The Lakers Are Still the Favorites

(DGA Productions)


By: Greg Payne

Let me start off by saying it physically pained me to type that title. My fingers are bleeding right now.

Alas, I cannot ignore what I did in fact write. Because, unfortunately, it is the truth. The Los Angeles Lakers are the defending NBA Champions. And they will remain so until someone knocks them off, FOR GOOD. And that most likely won't happen until late May, at the very earliest.

You see, last year I used that ploy until the very end. I said it over and over and over for the Celtics. I could have been nicknamed after it.

"The Celtics are still the champions until someone beats them in the playoffs."

I used it at an even heavier rate once Kevin Garnett went down with his injury in late February. It became my trademark slogan, joining the likes of, "I'll be back" and "You had me at hello". Only, my line wasn't even that memorable and wasn't muttered by a dreamy actor in his prime. I just became known for it. Especially in college, where a Pistons fan lives three doors down to the left, a Lakers fan is directly across the hall and a Spurs fan sits idly and passively down the end of the floor, sort of like the Spurs themselves (I wonder which fan base closest resembles its own team?).

But the fact remains, I stuck with that quote until the Magic finally ousted us. We were champions no more. But the Lakers? Well, they're still the champions until someone beats them in the playoffs. Regardless of what team you do in fact support.

Now, do I think the Celtics are going to win this year? Of course I do. I am by no means choosing the Lakers to win everything. Not with the additions we made. But the Lakers deserve my respect and they have it. Especially considering they just added Ron Artest. That will serve dividends throughout this entire upcoming season.

The ice cream man who shows up at the camp I work at each and every day is a die hard Lakers fan. Die hard. I could write a book about the verbal wars he and I have engaged in over this Celtics/Lakers rivalry over the course of the past four summers. Just yesterday, I walk up with 75 cents, just enough for the smallest size of slush he's got. I tell him so, and he says, "Well, I'll upgrade you."

I say, "No, no, you don't have to do that."

"Oh, but I want to." Was that the slightest sense of maliciousness in his voice? He casually places the one dollar size slush in front of me, and then, very slyly, sticks two straws into it. Hmm...two straws? Then, I notice the colors. My face contorts in protest. I glance up into his steely eyes.

"Purple and gold, baby," he says.

The Lakers are still the favorites. I'm reminded each and every day. But you know what? We're ready. We're back. And we're poised to defeat them when it matters most.

Stay Tuned.