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The Los Angeles Lakers beat the New Jersey Nets last night to win the NBA Championship. Yawn. Even though I live in New Jersey, I really had no interest in this game. Or this series. Or even the entire NBA season. I just can't watch basketball on T.V. I love to play basketball. But watching it just bores me. It's because of the way the scoring occurs. If I walk into the middle of a baseball game, a football game, or a hockey game, I know that whatever the score is at that moment (except for a 0-0 tie) may end up to be the final score. So scoring is at a premium and good defense can win a game. If I walk in on a basketball game, I know that whatever the score is at the moment has no chance of actually being the final score. Unless I walk in on a game that has 3.4 seconds left. But even then.
What is it about a team winning a championship that makes people in a city lose their minds? I mean really, what causes a person to think "hey, the team that has the name of the city I live in on its uniform won, so I think I'll rape, pillage and revolt against society?" I can be a rabid sports fan (except for basketball) and can take a New York Jet loss especially hard. But I don't;t think that if the Jets ever win the Super Bowl - shut up, it could happen - that I would drive into New York and start smashing windows.
ESPN.com had the usual coverage of the final game and the entire series. And, as is required nowadays, had a sidebar story on the reaction of the winning team's fans. The link on the main page was titled Lakers fans behave, celebrate team's three-peat. But when you click that link, the headline of the story tells a slightly different tale. The headline read
Only minor vandalism mars L.A.'s celebration
LOS ANGELES -- Jubilant Lakers fans danced, slapped high-fives and waved three fingers in the air while "I Love L.A.'' blared at Staples Center on Wednesday night as more than 18,000 fans celebrated the team's third straight title.
When the Lakers wrapped up their NBA Finals sweep with a 113-107 victory over the Nets in New Jersey, streamers and handmade purple and gold airplanes rained down on the joyous but well-behaved crowd at the Lakers' home arena.
So understand that there were 18,000 fans in the arena that had no actual game going on. Everyone there was watching it on giant T.V. screens.
Outside the arena, police helicopters hovered overhead, and walls of riot gear-equipped police -- some on horseback -- kept a watchful eye to make sure there was no repeat of the 2000 celebration, when there was brief rioting.
I'm sure that cost some overtime for the police department. Again, it bothers me that our society has almost come to expect this disgusting behavior from "fans". I don't blame the police. In the current climate, they have to be prepared for such an event. But I'm sure that "crowd control and riot prevention for sports teams" have become actual budget items for some major cities. And that sucks.
There were only a few scattered incidents Wednesday night. They involved handfuls of young men trying to start trash fires and hurling bottles at police. Several windows in a vacant office building near Staples Center were broken, as were the windows in a TV news van.
WTF? Why?
"As far as I know there's been no real injuries. Minor, minor vandalism, but that was our whole plan. We're not going to let anything get big and we did stop them from any major damage,'' police Sgt. John Pasqueriello said.
Officer Don Cox said he knew of only two arrests, one involving battery on a police officer.
"One of the news crews got some of the windows broken out in their news van so we had to take immediate action, and that's what we did,'' Pasqueriello said. "We learned in the past that we can't let these things brew and we took immediate action and moved the crowd out.''
Nice way to downplay the situation. "Minor, minor vandalism". But it was only minor because the police was out in such force. I'm glad the police stopped it early, but it basically points out that these people were out of control and would have done more damage if they police hadn't stepped in.
When the Lakers beat Indiana at Staples Center in 2000 to win the NBA title, a crowd that gathered outside the arena to watch its exterior TV screen turned into a destructive mob. Police cars and a TV van were torched, and businesses suffered about $750,000 in property damage.
That was the last time the games were shown on the outdoor screen.
Smart move
In the arena, many fans held up cell phones to share the noisy celebration with friends and family who weren't able to get one of the $10 seats in front of the arena's giant TVs.
Snort. Think about getting that call. "Hello? HELLO? WHAT? You're WHERE? I said, YOU'RE WHERE?!? I thought it was in New Jersey. NEW JERSEY!! What?! You say it IS in New Jersey? NEW JERSEY! So what are you....I said, SO WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN.... oh nevermind." {click} What are these people thinking?
Jimmy Gomez, a member of the hip hop band, "Black Eyed Peas,'' was among the crowd at Staples.
"It don't get no better than Laker fans. You bring all different types of people together,'' Gomez said. "You bring different gangs, you bring different cultures together, you bring men and women together, and they all create this ambiance of positivity.''
OK, Mr. Grammar. I'm sure the Bloods and the Crips are arm in arm, exchanging olympic pins and bandannas. And hey, you bring men and women together and basketball is the last thing they should be thinking about. Unless they're married, of course. And why is this guy using the word ambiance? He just said "[i]t don't get no better..." and then uses the phrase "ambiance of positivity".
Unlike the regular season and the playoffs, Wednesday night's game brought a mostly blue-collar crowd to the arena instead of the corporate executives, Hollywood stars such as Jack Nicholson, and entertainment industry brass who normally attend Lakers games.
Yeah. I wonder why that is. Maybe because....THERE'S NO GAME THERE! You can't compare that crowd to the people who "normally attend Lakers games" because there was NO GAME THERE TO ATTEND!. Man, that has to be the stupidest sentence ever written. I can just imagine Jack Nicholson getting to his seat and saying (imagine Jack Nicholson voice) "hey, where the fuck are all the players?"
With the Lakers' empty court below them, the crowd chanted, "Defense! Defense!'' and "Three-Peat! Three-Peat!'' ignoring the fact that O'Neal, Kobe Bryant and crew couldn't hear them.
BWAHAHAHAHA! No, I'm sure there were some people there who thought that if they yelled loud enough, that the Lakers could hear them. In New Jersey.
Man, that's a great closing sentence to the article. Now I don't begrudge the people who went to the Staples Center to watch the game surrounded by other fans. It is akin to going to a bar with your buddies to watch the game on T.V. This article just makes it seem stupider than it really is. But my main point is this: The Lakers won the game and the series and the season. The people who support that team should be very happy. But please explain how being happy translates to smashing things. Thank you.
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