Laker Championship Ring

babyskyhook wrote:

David14 wrote:Babyskyhook, since you took the time to post a lengthy, but excellent post, please bear with my return lengthy thoughts.

I always feel somewhat bad that good folks like you and MG are forced to put up with some of our, at least, my emotions when it comes to the Celtics v Lakers rivalry. Truth be known Chick Hearn and Magic were always great to my kids when we were fortunate enough to be able to walk around the basketball floor area. Chickie and Margie are definitely the "best of the "best".

The problem is that there are some fans in Los Angeles that consistently try to interject a Lakers win as something that degrades a human being for being a Celtics fans. As we played the games ourselves. Perhaps, there are some Celtics fans that may be the same, however I have not seen too much of that myself.

however some of the personal insults that were thrown at the Celtics fan regulars, even though I am not a "true" regular, were worse than "mean spirited".

I guess what I am saying is, I apologize to you and MG for any of my return rude comments directed back at the Lakers, and/or certain Lakers fans, which may be offensive to you and MG.

With the above said, my complaint about the Lakers fan use of the Minneapolis championships is that the franchise is definitely entitled to use the wins as an asset of the franchise. However, there is a tendency to use it, as some did on BDC, to interject those wins into the argument as weapons of equality. That in comparing th city of Boston versus the city of Los Angeles, and/or Lakers fans versus Celtics fans. However, the Lakers fans version of equality was that the Celtics and their fans are not allowed to use our historical success in 1950, 60's, and 70's, and that the fact that the Celtics head to head championship wins are somehow more meaningless than any other historical event in the history of the world.

With the above said, I agree with everything you stated, and have my own respect for some great Lakers folks like Chick Hearn, Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, Magic Johnson, a respectful person to me Pat Riley, Bill Sharman, Mitch K, Farmar, Fish, and probably a guy like Pau.

Stay with us Baby, your historical based argument here was a valid argument.

David

David-

a few things:

1. No apologies necessary. You are always thoughtful and respectful in our exchanges and on the board in general- as is everyone on this board. It's what makes it such a great, interesting place. I get a chuckle out of it when you get riled up and let loose with one of your pet terms for the Lakers. It's never directly to me and never in a serious way, and I take no offense, as this is, after all, a Celtic board.

2. I think the reality is there are meatheads in LA, just like there are meatheads in Boston, New York, DC, Chicago, London, Munich, Sydney- wherever. That's just the reality of our world- there are good people in every city and there are not so good people in those same cities. Just like there are good people and bad people of every race, every religion and every socio-economic background. So while I have had my run-ins with meatheads from other cities over the years, including Boston, I don't throw out the baby with the bath water because I know there a lot of idiots here in LA too. I've been to Boston a number of times and love it, and have a lot of friends from Boston and New England. Love NY and SF too. I never associate a city with a sports team. I might hate the team, but not the city. I associate a city with the god times I've had there and the people I know from there. Since I try to only get to know good people (the bad ones aren't worth knowing), I tend to have a favorable view of most places. Every big city has it's own strength and weaknesses, and one is not superior to another in my book- it's simply a question of what city is best for a given individual. Boston's great for you, LA's great for me. All good.

But there are a lot of parochial troglodytes who haven't travelled much and are bitter, insecure and unhappy in their lives. And because of their deep-seated insecurities, they end up insulting and trying to degrade aspects other people's lives (such as the city where someone lives) in a subconscious effort to make themselves feel better about their own pathetic lives. I would bet big bucks that most of the "Boston sucks, it's a shitty place, etc" type posters on BDC have never ben to Boston and have probably never left LA. And those type of trolls live in every city, whether it's Boston, LA, NY or wherever. So I think that is what it is.

But what separates this board, is the fact that everyone on it knows that the trolls of the world exist and choose not to waste their time dealing with them, and that's what has created such a great environment here. I guess we owe BDC an indirect thanks for the creation of this board.

3. ONly a jackass would try to argue that the Minneapolis years are a part of Laker history while discounting the Cs dynasty years. It's just not even worth discussing because it is sheer lunacy. And lunatics aren't worth taking the time to reason with. I was wondering where that whole MInny/LA thing kept coming from, but now I get it. Let's not waste any more time there.

4. I miss Chick. It's just not the same, especially during the reg season. It's still great, obviously, but he was the constant thread linking the different eras together- the heart and soul of the team in a lot of ways.

5. Glad you've had some good interactions with various Lakers over the years. Pau is definitely one of the good guys.

So don't worry about me, I'll be sticking around. And again, no apologies necessary.

Cheers,

bsh