I definitely watch for stars only. I grew up a Laker fan with Magic, Kareem and Worthy. But I didn’t watch during the pre-Kobe years and I didn’t watch after Shaq. In truth I couldn’t bring myself to cheer for them when Pau was there. Not after his Asian-mocking photo at the olympics.
But I’ve been thrilled to watch the Lakers with Lebron and AD.
I am the same way with football. I will watch anything but I will go out of my way to watch Brady, Brees, Deion Sanders, Barry Sanders, or Michael Vick. Those guys and Bo Jackson were all must see tv.
Football, for me, is "slightly" different. I was a big Raider fan when they returned to Oakland and had season tickets for 11 years or so. I lived in Santa Cruz and one of my college buddies was living in the city. On football weekends, I'd take off early (around 1PM), cruise up the coast in my Honda del Sol (targa top off of course
) to Half Moon Bay and take the 92 over to SF. I had a key to his crib (still do) and the deal was that I'd buy all the booze (before he got into high end Japanese whiskey
) for the weekend. I'd hang out at his house until he got home (his catch phrase when he opened the door was "Is anybody here? I've got my gun.). We'd go out, have dinner, watch college football on Saturday, argue about any and everything, and take BART to the game on Sunday. Good times. Anyway, Raider football was an event and, given how much I paid for 35 yard line, lower level seats, I wasn't going to miss anything. Too bad that was post Bo. One of my favorite, lasting images was Brian Bosworth trying to tackle him at the goal line. LOL. That and ripping off those 90 yard runs where everyone else chasing him looked like they were trying to catch a Ferrari.
Wait....this is the NBA thread.....sorry.
I'll be ready for NBA playoff hoops. Looks like AD is almost ready and LBJ is maybe a couple weeks out. I think it's great that the Lakers are taking it slow. The fact that they're even competitive without them spells trouble for a lot of teams. Plus, I think it's really helped the other guys on the squad having the opportunity to put some meaningful time in. It may very well help when the playoffs roll around. I'm amazed at how much depth they've been able to put together this year.