The NBA is a Snoozefest 

Wasn't the revival of the Boston Celtics supposed to make the NBA interesting again? How about the Lakers being slightly above average? It should have, but it didn't.

I just turned nineteen years old, I've been watching the NBA since I was about six, and I've already grown tired of it. Seriously, I can't stand to watch a single non-Laker game which speaks to how the NBA appeals to me now. Anyone can get up to watch a team they love and have been a fan for since the beginning of their sports-watching years like I can with the Lakers, but the true sign of whether or not you're relevant is how much you can get people to watch teams that they're not die hard fans of.

Case in point, the NFL. Los Angeles has no football team, and thus I have no favorite football team. Sure I follow the guys out of UCLA and USC and other west coast schools for the sake of that Cali pride, but I really have no vested interest in any of the teams. That said, I still love watching every football game on Sundays and Mondays (aside from the 'defensive battle' games that end up with a 10-3 score).

Now I really can't say why the NFL has me more captivated than the NBA nowadays, but I'll toss a few ideas out there. (1) The NFL season is much shorter and as a result means more. There is no 'resting up' in the first half of the season in the NFL like there is in the Stern league. (2) The playoffs are TEN TIMES more entertaining in football than basketball. You know why Golden State over the choke artists was huge? Because for once the team that was supposed to win didn't. I mean nine times out of ten, the team you expect to win wins in the NBA and that takes all the fun out of it. Over a seven game series, the better team will win most of the time [See: Lakers-Suns two years ago]. (3) The NFL is a more team driven league. Sure the Quarterbacks are the stars and the guys in the trenches don't get the press clippings that the skilled position guys get, but it's still not the show off "look at me" circus the NBA has become.

Those are just a few of my ideas. Maybe I'm wrong, and maybe I'm the only one falling out of love with the NBA, but I am. Don't get it twisted though, I'm still a die-hard purple and gold fan like I've always been, I'm just not going to be staying up late to watch TNT broadcasts when the Lakers aren't playing like I used to.

Haters are Annoying, as are D*ckhoppers

I've been a Kobe hater ever since his cry session last summer, and I'm kind of tired of it. Being a Kobe hater gets annoying once you get to the point where you can't even acknowledge his positives without following it up by the words 'but he didn't do whatever well'. Being a hater makes you seem like a biased loser for the most part and the only hater on MSN who pulls it off with style is GR8UN54 who uses a strange little thing called facts to back his stuff up.

I'm planning on not being a Kobe hater anymore because really there is no denying that he's an amazing player who is key to the Lakers success this year. Andrew Bynum is nothing without Kobe there to free him up, and when Kobe is on and playing his "clean up" role where he cleans up after the other Lakers make a mistake, he's the league MVP in my book.  Honestly I hope we can keep him for however long it takes, and are able to trade away Kwame's contract for something interesting.

All that said, haters are no more annoying than the Kobe D*ckhoppers that have come to nest on this site. To constantly avoid criticizing Kobe for the ridiculous things he whines about, and mistakes he's made in the past, makes you no better than someone who's a Kobe hater. It's still beyond me how anyone can argue that Kobe completely quit on his team two years ago Game 7 versus the Suns. It's as obvious as the fact that anyone who'd give Kevin Garnett the MVP over Kobe this season is crazy.

Seriously, let's try to be open-minded. Admit Kobe's flaws as quickly as you offer him praise, then maybe the haters will stop hating so hard, and maybe we can stop the circle of stupid fact twisting that goes around to prove points that could be made either way. The same goes for the haters like me.

Shaquille O'Neal

How can so many people be such complete and utter jerk offs when it comes to Shaq? Especially the LA fans who'd be ringless if Shaq hadn't taken the Lakers on his back for three consecutive titles. I'm sorry, but if people aren't willing to admit that Shaq was the MAIN REASON the Lakers have their last three chips then I have nothing to say to any of you.

To hate on Shaq with the venom with which you seem to hate on him is just mind boggling to me. So he's been out of shape his entire career and still managed to dominate the NBA in his prime, doesn't that kind of kill the importance of him being out of shape? The only time his being out of shape mattered is when it hurt the team, and obviously if he has four rings and won with two separate teams then his weight didn't hurt teams too much.

Would the Laker have maybe won one more if he was in shape? Maybe. Would Shaq still have been a Laker if Kobe came out and asked Buss to keep him, thus making the Lakers contenders in 2005 as opposed to a lottery team? Maybe. We don't know either one, so why jump on Shaq's case? The man is one of the most dominant players to EVER play in the NBA, and you want drop dirt on his name now that he's reaching the end of his career as if that proves something?

What matters is results, and Shaq's results speak for themselves. Four rings. Instant success. MVP. Those three things are what Shaq's career should be defined by, not people's stupid ideas of how hard he should've been trying. What matters most is the success a player has achieved, and that's what the Big Diesal should be honored for.

Anyone who raises a point of 'who would you rather have now, Shaq or Kobe?' oughta slap themselves. Give me Shaq in his prime versus anyone in the history of the NBA. Jordan, Kareem - you fill in the blank with whoever, he'd still kill them.

Hating on Shaq is the same thing as hating on Kobe, and it's a shame people who are oh so opposed to folks hating on Kobe can't understand that.

Respect what one of the greatest ever has done, and appreciate that you got the honor of seeing him play.

Bynum

I was on the bandwagon this summer, but I'm not anymore. Jesus, could you be overhyping this kid any more? His post game consists of dunking the ball when his defender switches on someone else, no defense to speak of other than using his length to block shots/alter shots, and has proven to be a no-show against any center who's even marginally good.

Seriously, climb off the kid's back. Without Kobe and Lamar freeing him up, he'd be Samuel Dalembert.

MVP

Lebron was easily the favorite for the MVP award in the early going before his team dropped out of the zone, so now Kobe has officially moved up into the driver's seat as far as I'm concerned.

How can you give Kevin Garnett, a man who's winning with two other All Stars on his team, the MVP? If you took out KG and just left Ray+Truth, you'd still have a playoff team. If you take Kobe off the Lakers you have the Clippers.

Kobe = the new early season favorite for MVP

Peace Out Folks

I've been real busy as of late, and things don't look to let up any time soon, so it looks like I'm gonna have to put my blogging career on hold. It's been interesting and I appreciate all the folks who came on my blog (and the original Purple and Gold Flavor) and responded to me, good or bad, because at least it showed me I wasn't writing it for nothing.