Lakers4Life

Being a die hard fan means you live and die with your team.

I remember back in high school. Senior year. Lakers had their 3-peat on the line verse the Spurs in the 2nd round. Game 6 in LA. Spurs were up 3-2. My friends and I gathered afterschool to catch the game.

Blowout. Spurs.

We fell apart. One friend had his head under his shirt... crying. When we left the scene, a few of us started yelling at each other. Emotions were high. It was a tense scene.

Might seem funny/petty in retrospect, but that's really how it goes when you're a real fan.

Pokes of fun and ridicule on me, any Laker fan, anything Laker-associated in general - understandable. It's called for. My team got slaughtered in game 6. They went out like punks. - embarrassing fashion. If you're a true fan, you take the blows as readily as you gloat. You don't cower.

The day after the Laker loss, all my friend's and I went to school decked out in Laker gear.

Lakers4Life.

To note the successes of this season. To keep all this in perspective:

-If you went back in time and told the Ian of last summer that the Lakers would come 2 games away from a championship this season, I would've jumped for joy.

-If you went back in time and told the Ian of last summer that the Lakers would rid themselves of Brian Cook, Maurice Evans, AND KWAME BROWN, I would've jumped for joy.

-Same sentiment toward the acquisition of Pau Gasol. I'm certain every Laker fan remembers exactly where they were and exactly what they were doing upon hearing news. (For me, it was afterschool, checking gtalk and text - getting 15+ messages: "you hear about the trade" "pau gasol!" "etc")

-We came out on top of the (arguably) most competitive WC race in history. Utah, SA, Denver... all fell flat verse LA.

-Kobe = MVP

-This team will remain intact for the coming years.

-Next year. Insert Bynum.

Thanks for the great season Lakers. I know this time next year, you'll be back on the big stage.