GO LAKERS!
One Night at Jack’s Place
by Bill Simmons
ESPN.com
May 6, 2010
This is a great article on Lakers and their fans. I just want to point out the Type C fans. If one day, I do move back to LA, I know all the kids I grew up will will be inheriting seats. Staples is like Fenway.. the only way to get down to the bottom tier is by inheriting your season tickets. Hopefully my dad will leave me his one day.
”At most arenas, they play Red Hot Chili Peppers songs. In L.A., the Peppers go to the game.”
EXCERPT: The inherent problem with any Lakers game: There are three types of Lakers fans, so the balance of any crowd depends on Type A and Type C overriding Type B.
Type A would be the die-hards — mostly middle or lower class, populating the upper levels of the arena as well as the higher corner seats. These are the ones who attend championship parades, stick flags on their cars, wear jerseys to games and defend Kobe to the death. They are my mortal enemies, and I love when they are unhappy … but I respect their passion.
Type C would be the wealthy die-hards — upper class, connected, and in many cases, family-owned season-ticket holders since the days of Magic/Kareem or even West/Baylor — only it’s a disproportionately large group compared with any other NBA city except New York. I don’t mind these fans unless they are giving their tickets to Spaulding Smails-type relatives, which happens more than you think. They always return for the playoffs, just one reason why those games are always better.
The wheels come off with Type B: wannabe die-hards, locals there to be seen, couples showing up late and leaving early, C-list celebrities, agents or producers jabbering with clients and ignoring the game … it’s everything I hate about Los Angeles in a nutshell. Every negative impression of a Lakers fan comes from the Type B’s, who tend to cluster for weekend games and Game 7s — anything that’s a difficult ticket — so instead of “Night of the Living Dead,” it’s “Night of the Living Pseudo-Fan.” The worst possible Lakers crowd? Any Finals game….
