I am starting to become embarrassed for this cities’ sports fans.
No wonder Tawmmy from Quinzee and Paulie from “Strong Island” think we are a bunch of fair weather pansies. Because that’s how we’re acting!
First on the Shut It! list: the Lakers.
A month ago I couldn’t walk 10 ft. in my building without someone talking about how the Lakers were “done” and “wouldn’t make it out of the first round”. Every radio host was going on and on about how the team was broken. I tried to remind people that they were, you know, THE BEST TEAM IN A LOADED WEST. But nobody wanted to listen to that. They just wanted to bitch and moan and talk about how we needed to trade Bynum for Chris Paul. Now those same guys are talking about how we’re going to sweep the Jazz…but then get obliterated by whomever comes out of the East…assuming we don’t have to play Phoenix because we can’t stop them. When will it be good enough for you? When we’re the Globetrotters and the rest of the league are the Generals? Like any good relationship, you need to take the time to make sure you accentuate the good things, and let your partner (or in this case your team) know that you appreciate all they’ve done for you. If you just bitch bitch bitch at someone, they are going to leave your ass. And then what have you got, the Clippers? Have fun with that…
Second Shut It! item: Los Doyers.
Yes, they are currently in last place…by 5 1/2 games. We have played 26 games of a 162 game season. That’s 16%. Stop pressing the panic button or the stewardess is going to come by and zip-tie your arms to your arm rests! Manny will get healthy, and the pitching will settle. It’s not like they’re playing in the AL East and have giant mountains to climb over. They have four flawed teams sitting in front of them: one of them can’t hit, two of them have thin rotations and questionable bullpens, and one is the Padres who are playing out of their minds and will fall back to Earth soon. Now if we’re double digit games out at the break, then we can talk about this season not going so well. But even that is doable. Sure, the team has flaws. I’m not saying they’re perfect or should be given a pass for bad decisions (not even offering arbitration to Randy Wolf?!?!) but, like with the Lakers, we need to recognize the good too. We have two good young pitchers at the top of the rotation. Are they going to get shelled every once in a while (like My Boy KERSHAW!1! did last night)? Of course. But so are the Johan Santanas and Tim Lincecums of the world. Shellings happen. Deal with it. When Manny is back we have arguably the best offensive outfield in baseball. WE ARE STILL A GOOD BASEBALL TEAM!
Where is the loyalty?! Where is the unquestioned dedication?! We, as LA sports fans, should be so happy that we have 5 ‘Big 4′ sports teams to root for. And of the four, the two listed above are consistent winners, and should be trusted!
Let’s stop being the fans that show up in the third inning, leave in the eighth, and panic after less than a fifth of the season. Let’s start being the fan base that can prop up a struggling club and let them know that we still love them. Let’s wave our flags and wear our jerseys no matter what the standings say.
If you’re a fan, and I mean a true fan, then you’re a fan at all times, good and bad. So put down the cell phone because there is no reason for you to call into that radio station and complain. Take your hats and jerseys back out of the closet and put them back on. Be a real fan for a bit.
/rant
Dear Lampson,
Right message wrong approach. Know your audience, in this case transplants. Let them know they can get behind your teams because they truly represent them and their city full of fresh water and early 20th century trolley near misses. Keep up the good work and all the best.
Regards,
Not the least bit bitter in MN
P.S. that or take off the purple and gold glasses and realize that the Laker woes were real against the Thunder when Kobe’s shooting hand fingers were bad and the opponents were so young they didn’t know better than to think they could win the series. Good thing those officials were not going to let that happen. Maybe some of your target audience just really didn’t see those early Westbrook fouls like the rest of the nation. XXOO
as an LA native who has spent the last 5 years in NYC, I can tell you that East Coast fans are no better.
Yankee fans have the same high expectations as Laker fans, and are disappointed with 2 losses in a row, or if the 5th guy in their rotation can’t go past 6 innings.
As soon as a team is down here, so are their fans. It’s not just putting away hats and jerseys, it’s talking as much sh*t as possible to whoever will listen. New Yorkers complain about everything, especially sports.
p.s. the Dodgers will be fine, and the Lakers were playing terribly for the second half of the season. It seems like Kobe has found some spare energy somewhere though. Looks good.
Hey guys…
LA Lakers are rolling now, but where’s my PoL?
Please tell me you guys are still active…