I'm not sure if this belongs in the D&D forum or here so Clutch crew feel free to relocate it. As a basketball fan I don’t like the Lakers and not just because they are rivals of the Houston Rockets. I was thinking about why I can’t stand them and had the insight that my dislike for the Lakers is also why so many people around the World hate America. In many ways the Lakers represent the worst of America to the rest of the World. They are perennially one of the top teams and aren't shy about acting like that. They have two of the most dominant players and through their reputation and money take the best from other teams. Probably no team benefits more from questionable refereeing yet they continue to complain and whine that the refs aren’t fair to them. Listening to Shaq swearing about officiating as he runs over defenders and Kobe make sour faces every time a call goes against him is the stereotype of the ugly American who even though privileged still thinks that everything should serve him or like how our military and economic power give us many privileges in dealing with other countries yet we will still complain the UN and the World Court aren’t fair to us. Culturally too the Lakers are similar to the negative stereotypes that many have about us. One example is the Lakers lack of class personified by Shaq’s determination to be the World’s largest moronic comedian, Kobe’s legal team demonizing his accuser and Rick Fox’s thugishness. Another negative image of Americans is that we are obsessed with both commercial and cultural stardom and will both pursue and cram down peoples throat our stars. Think about how many ads you saw featuring Shaq and Kobe before they had even won a championship, as opposed to Hakeem or Tim Duncan, or Shaq’s movie and rap career along with Rick Fox’s movie career. It isn’t enough to be a star basketball player but being a Laker also means you get to be a popstar too. Finally like American culture throughout the World the Lakers and LA culture are pervasive throughout America. We are saturated with LA culture, or the simulation of LA Culture, from the way we speak to what we eat. The Lakers are both a part of that culture but also a celebration of that culture. Laker home games have almost become more about the parade of stars sitting in the stands than about the basketball with Jack Nicholson serving as the punchline like cutting to Sean Connery during the Academy Awards. The Lakers are powerful and arrogant but at the same time petulant. They embody a culture that is pervasive yet shallow and crass that values glitz as much as substance. These are exactly the same things that people throughout the world say they hate about America. Thoughts?
ummm, I dunno about all those things, but this one that you talk about the glitziness of LA-LA-land, I don't know man. One thing that ALWAYS amazes me when I travel abroad is how much people otside the US dig this sh*&!! Man, you go to the most remote country in Asia or Eastern Europe and everyone is up to date on who's dating whom, Pamela Anderson, J-Lo, Brad Pitt, Ben Affleck, people just dig it, I would say even more than here...
I actually was thinking about this too. I am an L.A. native and also anti US imperialism. I was a laker fan from the time I was 5 but this year I just didnt like how Malone and Payton signed for nothing. For me it was "cheating" because those two players could have made several million each. On the other hand, one of my best friends who is all conservative, pro-war, USA is always right loves the lakers. I mean whats interesting to me is that we have different outlooks on life in general, so our outlook on the team getting teh star players is markedly different. Its not so much that I hate the lakers because they represent what is bad with America, but it does show that we have different values and beliefs on what we think is right and wrong.... but hey at the end of the day it is basketball
everyone say the lakers are gonna win it all blah blah...i know its postseason but didnt they just get beat by the kings badly, blazers on their homecourt, and then barley beat the blazers again; also lost to San Antiono. I remember just like last year they were saying post season different and didnt think SA sweep of La in regular season meant anything but would u know it la lost.
It's a free market, payton and malone were perfectly free to sign with a team for cheap if they thought it would give them a chance to get what they want. They aren't obligated to sign for the most money, people confuse 'getting what you want' with 'getting the most money' Malone and Payton BOTH could have got more money with other teams, but it's not what they wanted. There's no ****ing reason to think it's cheating to go after what you want. Or should any team that gets T-Mac be considered cheating, since they're making a best effort to win?
I think people view the Lakers as the Evil Empire (like the Yankees) teams that so much money and clout and moving to those types of teams can hype your career on and off the court. I see some similarities in that the attitude of the Lakers is pseudo represents the image of Americans in general. But I think that image is changing and people in general are tired of it. Why do you think so many people like Yao? Is he that great of a basketball player right now? No. Its his attitude, people have been tired of the chest thumping look at me (me first) attitude prevalent in the NBA.. im happy to see alot of new young players coming in humble (Yao, Lebron, Melo, Bosh) I think it goes a long way to see these young and rising stars show humility and humbleness. quite a contrast from the Ricky Davis's and Allen Iversons of the world. J anyways down to the evil empire!
Very interesting thoughts, Chang, and well written. But I would want to make a distinction here: Some people DISLIKE America because of things you said. It is like how some Europeans will ridicule American culture. However, other people HATE America for much more non-subtle things, e.g. life and death matters, clash of interests and religions, wars and economic bullies, which are happening in their countries and many Americans are not aware of.
What's funny is that the Lakers probably aren't hated as much overseas as they are here. Same for the Yankees.
Not sure if I agree with your political slant and the American image etc. But, yeah, the Lakers are all that and I hate them very much, ever since the so-called Showtime Team.
I think much of it comes down to our collective love affair of the underdog and the "Cinderella story." The Lakers are the Golliath vs. Daniel pretty much every game they play. To some, it's not all that fun to root for the favorite, unless they're also your favorite.
A lot of people in the world say that they don’t like America because it’s the popular thing to say. More and more the world is becoming Americanized. They wear our fashion, they watch our TV shows, they eat at McDonalds, and they drink our Coke. Last month I was in Umea, Sweden, which is up by the Artic Circle, to my surprise, half the TV shows were from the America. On a more fun topic – I hate the Lakers because I was a Celtics fan in the 80’s.
Some interesting comments and I just want to make it clear that I don't hate America or deliberately putting a political slant. The reason why I brought this up was that I was thinking about why I can't stand the Lakers and realized that it was the same as a lot of the stereotypes that Europeans and people in Asia have about America. KD; You're very correct and I admit that I'm simplifying the situation. That said though I would say at least part of my dislike about the Lakers is clash of interests, we are playing them in the first round of the playoffs afterall, and if you consider the Laker's as an example of LA culture there are many here in the US who are culturally opposed to LA, "Hollyweird" in culture war parlance. room4rentsf; I think the interest in Yao has more to do with him being Chinese than his humbleness but you may have a point that the NBA is less the chest thumping league. Of course chest thumping gets you a lot of attention particularly when you're a Laker. Over Shaq's career its been arguable whether he is the most dominant post player. Earlier Hakeem certainly was but later on Tim Duncan has been a better post player yet if you look at how many endorsements or how much media attention Shaq blows both of them away. I was going to bring up the Yankees but thought it would be better to stick basketball and the Lakers.
Did you just call my culture pervasive, shallow, and crass? 1) It's just a basketball team, it's not a symbol for some larger evil that you perceive. 2) America is the greatest country in the world. Deal with it. You should all be so lucky to someday come under our rule.
At the same time so much of American culture is shaped by what comes out of LA and that doesn't stop me from despising the Lakers and I might go see a Jack Nicholson movie but at the same time I can't stand seeing him smirking on the sideline as Kobe brings it down court.
