Spurs vs. Lakers: Oh God.

What is a Blazers fan to do?

The sole team I felt compelled to root for has been eliminated after a fight with the Spurs that was worthy of your admiration. Now...

Spurs. Lakers. What is a Blazers fan to do?

I can't bring myself to like the Spurs, even though the scars of Sean Elliot have faded somewhat. It isn't because I find their effectiveness boring, that is one lame anti-basketball perspective I will never support. I do resent what often serves as the counter argument to the "boring" assertion; that they somehow embody an abstract concept of divine basketball purity. Not that anyone could even know what that would look like, but I'm relatively confident some of the actions of Bowen and Horry are not what Dr. Naismith had in mind. No, the Spurs are flawed like everyone else, even if it is to a lesser degree.

They just have been too good for too long. I can't stand it. I'm jealous. I'm sick of it. There.

Immature and illogical as it is, this is a significant enough barrier to keep me stubbornly anti-Spurs. It is so strong that when Ime Udoka plays well I am launched into an unpleasant sense of moral dissonance. The combination of his very Portland background and inspiring story have made me an Ime fan for life. But I see that jersey and things get complicated.

On the other hand, we have the Lakers. Anyone concerned with being a good Blazers fan knows there is a zero tolerance rule for anything that could be construed as supporting Lakerdom (which inspired this). Hating the Lakers is part of loving the Blazers. We have gone as far as to keep deceiving ourselves that a rivalry still exists between us. I'm fairly sure a rivalry has to be acknowledged by both parties to become actual, but that would inconvenience our thoughts, so disregard that. I have been trying to exorcise this goo from my person for a couple years with very negligible success. I am starting to think this will only be achieved following self-actualization, nirvana, and some Li Mu-Bai soaring through the forest stuff.

Whether it makes sense or not, distaste for the Spurs and Lakers remains a part of my fan identity. To make things worse, my NBA addiction will not let me simply look away. This creates an interesting situation. I'm not certain I have ever watched a game where I legitimately did not feel compelled to root for one team at least a little. More and more, I get the sense that some conflictive half-formed little creature is going to crawl out of me while watching this series. Go Spurs. Go Lakers. Terrifying.

Robert Horry, we may thank you yet!

While checking out Truehoop at work today, it wasn't very surprising to see lots of outrage over the suspensions of Amare and Diaw. People are mad for a variety of reasons, but the basic undercurrent is that these suspensions just don't feel right. The biggest losers in the deal (um, after Phoenix) really could end up being fans of basketball, who might miss out on what has been a great series up to this point.

Then some ideas came to me, and since I can't openly blog at work (although I obviously manage to read blogs, I am deceptively hardworking), I wrote down some things on a post-it note:

Game 5 will begin shortly, and this new positive attitude has me even more interested in watching now. This suspension incident could ultimately just be another contributing element to a series for the ages. Amare and Diaw will be back for Game 6 (here's praying we get a 7!). I believe both teams in general are going to some how manage to play even harder than before as a result of this. I'm really hoping that Barbosa will look step up, we have yet to see some true Brasilian Blowuptuation in the playoffs. This incident could simply be marking a rivalry heading to a legendary level.

So please hoops fans, just remember not to bag on Horry or the League too hard. You may be thanking them in the long run.