Oh, it was completely screwed up – it undermined anything resembling a free market for players – and was the cause of future strikes in baseball: free agent compensation. But that was just the rules in place, not a bamboozlement on the part of the Lakers (Fakers/Bakers/Candlestick Makers). From reading Bill Simmons’ Book of Basketball, it’s shown really clearly how teams in the 70’s didn’t place a lot of stock in draft picks. Sounds crazy today, but proven veterans were where teams placed their trust.
Can’t blame you for feeling that way, really. The Lakers have had great ownership (no longer, though), sharp management, nice weather, celebrities, fake boobs and a solid fan base. Makes it attractive to basketball players. But really, the only free agent all that attracted that made a big difference was Shaq. Gasol was a salary dump (and a positive for Memphis in the long run) and Kareem didn’t want to be an angry black man in a mostly white town. If the Knicks had offered the Bucks more, he surely would have gone there (he’s from NY). Now, if you want to talk about Kobe, who told everyone else not to draft him or he would play in Italy, that’s another story. Note that the Lakers have never been gifted a superstar for merely sucking. (Well, hopefully in the upcoming draft.)
You guys have a football team, water, fresh air, great public transportation and cool coffee houses and tattoo parlors. Get some, give some. 
Another Cleveland fan. I was alive when the Browns won in ‘64, but it was before my memory. I am a fan of the Indians’ AA Akron RubberDucks (just renamed; they were the Aeros from 1997 to 2013), and they have won four championships.
A) Thank you for recognizing why I would feel that way about your team (although, in fairness, it might not have bothered me all these years as much as it has if I’d lived in, say, Arkansas or South Dakota instead of where I do). B) I’ve heard the part about Kareem not wanting to play in Milwaukee anymore (even though he had just helped lead to them to what is still their only NBA title right before he left them if I’m not mistaken) and, of course, he DID already have a link to L.A. before he went to the Takers, but still…C)Interestingly I have no real beef with Kobe (no pun intended. Or maybe it is) other than the fact he plays for your team. Even through that sexual assault business a few years ago I had no real beef with him (and didn’t it come out later that the alleged victim couldn’t seem to keep her story straight about what Kobe had supposedly done to her?). Now, Shuh-KWEEL, on the other hand - I couldn’t STAND that S.o.B. In a Fakers’ uniform or out of one. Still can’t. Matter of fact, Michael Jordan retiring and Shuh-KWEEL becoming such a big “star” are probably the two biggest reasons why I pretty much quit watching the NBA in the '90s.
Same here, minus the Bulls (I don’t really follow the NBA. I mean I enjoyed the run and got to see all the home NBA conference semi-finals, conference finals, and NBA finals games at home their fifth and sixth runs–work related–but I’d trade it all for a single Cubs World Series game.)
Well, I can’t blame them for thinking that way (your team’s acquisition of Shuh-KWEEL a few years later would be a good example of that way of thinking) but the idea of teams having to surrender draft picks for free agents is just nuts. Does that book mention who came up with that nonsense?
Don’t believe so – but the book is 700+ pages of gooey NBA goodness, so I can’t say for sure. But remember, this was the 70’s, a time when sports unions were just making their first steps at finally making some strides at fairness. It was not long before that time that players could not sign with other teams even when their contracts ran out. Curt Flood was essentially ostracized from baseball for challenging it (and lost) in court.
LSU Tigers football team has 2 (in my lifetime), and the New Orleans Saints have 1.
For me, I grew up in Wisconsin on the border near Mpls/St Paul so it was easy to split my allegiance between the Twins and the Packers. I was also a North Stars fan, but then I went to graduate school in Western NY and the North Stars moved to Dallas, so I didn’t really follow hockey, since my studies were kind of all consuming.
Then I moved to L.A. and started going to Kings games with some friends I had made and eventually became a season ticket holder
Dodgers: 1 (I started following in 1985)
LA Kings: 1
Raiders: 1
Indians: 0
TOTAL: 3
I suppose I could throw the Lakers in there because I was a fan during the 80s and 90s, but I have lost all interest in basketball in the last decade, so…nah.
ETA to answer Ulf’s question: I became an Indians fan through dating/marriage.
Almost the same, minus the Knicks (too young even in '73) and Rangers (not a hockey fan.)
11
I’m a Cleveland fan, so zero, in my lifetime.
Makes sense, that does suck. I’ve been to some Giant games like that over the years where it felt like we were outnumbered by opposing fans. Of course the season ticket holders deciding to sell their tickets in mass was the only reason I got into the game myself so I guess I can’t bitch.
I was at my friend’s wedding in Vermont on the night of Game 1. We all sat glued to the TV after the reception. What a great game.
Toronto Maple Leafs - 0. And I’m pretty sure I’ll die before I see a Stanley Cup parade in Toronto.
Indianapolis Colts (my favorite pro football team): 1, 2 if you count the fact that I began following them when they beat Dallas 16-13 in Super Bowl V
San Francisco 49ers (my second favorite football team): 5.
Indiana Pacers: 0. Was hoping they would win their first this year, but the team has gone to hell ever since Danny Granger was traded.
Indiana University Hoosiers (basketball): 2.
Indiana University Hoosiers (football): Ha, ha, ha, ha, ho, ho, ho, ho, he, he, he, he. I would be happy if the Hoosiers could just win the Big Ten.
This reminds me of a quote from Jim Caple…"I have the ultimate respect for Whitesox fans. They were as miserable as the Cubs and Redsox fans ever were but always had the good decency to keep it to themselves. And when they finally won the World Series, they celebrated without annoying every other fan in the country.
Standing behind that quote today!
You know what, you’re absolutely right. It occurs to me now that I have never given White Sox fans the credit they deserve for that. Good on you south siders - way to not make the rest of the country hate you in victory or defeat!
White Sox fans will get no credit for anything until Hawk Harrelson is out of a job.