It’s not always easy being a Lakers fan.  Sure we have won the second most NBA Championships.  Sure we have one of the leagues all time best players.  Sure we have the greatest coach in the history of the game.  There are a lot of great things that come with being a Lakers fan, but it’s not always easy.  Case in point…

  • Most my friends gave up on the NBA after Larry Bird retired. They tell me how lame they feel the NBA is on a regular basis. To make matters worse if they did root for a NBA team it would probably be the Celtics. To counter I tell them how white they are.  I know it’s not a great comeback coming from a white guy, but seriously why are all white people Celtics fans?
  • The games don’t come on till 10:30 PM during the regular season.  I know they are a West Coast team, but baseball games and football games find a way to have games on at a decent hour of the day  in the East Coast.  I fall asleep at 10:30 no matter what’s going on.  Because I get so tired it really feels like a mild form of torture for me to stay up till 1:00 AM to watch a game. 
  • Tickets to games cost a bazillion dollars.  Add to that the fact that VA doesn’t have a team so I have to spend extra money to go see them play in some other teams stadium.  That means I’m cheering against the home team.  A Mav’s fan once looked me in the eyes and said “I think all Lakers fans should be shot!”
  • It’s the third most popular sport in America.  Football gets all the love. Baseball is considered America’s past time.  Basketball has more love than hockey, but that’s not saying much because hockey’s a foreign sport.  No offense hockey fans.
  • To show my support I wear Lakers jerseys.  I have 7 jerseys.  Wearing a jersey is not an easy thing. Many people consider them to not be fashionable.  For most jobs they are not appropriate work attire.  When I wear mine in public I get the strangest looks from people.  By the looks of some you’d think I was wearing my underwear over my jeans.

Today the Lakers start their quest for their 16 NBA Championship.  To show my support I’m wearing a Lakers jersey.  I may get joked on.  I may feel uncomfortable in nice restaurants.  I may lose some cool points from whoever keeps score of cool points. It doesn’t matter to me.  The Lakers are in the finals and that means that today I wear a Lakers jersey!