| I don't really have a favorite basketball player anymore. I have too much respect for the level of skill it takes to make the NBA to favor any one player over another. But I have been a Lakers fan since I could spell M-A-G-I-C-J-O-H-N-S-O-N. After witnessing Michael Jordan end the Showtime era and devastating my idyllic childhood world, I spent the remainder of my youth as a devoted Penny Hardaway fan rooting for Jordan's desmise and for the Lakers to reclaim the throne. Then one day, while I was on a trip to New Zealand, I remember reading in a newspaper that the Lakers traded Vlade Divac to the Hornets for a 17 year-old kid fresh out of high school named Kobe Bryant, and feeling that somehow, this was the beginning of a glorious new era in my basketball life. |
