Lakers Shakers Quakers

Because the new job has TVs showing ESPN on every wall, I've inevitably been forced to follow the NBA finals. I can't complain much--game night usually involves higher tips seeing as there are actually customers.

The Laker craze has definitely come to a fever pitch in LA. The amount of Laker flags tacked onto cars has hit the level of inappropriate, if not hazardous. Huge purple and gold fabrics whipping in the wind of the 70 mile an hour freeway joyride. What happens when one of those suckers pops off?? One guy told me he saw a bus that, instead of showing the route number, just said "GO LAKERS!!!!" Buildings under construction bear huge banners touting similarly supportive exclamations (apparently hung by constructions workers). Laker jerseys are worn with abandon by young, old, babe, homeless.

People always ask me "So...who you goin' for?" Instead of saying "I hope the Lakers have a horrifying embarrasment of a game and never recover" I just say I don't follow sports and twirl my hair. Supporting the Lakers is like rooting for the Yankees. Here's a team that is (granted) quite talented, but they're dicks, almost always successful, and they subsequently think they're gods. They could take a little hate, or at least apathy. I had a similar experience at USC with the football team. Students seriously worshipped those douche bags. Coaches had come to check classes to make sure players would attend, and probably paid thousands of dollars under the table to have them come to USC (apparently not just a football phenomenon).

I guess the one thing that is swaying me is that if the Lakers win game 7 there will be a parade (I, too, was confused by this subsequent tradition) that would go right in front of my place of business, hence $$$$. So...go Lakers.