BEAT L.A.

The world truly is imbalanced.
I found myself rooting for the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals this week.

Yes, I grew up in the days of Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, the Detroit Piston Bad Boys and rebound leading Dennis Rodman before he started wearing dresses, and the New York Knicks when they were competitive. God, I miss those days!

But while watching the finals, I noticed there was a different feel to this week's championship tournament. Even though network sportscasters, the NBA and ESPN tried to re-kindle the bi-coastal rivalry of the 80's and 90's, something was just different. It seemed ingenuous to me. The players, although sweating, colliding and slam dunking, didn't seem to really be into the rivalry or the game for that matter.

I can remember a real near-hatred on the court when Boston and L.A. went head to head. It was like the old NFL black-and-blue division in which the Chicago Bears and the Green Bay Packers would beat the crap out of each other for four quarters. You could tell that at any minute fisty-cuffs were going to break out and it usually did.

It was that kind of rivalry on the B-ball court. Hard fouls are not a new thing by any means and you didn't get ejected for doing it back then. Elbows, hard picks and low bridges, like an inside fast ball against a star hitter, were likely to clear a bench or invite certain retaliation on the next play down the court.

But in this 2008 NBA tournament, I just didn't feel anything.
There were no bloody noses, no cracked teeth an no players flying into the third row trying to save an errant pass or trying to make a steal. It seemed like these players didn't want to muss their hair or their sully their public persona.

When players are defending, it seems they are more likely to throw their hands up in a, 'I didn't do it' fashion rather than risk a foul or worse, seem like a bully or bad guy. Yes, they were banging in there, but I saw a lot of it like when big men, like Boston's KJ (Keving Johnson) and L.A.'s Pau Gasal defended each other. The commentators seemed to qualify the 'fear' of being immortalized looking bad - and image is everything in this You Tube age - by saying, "Get in my poster!" after a player performs a spectacular move or arena-waking dunk. Rarely do you see anyone contesting a dunk like the Detroit Pistons' defenders used to do. Dunk be damned; you're going to have to earn each and every point you attempt, was the way they played.

It'd be nice to see Kobe or Vujacic a bit bloodied. They're too clean and unruffled - like the kicker who comes into the game and is the only one on the field who's uniform isn't covered in a mixture of mud and blood. Not to say I'm fight mongering, the NBA will never be the NHL - although it would be nice to see a... No-no...

Recently, I saw an interview with the former Detroit Piston Center, Bill Lambier and L.A.'s Michael Cooper who is now a sports commentator. There was still animosity between the two. It may have been for show, but their presence on a TV set seemed more likely to turn competitively ugly than in any of the five matches in the Boston Garden or the Staples Center so far. The games between the Lakers and the Celtics were... Entertaining, but lacked both electricity and most of all, urgency. It's as if the camera's presence and the fear of tomorrow's headlines has taken some of the fire out of these athletes. That and their multi-million dollar contracts. So what if I lose, I'm still paid seems to be the attitude. I know how easy it is for me to say that from the sidelines but it's my observation and I'm sticking to it.

One thing I have to respect Shaq for, is that at the beginning of his career, he was with out a doubt, the absolute worst free-throw shooter in history. He was so bad it was legendary. But, despite all the money he was being paid, he actually improved enough to make the Hack-a-Shaq a costly mistake.

In all fairness, through, they must have professional pride as competitors, but I'd really like to know where it was the last game played Thursday, June 12th, when the Lakers gave up a 24-point lead, wound up losing the game to go down in the tournament 3-1 and to me it seemed like they weren't even pissed off enough to grab themselves up, rally and save the game. After the old east coast/west coast games, they looked like they've been in a street fight. They were physically ans emotionally exhausted and the fans - like me - could see it and feel it.

After Thursday's loss, Kobe Bryant, dapperly dressed in a black and white outfit, sat,calmly for his post-game interview. With little emotion, he calmly said that he and his team "wet the bed" in reference to their loss. Then in another interview, he said that drinking alcoholic shots and then getting back to work the next day would do the trick.
WTF, over?
Michael Jordan was effectively shut down at different times in the Bull's championship tournaments. But the rest of the team stepped up. There was a fire there in those games that just seems to be lacking in this tournament, both from on the court and in the arena.

Like the Laker's young team, it's almost as if the fans don't have the experience to get their team emotionally back into the game either. Be it by razzing the other team to distraction, yelling, screaming and cheering with endless fervor, that seems to be missing too from the fan stands too. Heck, if I drop a few hundreds or a few thousands to see my team compete in the arena at a championship game while buying $6 dollar hot dogs and $8 dollars A CUP for beer, I am going to do everything I can to discourage the other team and help my team win. F*#@ yeah!

Coming home hoarse and exhausted from cheering my team on is a small price to pay if it helps them win and will get me pissed off to rout harder and point out their deficiencies of they lose. That's what fans do or at least used to do, long before people started carrying their dogs instead of letting them walk - what's up with that?

While Wandering around Italy, I learned quickly that wearing the wrong soccer team colors in the wrong neighborhood was as dangerous as wearing the opposing teams colors and talking trash when you walk into the Oakland Raider's Black Hole. At least some team's fans still have that fanatical spirit.
Vespas carrying more people than the vehicle was designed to and Cinque Centos packed with adoring "Forza"Napoli fans took to the streets after a win as if their futbol team had won the the cup. Traffic nearly came to a stand still as fans, precariously sitting in their car windows while waving team flags created impromptu parades through Angnao, Pozzuoli and throughout downtown Naples. Now that's team spirit. And it's infectious. Soccer players run back and forth for seemingly ever, sacrifice their bodies, get kicked in the face, their legs, their nards and still give their all, throwing themselves to the ground for loose balls or to stop a defender. And that's just a regular season game. Just imaging what their championship season is like.

That kind of enthusiasm is rarely seen in pro basketball anymore. Celtic, kelly green or Knickerbocker royal blue and orange or Laker purple and gold are worn now as more of a fashion statement. Unfortately, it seems the same on the court. To me, there seems to be a lack of enthusiam and team spirit. Seeing people walk around Hollywood with "Brooklyn" T-shirts still kinda ticks me off a bit. I usually ask, 'what do you know about Brooklyn?' To which they usually answer, 'Nothing, it's just a T.' Yeah, and a Nuke is just a bomb. Yeesh!

I can't imagine how disappointed Laker fans must have been after watching their mighty team and their vaunted MVP fold as they did Thursday, taking an uninspired step closer to the precipice. That's not true. I can imagine, I just don't care.

I have to admit, any pity or empathy I feel for them is feigned at best and tainted by a hearty, leg of mutton biting, tobacco spittin' (no, I don't chew bacca), boo-hoo sarcasm. I can say I will always have respect for Magic and Kareem's Los Angeles Lakers, Bird's and McCale's Celtics and Frazier's and Earl the Pearl's Knicks, but until these new Lakers bring it, and a lot more than they did Thursday, they're not much more than actors playing athletes to me.

As we head into the potentially series-ending game six this Sunday, I look forward with a wry smile. Yes, I know the world is out of balance for me to be rooting for the Boston Celtics, but I also remember that both eastern division championship team's fans admonishing and encouraging the winning team to beat the Los Angele Lakers. We may have disliked the other east coast team, but we hated the Lakers more.

So, as a true New Yorker and east coast guy, I must say, "BEAT L.A.!"