Losing hurts

I kind of hate that I’m going to be writing this, and it might seem reactionary, but I think the reaction is justified. Before I actually tell you what I’m going to write, keep in mind that I haven’t lost complete faith (but I’m not going to lie and say much of it isn’t gone right now), but it seems that the Lakers have a mountain to climb if I’m going to be celebrating another Lakers title. I started writing this with about two minutes left in the third quarter when the Lakers were down by 20 God damned points. I was just going to steam about this game, but I thought about it, and I’ve come to the conclusion that if the Lakers lose this championship, it won’t even be the worst loss I’ve suffered as a sports fan. Lets run off the top 5.

5. Lakers vs. Celtics (2008)
I know this hasn’t happened, but if the Lakers were to lose this series, this is where that loss would be. Not only is it the Lakers losing in the Finals, but it’s losing to the Celtics. A team that I can’t stand for obvious reasons. When you’re born a Lakers fan, you’re raised to hate all things Celtics, and that’s the way I was brought up. Not only that, but the Celtics feature a myriad of players I can’t stand with the likes of Ray Allen, James Posey and Kendrick Perkins. Why, you ask, would this only rank fifth on your list? Well, for that answer, keep reading.

4. USC vs. Texas (2004)
This was definitely tough for me to handle because of everything that was riding on the game. If USC wins, they’re one of the greatest dynasties in college football history, if they lose, they’re the greatest team to ever lose the championship. It was one of the greatest football games to ever be played at the college level, and USC loses. On a pivotal play in the game, USC standout tailback Reggie Bush stood on the sideline while USC tried to convert a fourth down. Of course, they weren’t able to convert the fourth down and Texas got the ball back and took advantage of it. I can only begin to wonder how that game would have played out if Bush was on the field – at least just as some kind of distraction. I still want to vomit every time I see highlights of that game. Oh, and I watched this game with a bunch of people who hated USC. It was a sad day to say the least.

3. North Carolina vs. Kansas (2008)
There is nothing I wanted more this year than for North Carolina to win a national championship this year. Tyler Hansbrough was in his third year, they had two very good sophomore guards and one of the deepest benches in the country. However, I said during the course of the season that if North Carolina played Kansas, they would have problems. Of course, they played Kansas and had major problems. Roy Williams’ rotation was weird, they didn’t play hard and really couldn’t get anything going offensively. What makes it worse is Williams use to coach Kansas. I know if North Carolina would have won that game, they would have went on to win the title. You don't understand how many text messages and phone calls I got after this loss. My friends tend to think it's okay to do send me messages talking shit after losses like this. It's not cool.

2. Raiders vs. Buccaneers and Giants vs. Angles (2002): Tie
This is a tie because I love both teams equally. Both team are rich in history in each of their respective sports and are full of Hall of Fame players, but none of that history (well, none of that championship) history has happened during the course of my life time. Of all of my teams (Lakers, North Carolina basketball, USC football, the Raiders and the Giants) only the Raiders and the Giants have failed to win a championship since 1987. So, in February of 2002 when the Raiders and the leagues best offense got off to a great start or when the Giants went up 3-2 in that 16-run game, you can only imagine how excited I was when I thought I would finally get to see each team finally win a Super Bowl and World Series respectively. Suffice to say, my wish was not made into reality with either of the two teams. Now, both teams are playing well below the mediocrity level and continue to ruin my life. Missing out of both of those opportunities hurt more and more every year.

1. Lakers vs. Pistons (2004)
This year was supposed to be NBA history. Four straight titles for one team for the first time since the NBA/ABA merger, something no dynasty has ever done, not the 80s Lakers, Celtics or the 90s Bulls. This would have been the ultimate dynasty, and it would have been great thing to be able to look back at and say “that was a great team to watch.” However, things didn’t go as planned. Detroit played amazing defense for five games. The game the Lakers won was an overtime game, and they shouldn’t have even won that. The Pistons were clearly the better team in the series and I give them all the credit. What hurt the most about this loss is the fact that it broke up such an amazing team. Shaq fled to Miami, Derek Fisher went to Golden State, Rick Fox retired and Phil Jackson also retired. The Lakers were left with Kobe and a bunch of other guys and were coached by Rudy T, who clearly couldn’t handle coaching in Los Angeles. The 2004-2005 season was depressing only because the Lakers couldn’t win that fourth title. The rest of this decade, as far as the NBA goes, could have been completely different if the Lakers won that fourth ring, but we can only speculate about what might have been…

When looking at this years NBA Finals, I should have saw all of the red flags pointing towards another disastrous trip to a championship for one of my favorite teams. Well, I did see them, what I shouldn’t have done was to put them aside while I looked at every thing good about the Lakers. Great defense always beats great offense. It happened with the Raiders in 2002, USC in 2004 and the Lakers in 2004. As basketball fans, we all know the age old adage, free throws win games and defense wins championships, and unless the Lakers can find some way to score 110 for the remaining five games, they’re going to have a tough time beating the Celtics. Sadly, I know as a sports fan, the list is never ending. I know that there will be more tough losses, so I’ll just have to take the bad with the good or the good with the bad or whatever and hope I can get that Sports Illustrated subscription someday. Oh well.

Stay Hideous
-PB

(Word count to date: 2150)