Everyone knows that the Lakers are THE team in LA, but back when I was growing up in Long Beach in the 90s, being a Laker or Clipper fan wasn't quite the either/or proposition it is today, mostly cause the Clippers were so goddamn terrible. And I've definitely followed the Clippers for a long time, I could actually go to their games cause I could actually afford them, I used to see them around cause both my dad and I played rec league ball where they practiced (which was at the time at Veteran's Park in Carson, close to where I grew up), and I remember watching those awesome Lawler/Walton broadcasts during the Lamond Murray days.

But I definitely enjoyed those Eddie Jones/Nick Van Exel Lakers, right up around the Shaq threepeat (I realize this makes me sound like a total Lakers hipster). Sometime around then though, my quiet Laker fandom turned into mostly indifference. I'm not sure if it's cause I got tired of the Shaq/Kobe melodrama, or watched my out of town friends in college jump on the bandwagon and ride way harder than I ever did, or just got used to message board/sports radio culture, but I watch Laker games with the indifference I'd watch, say a Bulls game now. I might laugh a bit at the schadenfreude of their season this year, but I ain't here to pile on, and I'll defend dudes like Pau or Odom when I think Laker fans are going too hard. I enjoy talking ball with some of the Laker fans I know personally but I ain't going to no victory parade.

The USC thing is easier to explain. I always leaned UCLA cause I liked the O'Bannons and JJ Stokes and Tommy Maddox, but I didn't have any real ties to either school growing up, so I liked seeing USC do good too. Once I went to UCLA that was a wrap, though I don't really have any hate towards USC except when we play them or I sense they might win a championship.