After the 2nd Retirement of Michael Jordan, my favorite post-Jordan Era player was Allen "The Answer" Iverson.
I hated Kobe Bryant because he has Shaq as a teammate. Shaq was really dominant that time. Every time the Lakers play, I always think that it is really unfair having that dominant specimen playing for your team. Not only that, I hated Kobe because he has that certain swagger that really irritated me. I hated him because I feel like he taunts every time he makes the fade-away jump shot which he copied from MJ.
It goes without saying that I really hated the Lakers during their 3-peat run from 2000-2002. I cheered each time for their Eastern Conference counterpart in the Finals. I thought Reggie Miller would win a ring using his precise Outside Sniping in 2000. I really hoped Allen Iverson would beat Shaq ala David v. Goliath during the 2001 Finals. Then came the Nets which couldn't offer a strong resistance against the Lakers in 2002.
Eventually I rejoiced when the Spurs beat the Lakers the next year. I was happy to see Kobe lose so much that I laughed at him and Shaq. However, the next year, my hatred towards the Kobe-Shaq duo suddenly dwindled. This is because Karl Malone, my another favorite player whom I copied the number 32 from, donned the Purple and Gold Jersey.
When Shaq left the Lakers via a trade from Miami, I suddenly had an epiphany.
Why would I hate the next closest thing to Michael Jordan??? I mean, I really asked myself that.
When the Big Diesel is out of tinseltown, there was no other way for me to hate the Lakers and Kobe.
So from 2005, I transitioned from being an Iverson fan to a Kobe fan.
No comments:
Post a Comment