for the team that Shaq's nemesis is playing on. But if the star of the Lakers was Mark Madsen I would still go for the Lakers.

[Rendclaw 0]

X, you have to seriously get off of Kobe's jock or you will walk bowlegged for the rest of your life.

 

I would never deny that Kobe has immense talent, but he (like so many others before him) takes that for granted. He has just as big of an ego as Shaq, which is part of the reason why they could not co-exist.

 

Kobe has it in him to be the best player in the game bar none, but as long as he has these dreams and visions of being Michael Jordan V2.0, he never will attain that goal. Hell, even Jordan learned that he had to pass the ball and keep his teammates involved some of the time.

 

While Shaq is just as much to blame as Kobe and Phil was in their team imploding, the fact remains that Jerry Buss decided to not take a chance on re-signing Shaq and go with his boy Kobe. Shaq made a mistake by making the issue public and Buss made his decision accordingly. Personally it was a mistake, because if I was the owner of the team I would have sat all three of them in my office and laid down the law. Play together, help the team win, set your personal agendas aside, or else. Kobe's and Shaq's immaturity and Phil's ego pretty much wrecked that team.

 

Kobe deserves to be vilified for not only cheating on his wife then doing the boneheaded thing and buying his wife that ring as a form of apology (which guarantees that she will have his balls in a sling until he gets up enough chutzpah to divorce her), but also in trying to deflect heat away from him he ratted out a teammate, which is something you just do not do. He acted stupidly from beginning to end, and he deserves the hit that his reputation has taken. He thought his fame could protect him from all harm and all it did was save him (in some ways) from getting convicted. The nation saw just what kind of person he is, and the majority of them did not like what they saw.

 

As for the Lakers right now, they have turned into a slightly better version of the Knicks. THey have Kobe and a bunch of small forwards, and their cap is maxed out. Phil said that he doubts that the Lakers will succeed with the way things are now, and for once, I agree. They are a .500 team at best, and their former whipping toys the Clippers are doing better than they are.

[Precious Roy 0]

whoa, why does Phil get blame? He reached out to Kobe, told Kobe the truth that Shaq was #1 and Kobe was #1A, which Kobe couldn't handle, and Kobe's ego destroyed the team from the inside. As soon as Kobe got himself over with a championship and the media really started riding him as the next Jordan he got greedy, got jealous. He thought Phil favored Shaq over him (and really, who wouldn't? Shaq seems like a genuinely cool guy with interests beyond his personal world, and Kobe seems like a petulant brat). Shaq embraced the phil-osophy, Kobe didn't. Kobe was the lynchpin, and once he went bad it affected Shaq and the rest of the team.

 

Basically....

 

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