Phone Conversation with My Laker Fan Friend

[Redz]

Oh man, I am grinning for ear to ear right now.  I just got off the phone with an old buddy of mine who is a lifelong Laker fan.  The conversation started courteous enough.  He was going on about how good the Celtics are and how the Lakers aren't as good, and how maybe Phil Jackson isn't assertive enough with his players...Lauding praise on the Celtics and complaining about his Lakers. It was a thing beauty.  All I could do was agree with his every word gleefully and reassure him how absolutely right he was.

Then all the sudden he blurts out, "Bottom line, the Celtics got Garnett for nothing.  I don't care about Jefferson, McHale gave the Celtics Garnett.  You can't even compare the Lakers getting Gasol from Memphis because he's not KG (that I agree with)."  blah, blah, blah...it went on.  Big Al may as well be Dwayne Schinzius.

I understand he was desperate, but pulling out the KG was a gift to the Celtics card is pretty silly at this point.  Water under the bridge. 

Still, the whole conversation brought a whole lot of smiles to my face.  I suffered through a whole lot of Celtics suckage and Laker titles at his expense.

Bring on Christmas!

[celticmaestro]

I'm with you, my friend is a die-hard Lakers fan and I speak to him near enough everyday. Rest assured, every day since June 17th there has been some form of Finals reference. "This song reminds me of the Finals", "this ad reminds me of the Finals" etc. etc. Right now, I have the ultimate bragging rights and things are great. There was a lot of "when we get Bynum back" but the bottom line is, "you will still be soft and you will need the refs in order to beat us".

It's great to be green right now, and ironically, they're all green too. Envy is a terrible thing, so is pride I guess. But I'll settle for being proud of this absolutely kick-ass team.

[Redz]

I'm with you, my friend is a die-hard Lakers fan and I speak to him near enough everyday. Rest assured, every day since June 17th there has been some form of Finals reference. "This song reminds me of the Finals", "this ad reminds me of the Finals" etc. etc. Right now, I have the ultimate bragging rights and things are great. There was a lot of "when we get Bynum back" but the bottom line is, "you will still be soft and you will need the refs in order to beat us".

It's great to be green right now, and ironically, they're all green too. Envy is a terrible thing, so is pride I guess. But I'll settle for being proud of this absolutely kick-ass team.

You should have heard him complaining about Bynum! 

God I loved it.  I just kept saying, "Yeh, he's really not that good."  "Yeh, the Celts are much better."  "Yep, Gasol sucks."  It was great 

[celticmaestro]

I'm with you, my friend is a die-hard Lakers fan and I speak to him near enough everyday. Rest assured, every day since June 17th there has been some form of Finals reference. "This song reminds me of the Finals", "this ad reminds me of the Finals" etc. etc. Right now, I have the ultimate bragging rights and things are great. There was a lot of "when we get Bynum back" but the bottom line is, "you will still be soft and you will need the refs in order to beat us".

It's great to be green right now, and ironically, they're all green too. Envy is a terrible thing, so is pride I guess. But I'll settle for being proud of this absolutely kick-ass team.

You should have heard him complaining about Bynum! 

God I loved it.  I just kept saying, "Yeh, he's really not that good."  "Yeh, the Celts are much better."  "Yep, Gasol sucks."  It was great 

Another funny thing, my friend lost a bet to me a while back and had to wear a Celtics jersey - a die-hard Laker, smiling in Celtics green. A great moment, monumental.

EDIT - he pleaded with me to take the link out to the picture. And being the nice guy that I am, I did.

[EarthBall]

Everyone on this blog says Lakers fans (and players) are obsessed  with the Celtics. I would argue that Celtics fans are equally obsessed. Why even give the Lakers fans the satisfaction of knowing that we care about a Celtics-Lakers matchup? Didn't KG just say that it isn't a rivalry until both teams win (speaking about the Hawks)? Wouldn't the ultimate insult (if you want to make one) be treating the Lakers with indifference?

I view this upcoming Christmas game as just another regular season game. If we had lost the Finals, then I would want revenge. But we didn't. If wasn't close. So why treat this as a rivalry? This isn't the Celtics-Lakers of the 1960s or 1980s.

[Redz]

Everyone on this blog says Lakers fans (and players) are obsessed  with the Celtics. I would argue that Celtics fans are equally obsessed. Why even give the Lakers fans the satisfaction of knowing that we care about a Celtics-Lakers matchup? Didn't KG just say that it isn't a rivalry until both teams win (speaking about the Hawks)? Wouldn't the ultimate insult (if you want to make one) be treating the Lakers with indifference?

I view this upcoming Christmas game as just another regular season game. If we had lost the Finals, then I would want revenge. But we didn't. If wasn't close. So why treat this as a rivalry? This isn't the Celtics-Lakers of the 1960s or 1980s.

Because it's fun

[hwangjini_1]

Everyone on this blog says Lakers fans (and players) are obsessed  with the Celtics. I would argue that Celtics fans are equally obsessed. Why even give the Lakers fans the satisfaction of knowing that we care about a Celtics-Lakers matchup? Didn't KG just say that it isn't a rivalry until both teams win (speaking about the Hawks)? Wouldn't the ultimate insult (if you want to make one) be treating the Lakers with indifference?

I view this upcoming Christmas game as just another regular season game. If we had lost the Finals, then I would want revenge. But we didn't. If wasn't close. So why treat this as a rivalry? This isn't the Celtics-Lakers of the 1960s or 1980s.

Because it's fun

but he's right about the insult part... until the lakers show they can really beat the celtics, this cant be much of a rivalry.

the celtics and knicks used to REALLY go at it.... but now? ho hum.

but the game on christmas should be a good one. two good teams going it.

i predict one more celtics victory. 

[cornbreadsmart]

hats off to cheryl miller on nba tv for criticizing david stern for having the xmas gae in l.a. and not in boston. she said the c's are the champs. they deserve it. she also said the c's players are upset at this. NICE.

[ACF]

I've heard the "Wait 'til Bynum returns"
song quite often too. Funny how people
think one player can make such a difference.
I always bring up Bynum's numbers against
the Celtics in the RS last year and all of
a sudden, the song stops 

I almost can't wait until the 25th.

BEAT LA, BEAT LA!

[Cman]

hats off to cheryl miller on nba tv for criticizing david stern for having the xmas gae in l.a. and not in boston. she said the c's are the champs. they deserve it. she also said the c's players are upset at this. NICE.

I love it.  A little extra motivation because of the the disrespect.  Of course that motivation won't help the Cs much, because, you know, the Lakers will have Bynum back.

[Brickowski]

But it's no different than past years.  The C's always make that West coast swing after Christmas.  Then there is the tough Texas trip, usually in February.

Besides, we wouldn't want to embarrass the Lakers, who seem to be having enough trouble in Florida.

[nickagneta]

I remember before the season started and people were going around talking up the return of Andrew Bynum and I said I would rather have Perk on this team than Bynum any day. Well, the crap I got was unreal.

"So if Danny was given the chance to trade Perk for Bynum one up right now you think he wouldn't do it?"

"Bynum is going to be a special player someday, Perk will never be what Bynum will."

"Bynum was on a rolls when he got hurt and was putting up incredible numbers and was about to take the next step."

Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

I stand by my statement. Perk is a better fit for this team. Always will be and considering the growth we are starting to see in Perk's game, I wouldn't right him off as being that much less of a player than Bynum. Bynum has 13/9/2 numbers. Well Perk's 9/8.5/1.75 numbers aren't all that far off and right now Perk is probably one of the three best defensive centers in the league as well. Heck Perk didn't have any time whatsoever to work on his game this summer because of shoulder surgery and he still came back with huge growth in his game. He may very well be a double double guy statistically by the end of the year.

[Celtics17]

I certainly agree with Perk being one of the three best defensive centers in the league. He is very underappreciated, not by Celtics fans, in general. If you watch how many times Perks player misses even shots he should make it really shows. Bynum is not showing, at least right now, that he is a better player then Perk. So what if he averages a couple more points per game, how many would he average if he were in Perks position? The Lackers are going to suffer the same fate as last year, that is if they even get to the Finals. Which they probably will.

[dark_lord]

       

[Redz]

My buddy has had the same Laker sweatshirt since I've known him - which goes back to the early 90's.  The thing looks like an oil rag, but he's kept it.  I'll give hom credit for sticking with the Lakers through their lean years, and for being surrounded by Laker haters all these years. 

My biggest regret of last year was not watching Game 4 with him.  According to all accounts he was laying it on pretty thick in the 1st half, then hating the Lakers really hard in the 2nd half. 

That's the difference between a Celtics fan and a Lakers fan...I didn't give up that game.

...and by the way, since there's been so much talk about Antoine lately, I'll submit that Antoine's biggest contribution to the Celtics was making me fully believe that the Celtics can come back from down big in a playoff game.