Taking a lyrical cue from the live version of The Fall's SPECTRE VS. RECTOR 2, no amount of washing everyday will get rid of that unclean feeling that I've been saddled with in rooting for the Boston Celtics to win the NBA title over the Los Angeles Lakers.
As a fan of the Trail Blazers since the inception of the franchise, it's been hard to ever root for the Lakers, but that has happened on occasion. Some of that was due to their opponent in the finals (cheer for Bill Laimbeer and the Pistons? not bloody likely!), and some times it was down to the style of play, especially when the Lakers and Celtics met in the finals in the 80's. The "Showtime" era version of the Lakers was a spectacular thing to witness when it was flowing smoothly.
The fact that Bill Walton was by then playing for the Celtics was another factor in never being able to embrace the Celtics when it came down to the finals, I suppose the acrimony over the split with the Blazers took quite awhile to subside with me, although the trouncing the Blazers gave the Celtics in the Garden for their only home loss in the 85-86 season was a very small bit of satisfaction to many.
A year ago it certainly appeared highly unlikely that both teams would meet for the championship, with the Celtics being mired in the depths of the NBA draft lottery and the Lakers enduring the "please trade me" game being played by Kobe Bryant.
Both teams and their general managers were being heavily criticized a year ago for the roster changes that didn't produce the on-floor results expected in both markets. I can also recall listening to Celtic fan and ESPN radio man Erik Kuselias moaning on the air about losing the number one lottery pick to the Blazers; he was so sure that Greg Oden was going to be a Celtic that he went ahead and purchased season tickets, and when the Celtics did not get that pick, he was wondering about how his wife was going to handle the burden of tickets for a lousy team.
My brother in Los Angeles was talking with Laker fans a year ago who wanted to trade Bryant to Portland for Brandon Roy (I know, it was just fan talk around the office, but it certainly appeared to some that the enchantment with Bryant had certainly worn thin in a number of places by that time). Also, for the fans of theory conspiracies, there are the rumours that Laker great Jerry West, at one time the general manager of the Memphis Grizzlies, was somehow invovled in the robbery that sent Pau Gasol to the Lakers for some warm bodies, though West has been on national radio twice lately to deny such accusations.
With such fan bases who, more than likely, could not have imagined what would transpire in the forthcoming NBA season, it is indeed hard to get behind either squad for the title. (Forgot to add that a friend of mine went to the Celtic/Blazer game in Portland this past year and wondered to me why Kevin Garnett became such a whiner once he joined the Celtics).
However, the Celtics this year are less odious to me than what transpired in Los Angeles with the Kobe drama, so it was with an unclean spirit that I say......BEAT L.A.!!!!. Actually, that wasn't as painful as I thought it might be, but just to be sure, I'm gonna go take a long hot shower now. ;)
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