Basketball Diaries.....

As I write this the Lakers are engaged in battle with the vile Celtics, I however am not watching it because I will be watching a replay later with my friend who is at work right now (yes, apparently there are some Celtic fans with jobs!). So, I feel I must do something to refrain from looking at the score. We will see how long that lasts.

I thought I would begin today with a little anecdote of my adventures last night. I went to a bar where my friend was working and he introduced me to some of his friends. The drink flowed, the merriment was all around but then the basketball talk reared its head. First of all let me get this off my chest. I am sick of talking to people about basketball who have little knowledge yet claim that Lebron is by far the best basketball player and nobody even comes close. Well, it's just not true, and it's a frustrating argument because even if you are the biggest Lebron fan, you have to admit that Kobe is just as good if not better. In fact he is better, that's right I said it and so do sport writers and sports analysts everywhere. Yes, there are some who argue differently and it's an argument that will keep going because these are two amazing players. You can not however just discount either one because they are both legitimate superstars. Now back to the story, the main guy I was chatting with was adamant that Lebron was untouchable and I gently reminded him of the fact that so too was Mr. Bryant. We argued back and forth for a little while when he finally cam to the crux of his argument. His point was if you switch Lebron and Kobe, Kobe would not be able to carry the Cavs like Lebron is doing. Let's just take a minute and soak that in...wait just a little bit longer...ok now it's time to take this apart. This was my chance to teach a little Lakers history. Think back a few years during the dark ages where Kobe was single handedly making the Lakers a playoff team and he scored eighty one points in one game. Kobe has done what Lebron is doing with even less talent around him then Lebron has at the moment. The other guard on the Lakers during this time was Smush Parker, and our starting center was Chris Mihm, enough said. But here is where I come to the point of proving that his statement was just plain naive at best. He had basically asked me if I thought Kobe could do as well as Lebron on a team that has Shaq. I don't know Laker fans, do you think Kobe and Shaq could make a run for the championship?

If you're going to demean the player of the decade, you have that right, but please if you do it to me, come up with something better than that. I do admit that my bias shines through on more than one occasion but I try not to make points that are completely invalid, I may just ignore points that are anti-Lakers but I will not make arguments that I don't back up with valid points. Oh what am I saying? Lakers rule and everyone else sucks, WHOOOO!