Why I'll never be a LeBron fan

To be a true sports fan, you can’t be objective. You can’t sit on fences. You’re either for one team or the other. If you’re not for, or against, then you’re just pretending to be one.

What I also realized is that you when you passionately root for an athlete or a team, everyone who was numero uno before and after him/her is just not good enough. For instance, when Wilt Chamberlain and Jerry West retired, I lost interest in the NBA.  However, there was no regular NBA game on TV like today and that probably played a part in my disinterest. When the NBA did come back, this time on the movie screens, I didn’t care about Jack Sikma or Dennis Johnson of the 1978 NBA champions Seattle Supersonics nor did I care about Wes Unseld and the Washington Bullets who beat Seattle the next year. But when Showtime arrived, I was back in the NBA. I used to watch Lakers-Celtics games in the early 80’s on VHS at my roommates’ classmate’s apartment.

The LA Showtime had a great run and was finally ended by the greatest basketball player in history, Michael Jordan. I despised MJ for that. I thought he was greedy and arrogant. For the next 10 years, it was all MJ and I prayed that the Bulls would lose. But they didn’t, not with Jordan wagging his tongue.

Finally, Jordan retired and with Shaq going to Hollywood, to partner with a precocious Kobe, LA was back. Kobe was also greedy and arrogant but the difference was that he was my greedy and arrogant Kobe! Of course, it wasn’t after Phil Jackson arrived did everything fell into place. Sure, the Spurs, the Celtics then Mavs, the Pistons and the Heat got their rings but clearly, the first decade of the 21st century belonged to the Lakers with 3 rings. And to show that he wasn’t riding on Shaq’s coattails, Kobe would add two more after Shaq left.

And now, I’m afraid that the Kobe’s era is about to end. Maybe if Mitch Kupchak can trade Metta World Peace for Kevin Durant, maybe LA can extend the run.

And the reason why I can’t root for Lebron is because he is now holding the torch that Kobe and the LA Lakers had to grudgingly hand over. The same way Magic grudgingly gave the torch to MJ in 1990. And I’m afraid it’ll be that way for a while. It could have been because of the “Decision”, for playing behind Dwayne Wade, for passing when he needs to assert himself during crunch time or when wilting against the Dallas. But that’s too shallow.

The truth is, letting go is just too hard. Just ask our politicians.

Finally, I’d like to congratulate my good friend from Lilo-an, Arch. Bryan “LeBryant” Donasco, who stood by Lebron through thick and thin. (I nicknamed him LeBryant for his dislike for LA’s 24.) Memo to Coach Scott Brooks, if OKC ever needed a defensive specialist, I would suggest that you sign Lebryant. The way he defended Lebron the past three years in our cebucycling.com forum can put Michael Cooper to shame. - THE FREEMAN