The Lakers and Their Fans Should Just Shut Up

So, Dwight Howard left.

Stop crying about it, for Pete's sake.

There's Kobe, criticizing Dwight Howard for not sticking with the Lakers to "earn" that championship.

Shaquille O'Neal followed suit in criticizing Howard.

Now, there's legendary coach Phil Jackson, who I still have a lot of respect for, but is starting to annoy me from time to time, criticizing Howard.

And let's not even mention those legions of bandwagon fans across the country, most of whom claim to have been Lakers fans since well before they ever enjoyed success (and how long has it been since they had an extended period without some strong measure of success, anyway?). These fans of the perennial sunny, southern California success story, the most obnoxious team in sports for many years running now, are in on the act.

Dwight Howard has no heart. He has no sense of loyalty, perhaps. He doesn't have the character of a champion, because he did not stick with "the team".

Funny, but when Dwight Howard came close (much closer than the disastrous year that the Lakers had with Dwight Howard last season) with his original team, the Orlando Magic, only to make a spectacle and seek greener pastures with the league's darlings in purple and gold, nobody was calling him a quitter then. He had done essentially what Lebron James had done (and also was roundly criticized for) n leaving his old team for a newly star-studded lineup with another team.

The Lakers already had Kobe and a cast that had championship experience. Then, they picked up Steve Nash and Dwight Howard in last year's offseason, and seemed to be the dream team in the West, a team that could measure up to the Miami Heat, perhaps, right?

But the Lakers, perennial favorites and the team that, it seems, the league itself wants to see win, instead had a disastrous start, and they only managed to climb out of the hole enough to barely qualify for the playoffs. Once there, they got quickly swept by the San Antonio Spurs, and that was that.

Dwight Howard, who always seemed to have that big smile in Orlando, never really showed that same smile in Los Angeles, with the Lakers. It just was not working out.

He left for Houston, in the midst a chorus of criticism. A hell of a lot of the criticism has come from present and former Lakers, as well as their fans.

But why weren't they so vocal in their criticisms before, when Howard essentially quit the Magic for the Lakers?

And why is he being criticized for taking less money to join a team that he felt he would fit in with better in the Houston Rockets? that was a move that I did not see coming and, for once, it shows that perhaps this guy is not only about money after all, which was my assumption after he joined the Lakers.

Now, don't get me wrong: I am not a Dwight Howard fan. Obviously, anyone reading to this point must also know by now that I am no fan of the Lakers, either. In fact, they are my least favorite team not only in the NBA (and by far), but in all of sports. The only team that can come close to rivaling them for me is the San Francisco 49ers.

Why don't I like the Lakers? Because of their fans. Their so-called fans, who live across the country and the known universe, and seem never to want to not have an immediate winner in town (oh, wait a minute! Most Lakers fans are not in town, and in fact, live very, very far away - most of the ones that I know obviously live thousands of miles away).

I don't like their manufactured "success story", I don't like that they always seem to get the breaks with picking up talent that hardly ever seems to happen to other teams, and certainly with nowhere near the same level of consistency. they get Gasol for virtually nothing, and in no time, they get to the NBA Finals repeatedly. they begin to wane, but only slightly, and they suddenly get Steve Nash, a two-time NBA MVP, and Howard, one of the most talented players in the league.

Then, the experiment goes wrong, and Kobe blames Howard, and the whole purple and gold world follows suit. Howard is this, Howard is that. howard lacks the intensity, the motivation, the fortitude.

Blah, blah.

Boo-hoo.

I know a Lakers fan, and wouldn't you know it, he's obnoxious? Well, actually, I know quite a few of them, and by and large, they are obnoxious, especially in their role as dedicated Lakers fans. But this guy in particular, he is very vocal. he has a big mouth, there is just no way around that.

Last year, he swept his hand dismissively at the prima dona Dwight Howard, who was then prostituting himself in order to attract all sorts of attention. He was vocal in his criticism, until Howard signed with the Lakers. then, all of a sudden, he had a big grin on his face, and quickly and easily predicted a championship.

The season went awry quickly, as the Lakers fell apart at the seams. Bad decisions (in coach, I think, in particular), and injuries aggravated things, but they were pretty much bad to begin with. And wouldn't you know it? For once, the script did not match the sunny and bright, southern California script. The Lakers began to have a bit of a turnaround - enough to qualify for the playoffs, anyway - but it was not enough. not even close. You can't say you got close if you get swept in the first round.

Lakers fans with a sense of entitlement and a hunger to finally win a championship after the long drought of going on three years were crying foul, and looking for their scapegoat. They found him, evidently. Now, they are madder then ever, because he did the unthinkable - he left the league's most succesful and iconic franchise, and for less money, at that!

I am not so much defending Dwight Howard, who I thought showed a lack of class and tact in flaunting himself, in shopping around for a new team each of the last few seasons, and making a far bigger spectacle than perhaps he is worth. But I was impressed that he was committed enough to take less money for a better situation with another team, and I am especially happy that, for once, those Lakers fans, surely the most numerous and definitely the most obnoxious fans in the sport, did not get their way.

It's funny, really. The fans are so impatient for the championship that they have grown so used to that they seem to feel they are entitled to it, that when anything goes wrong for even a season, they relentlessly look for the scapegoat. Then, when that scapegoat leaves the team, they act shocked - shocked! - and surprised that anyone would dare to leave their beloved team.

Now, they are criticizing him for not having the patience and character and whatever to simply stick with their team and get the championship. Perhaps they might even make the argument that he would have gotten it "the hard way"? Didn't he leave Orlando for a better situation (he hoped) with the Lakers? And now, after obviously never feeling comfortable with the Lakers, he leaves for another, hopefully better, situation, and that surprises Lakers fans? I don't understand why. Does the whole NBA, or perhaps even sports, universe have to revolve around the whims of bandwagon Lakers fans?

If you are on the fence about becoming a fan of the Lakers, please consider just how much they are being crybabies at the moment, which is keeping up with a long standing tradition of such behavios. But it is getting worse, seemingly. You can pick another team. Isn;t that what parity is supposed to be? And please consider joining the club that I have long belonged to, that being the ABL club - Anybody But the Lakers!