Confession Time. When Did You Become A Laker Fan?

When I was six. Local tv channel showed Laker, C Bags and maybe 76ers games. Became a fan of Magic Johnson, respected Larry Bird but was always a Laker fan.

Fast forward to the Jordan era, still a Lakers fan even though Jordan was dominating. Respected Charles Barkley, John Stockton and Michael Jordan but still a Lakers fan.

Hardcore fandom starts during the Kobe Shaq era to present day. Respected Allen Iverson, Steve Nash (until he became a Laker hoser siphoning off our cap space and picks), Dwyane Wade and too many to mention but am a Laker fan.

Lived through the Darius Morris, Sacre, Meeks, Eubanks, Mike Brown (worst coach ever) era and watched all the games I could including pre-season China games online.

F Balmer, George and Leonard.

If you joined as a Laker fan yesterday, no harm no foul. It is not a competition, just wondering how people got to be a Laker fan.

 

1988, my dad came back from LA, brought me some Lakers gadgets, pictures, tickets and stuff. My uncle (his brother) worked for Dr. Buss ex-wife, she hooked them up

 

probably 83 or 84? i was pretty young then, but we lived in HB, and my dad was a big basketball fan, so i saw magic/worthy/kareem/coop/bscott a lot. we moved to dallas a couple years later (86, when i was turning 7), and i remember the following year the mavs were playing the lakers in the playoffs, and i was rooting for the lakers (my dad never took to the lakers, prefers mavs).

i've followed them ever since. i do have some dual mavs fanship, though, as i adopted them as a second team while living there for 15 years. strangely, i became a mavs fan when they were the worst team in the league, bar none. they were the only team on tv, and my friends and i all played ball and liked to watch it. it sort of became a running joke to root for the terrible mavs. then when i was in college, cuban bought them and they got dirk, and things changed dramatically.

anyway, lakers have always been my first team.

sports fandom is a weird thing to me, as a psychologist. i live it and don't get it.

 

I'm now a Clippers fan...

In all seriousness. I became a Lakers fan in middle school, my mom was watching something at the time and then I realized it was sport...basketball then realized it was the Lakers.

Early 90s.

 

I was born in 79 and I remember watching the early 80’s showtime Lakers with my dad freaking out yelling at the TV and notorious ref Jake O’Donnell.

 

I started watching in the 90s when Eddie Jones was my favorite player and Nick the quick would yo-yo up and down at the top of the key.

 

1982. I was in the 6th grade and my elementary school basketball team played the Boy Scouts at the Forum after a Lakers game. It was the first professional basketball game that I can remember watching, in-person or on television.

 

Around 89-90 I became obsessed with sports cards. I didn’t know this at the time, but there was a resurgence in basketball cards, since no companies made any NBA trading cards for a few years including 1984 (MJ’s “rookie card” was printed in ‘87 I think). NBA Hoops and Skybox cards with the crazy colorful graphics were just the **** to me. Nothing was cooler. I fondly remember pulling this one out:


(not my photo)

Being in Cali, the Lakers were pretty ubiquitous in those days and I knew who Magic was. I had no idea what an MVP award was. But the card is simply telling me that Magic is the most valuable. It was a wrap. It was clear that this guy was my guy.

I wasn’t old enough to appreciate the height of Showtime. The first games I remember watching were in the ‘91 season. Nothing is super clear to me except for Game 5 in the finals, where I remember crying my eyes out when the Lakers were eliminated. Mike celebrates in the lockroom, cries, hugs the trophy. My uncle, fed up with the visual, changes the channel to a Perfect Strangers rerun. I remember sobbing to the intro of that show, lol. And the rest is history.

 

1979 - Magic Johnson

Is this an indirect way to find out how old we are..? : )

 

i've always liked them but the losses didnt start hurting til 86...then when that damn Ralph Sampson hit that shot, that was the first time a sporting moment made me cry...eff you Ralph

1986 was when my loyalty was forged

 

As far back as I can remember. Watching an old school tube in the living room with Magic still playing early 90’s.

 

When the Kang came

 

In the womb.

 

I was 3 or 4 when I started "listening" to the Lakers on radio. Back in those days, they were only on TV occasionally. But thankfully, this was the days of Chick Hearn, in his prime. My mom remembers me being a weird kid and listening to that weird sport on the radio. Seriously back then, the NBA was not close to the NFL or MLB. It was a second tier pro sports league. But I was a rabid little guy fan of Jerry West. As great as Baylor was, I hardly noticed him. I'm as A-hole, I know, but Jerry West was my hero and all I really paid attention to was him. Anyhow, that was 1960, when Jerry West was a rookie, that I started listening. Pretty much listened to every game on the radio until they started showing up on TV more and more. Eventually pulled my family into the fold. My dad took me to a couple of the games in the 70's.

So here I am, nearly 60 years later and still listen to most of the games, but have to admit that the last six years have been difficult, at least not very exciting. With the arrival of Lebron, there is excitement again and I feel like now, we have a chance. I really didn't mind the youth movement at first, but the problem for me was that the kids never really got the chance to play with a winner in his prime. They were not learning how to win and without this current reboot, I was becoming afraid that the kids were never going to learn how to win. A prime team, should have a mix of winning vets and kids with skills.

My perspective on players. West was tenacious but just really could not get over the C Bags and it destroyed him mentally. Great FO guy but really, gotta say, he is highly conflicted and it led to his problems with Jeannie. For all you revisionists, remember, he is the one who started the problems with Jeannie, not the other way around. All those years of losing to the C Bags and then the Knicks. That Knicks loss was bone crushing to any fan of the team. The C Bags were finally out of the picture and we were heavily favored. Willis Reed was totally hobbled and we found a way to lose. Still hurts.

Wilt was the final piece here for us, put us over the top, but only got us the one championship before retiring. Guess we knew that going in but I had higher hopes. Wilt was dominant like Shaq and Jabbar in his prime was, but when he came here, he was walking into a team with a great backcourt in West and Goodrich and one of the best forwards to ever play the game in Baylor. He came in to shore up the defense and shut the lane down, which he did. Baylor declined quickly and retired. The day after we started the longest winning streak in NBA history and won our first ring. That was a great team and Wilt solidified our defense.

Jabbar was more Kawhi than Kawhi is. Very quite man, who left it all on the court. Most people did NOT see Jabbar in his prime and they remember him from his Magic days, which is fine. He was a great team player who could do a lot of things on the court. In his prime, he was a solid 30/15 guy. He gave Wilt fits, though Wilt could hold his own against him. But I have seen Jabbar light Wilt up in his prime. FWIW, I am a white guy who grew up in a different era than many of you, I credit Kareem with finally helping me to see the black mans position in this country. Other guys brought attention to it, but Kareem helped me understand how it felt for people. It changed me as a human being and I thank him for opening my eyes.

Magic was the happiest most fun player to watch. The only guy I have seen absolutely dominate a game while only scoring 6 points. It was just a complete bummer when he got the HIV virus and retired. The team was just beginning to rebuild around him. I believe that he would have given Jordan a run for his money. He would have ended out being the goat, IMHO. If he played for another 5 years and they won a couple of rings under him as the 1st option, he ends out with 7 rings, while taking a couple of rings away from Jordan. The whole narrative on goat changes forever. Ah well, them be how the cookies crumbled. The days of Showtime will likely never occur anywhere ever again. The Warriors were close but couldn't pull it off. As far as players go, Magic was and remains my favorite player of all time. Dude could flat out ball, his passing was incredible. He is not a good executive and I would not want to see him own the Lakers in the future. Sorry Magic, love you man, but you simply need to talk too much to be a great FO man.

Worthy, totally unselfish player who would have been considered one of the very best players in the game, if he would have been on another team and been the 1st option. He liked Magic, Jabbar and the rest of his team mates. He was happy to be here and win rings.

Kobe, was the most intense and tenacious player I have ever witnessed. He was NOT as joyful to be a fan of. He had problems with other players he had problems with a number of things. But dang, that dude could work through pain that the average "great" player could not even sniff at. The league absolutely screwed Kobe on MVP's and general recognition. The players who played against him all knew he was the best player of his era. No offense to anyone, Durant, Lebron, Kawhi, etc. None of them are close to being as good as Kobe. He dominated everyone around in their prime. He was also the most clutch player who has ever lived. West was Mr. Clutch, but Kobe took that as his own. Kind of like Jimi Hendrix playing All Along the Watchtower. Once he played that song, it was his. Dylan playing his own song could not hold a candle to Hendrix's version. Well, West as clutch as he was, and he was, couldn't come close to Kobe.

Shaq, he and Wilt were the most dominant big men of their times. Neither could shoot FT's worth a damn. Neither would be dominant in todays game and I kind of find that a sad fact. I like a game that gives these huge muscular centers the spot light. The Lakers have always been the team who attracted dominant big men, Mika, Wilt, Jabbar, Shaq and now Davis. It is a great legacy and it seems like the NBA is trying to put a stop to that. Figures, since we are so good at it, they changed the rules on us. I was really unhappy with Shaq at the end of his stay in LA. The BS he got into with Kobe was too much for me to ignore. I sided with Kobe, still do to this day. However, I believe they both made mistakes and nowadays, I like Shaq alot. Those two in their prime together where pure money. Wish they could have worked out their differences then, but c'est la vie. Stuff happens for a reason I guess.

Todays guys still need time.

One thing I will add here: It is ALL about the journey. There is parity in this league, the league does NOT want to see one team dominate. When they see it, they are ALWAYS going to monetize parity in one way or the other. You have to be able to enjoy the journey. Even if this Lebron and Davis led team wins a ring or two, the league and father time will find ways to stop us. Same with anyone. Nobody is going to dominate the league the way teams used to. The league has decided it is NOT good for the league for this to occur. Hence being able to enjoy the journey. We have a shot to win a ring now but don't forget that all those kids we had are who got us here. Without them, we never make the trade for Davis, likely would not even have signed Lebron. He had to see potential here, even IF it was purely trade potential. The Lakers have made mistakes since Jerry Buss died, but it was a process the Buss family needed to go through. I think Jeannie is still in need of a broader view on things and thus will likely make a few more mistakes before she gets it right. I hope she figures it out and then I hope one of her kid brothers becomes an NBA savant and takes over. If not, I would like to see AEG buy the team. I would trust them to run things professionally. But remember, the Buss family even as they are, are better than most other owners in this league and are way better than the old Jack Kent Cooke ownership.

Few things in this league last a long time and it is ALWAYS about the journey, when you find NO joy in the journey, at some point, just smoke some crack and go be lonely. You are destined to be a negative voice in the sports fan world because NO TEAM is ever going to be showtime again!! Just like there will be no more Wooden Eras in college hoops again. Things like that are rare, they don't happen in every era. Enjoy the ride, accept the ups and downs. The downs are what make you appreciate the ups!!