I can verify what Cerebral said. Los Angeles is full of poser Laker fans. When the September 11th attacks occured, all these idiots just took off their Laker flags and put on US Flags. It doesn\'t matter to them what it symbolizes, only that they are doing what everyone else is doing.
The article about Shaq was correct in many ways, but a little overly hateful. Sure he doesn\'t know ball handling like a point guard must know it, but thats because he\'s never needed to learn it. Presumably if he were 6\'1" he might have tried to learn it.
I\'m sick of Shaq, and I do think he\'s bad for the league and basketball in general. I won\'t say I hate him, but I do HATE the Lakers in general. It is not jealously, it stems from something much more meaningful. I was raised in Phoenix, and I am a Suns fan. I have hated the Lakers ever since I knew what basketball was, and they gave us many good reasons to feel that way. Remember in 1990 when Mike Downey predicted the Suns would "fold like a tortilla" in their series against the Lakers? Laker hatred is galvanized in statements like that. BTW he was wrong.
The NBA is becoming a freakshow where the only goal is to get the biggest heaviest center imaginable, turn him into a star by some bizarre marketing hoodoo, and then base all your offense on dunking. The NBA as a whole has glorified the dunk beyond the level of absurdity. It\'s such a stupid thing to focus on because it remains irrelevant to the outcome of a game. A dunk, no matter how spectacular, is still only worth 2 points. The only way they can make it worth more than 2 is by making up a special rulebook for their special freak/centers, and giving people like Shaq a foul and a trip to the line on every play.
