ThrowItDownBigMan

Hello hello. A little bit of background on me: Huge Lakers fan. From the Bay Area. Huh? What? Traitor!

Trust me, I get a lot of flak for supporting the Lakers from an area where most people hate them. Due to this, I wear my Laker fanhood like a suit of armor. Make some hot chocolate and grab a comfy chair, here’s the story:

My family moved from India to Sunnyvale, CA when I was 5, so I didn’t pick up any team loyalty from my parents. I did not really understand the concept of rooting for teams when I was young, so I just rooted for players. Like every kid in the USA during the 90s, I was a huge MJ fan, so I kinda sorta rooted for the Bulls. The player who I really loved though was Shaquille O’Neal, back when he was on the Orlando Magic. Everything about him, his goofiness, his breaking of rims, and his name which kinda rhymes with mine- well I ate it all up.

I remember in 3rd grade we had to do book reports on our heroes-other kids did Gandhi or Lincoln or MLK or Buzz Aldrin. Me? I did Shaq. I was always talking to my friends about him, and my nickname in school became Nikhil Shaquille/Nikhil O’Neal. So when he came to California in 96/97 to join the Lakers, I was like, “dope,” in a high-pitched voice. The video you see above of Game 7 WCF 2000 is probably the one moment where I transitioned from just being a Shaquille O’Neal fan to becoming a Los Angeles Lakers fan. I still remember jumping up and down and watching it. The split-up of the dynasty sucked, and the next few years were “tough”. However, seeing Kobe develop into one of the top 5 players of all time has been unbelievable, and I definitely have no problems with being called a KDR (Kobe Dick Rider). I’ll be the first to say that I understand where the KB hate comes from, I myself was kinda iffy about how he drove Shaq out of LA.

Anyways, its 2010 now, and what can I say? This year has been incredible (First the Lakers beat the Celtics in a game 7, then the SF GIANTS WIN THE WORLD SERIES!!). So it’s been great being a sports fan (hey, the niners are still in it :-p). That’s all for now, folks. Cya.

-Nikhil J