Having no hometown basketball team being from Buffalo (there may be an allegiance to the Clippers, but that was too far before my time), and my only allegiances in basketball being Syracuse first and Cal second, my favorite NBA team can leap at anytime. And I began liking the Lakers once Kobe jumped ship from high school. Until Wednesday night that is. I had upper-tier seats to the Lakers v. Warriors game in Oakland (I was hidden behind one of the four gigantic corner scoreboards, and behind me was a concrete wall. But the seats were still great.) and leading up to the game, I was for the Lakers. And I was certainly thinking that I would definitely cheer for the Lakers. But that soon changed. It seemed half the arena was for the Lakers yet the hometown team was playing. And soon chanting "Beat L.A." easily trumped chanting "Let's go Lakers." And an allegiance was born. The Lakers won 100-99 in my first NBA game attended. I lost my voice in the process, but I now know what it is like to have a hometown team to root for. Especially against those damn Lakers.

Labels: syracuse