Just let me start this by saying I am from LA, but my father raised me as a Celtic fan. Pat Riley was the devil, and Larry Bird was Jesus in my house, so my allegiances are somewhat hereditary. But, that was just the beginning of my die hard hate for the Lakers. What continues to make them easy to hate for me are 3 things:
(1) Kobe's general douche'like demeanor, and sore loser mentality of his team (this blog may be named PoorSports, but believe it or not a bitch made 7 ft center taking a cheap shot on a 5 ft point gaurd is actually looked down upon)
(2) the common Laker fan's fair weatheredness/ignorance about basketball/general shittiness as a sports fan (yes, words absolutely had to be made up to describe this), and
(3) The Lakers fans' incessant use of "haters gon' hate".
To elaborate on 3...Far and away, this is the most abused phrase used by a Lakers fan. To a Lakers fan there are only two types of people in the world: Lakers fans and haters. It drives me nuts because they indiscriminately insert the phrase everywhere; it's their end all be all response to anything. For instance, Fat Tsai may ask, "How you gonna complain about teams making trades Laker fans? You got Pau Gasol for Kwame Brown!" Or, "Why is it wrong for everyone in the NBA to flop besides Derek Fisher?"
"Hater's gon' hate" follows this question almost immediately every time. If you're going to use the term, at least know what hating is! Hating is being so critical of someone that you defy rationality in your assessments. A good example of being a hater is the one saying this:
"Man, LeBron James sucks at basketball 'cause he hasn't got a ring. Even if he does get one it's not going to count since he left Cleveland to get it."
Really? Back-to-back MVP's, 2x All Star Game MVP, '04 RotY, '08 Scoring Champion, 7 time NBA All Star. Really guys you need to get off the hate train 'cause it's taking you nowhere but Clown Town, USA. And not acknowledging a Championship because someone teams up with another good player to get it? How many Chips would Kobe have if he didn't have Shaq's coat tails to ride on? The answer is none. Where were the Lakers after Kobe forced them to trade away Shaq? The answer is the Lottery.
So back to my point about hating. I would be a hater if I said Kobe is not a great basketball player. He truly is one of the best SG's to ever lace 'em up in the NBA. But it's not hating to say that after he cried for the most dominant franchise center to be traded away, he then whined about having no help and asked to be traded himself. Additionally, a guy you may know as a pretty decent coach, Phil Jackson, was so repulsed by Kobe's douchery that he retired just to write a book about it. It wasn't until Jerry West infiltrated the Grizzlies and traded franchise PF Pau Gasol for "starting" C Kwame Brown that Phil was able to orchestrate another back-to-back run. This isn't hating, it's the truth.
So when I watched the Lakers' first preseason game this past Monday vs. the Clippers, I knew a "hater's gon' hate" moment was imminent. The Clippers had routed the Lakers in a flurry of dunks, 3-pointers, and blocks which eventually led to Kobe injuring his right wrist. The new-look Clippers are the headline of this hectic and short preseason, and the buzz has turned to full blown mania. People everywhere are joining the ranks of Lob City. A real fan of basketball and LA would be thrilled to see this happening because this is great for both basketball and Los Angeles. Wait, we have TWO strong teams repping LA now?! The Clippers for once aren't just part of the running joke that is Donald Sterling? If there was ever healthy competition, this would be it right?
Wrong. Instead of paying respect to the team that flat-out outplayed them, and looking within themselves for legitimate ways to improve as a team, they bitch and moan like a couple of bitter basketball wives who's husbands left them for greener pastures. Overly critical? check. Completely irrational explainations? double check. You can find the article here from ESPN Los Angeles that Matt Barnes, who made his career off of getting underneath his opponents' skin is saying "all the celebration after dunks and all that kind of stuff, I mean, I just kind of think it looks amazing and it makes 'SportsCenter,' but I mean, let's just play basketball." Oh, you mean like this Matthew?
Staying true to the Lakers way of poor sportsmanship, a heated Barnes committed a flagrant 1 halfway through the 3rd. A day later, and he still has failed to shake the hate bug, complaining that Griffin's a flopper. Lakers fans take notes, cause when I say no to the mustard on my hotdog it is in fact not hating, and thus the "haters gon' hate response" is not appropriate. Matt Barnes complaining about all the celebrating, and then saying "[The Clippers] are excited about their season which they should be. They got a very talented team but uh let's jus' play basketball" is a 'haters gon' hate' moment.
