Laker Haters

I've been a Lakers fan for as long as I can remember. Growing up in the 80's in SoCal it was hard not to be. Yes, I was still die hard during the 90's. Anyone who knows me knows that I live and die with the purple and gold. This lead me to think about some fans that I've come across. Living in LA, most of the sports fans that I have come across have been passionate and overall pretty cool. The people that irritate me the most are the haters. The haters are those people that hate a team for no good reason. In my opinion (as always), the only good reason to hate a team is rivalry. And when I say hate, I don't mean it in a racist, sexist, or prejudicial manner. I mean you root against them. I've come across far too many people who have rooted against the Lakers no matter who the Lakers are playing. So far I haven't heard a good reason for their hate. The most popular reason being the whole Colorado incident with Kobe. To me, that is not a good reason. Fine, dislike Kobe because of his personal life but when it comes to sports, I really think it should be kept separate. Most of the time these haters say their reason is that they "just do". My personal opinion about these haters, specifically Laker haters in or from Socal, is that they are craving attention. They want to "rage against the machine". They DON'T want to be a part of popular opinion. Going against the majority demonstrates "free thinking". Most of these people I think just enjoy antagonizing others. Someone told me they root against the Lakers because they like rooting for the underdog. That's fine so long as you can say you root for the Lakers when they are the underdog. I think she does it just to piss off her fiance. Haha.

A young relative of mine told me that her Junior High School (in LA) hates the Lakers. Huh? I'll chalk that one up to going through a rebellious phase. It's the adults who irritate me.

On a side note, someone I know on FB was tagged in a picture of the Celtics Big 3 holding their jerseys. Instead of their names on the back of the jerseys, it read "We Are F*gs". I told her that the picture was insensitive and ignorant. She responded by asking to keep her out of it. Yet she's still tagged in the picture and she commented to the person who posted the picture by saying "someone" was offended but he (the guy who posted the pic) is still her "dawg". I'm not marching in parades or participating in rallies, but at some point you have to take a stand. People, especially this generation need to be more cognizant of the messages that they are spreading.