A little while ago, my cell rang, and looking at the number, I knew it could only belong to one person. Jo Nisha.

I picked it up and after hearing her “hello”, my first words were, “they won, those bastards!” She immediately lamented at the fact that I had watched the game. You see, she and I are superstitious about these things. We firmly believe that we give the Lakers good luck, which in turn really makes it bad luck for us. But we figured that if I didn’t watch and she did, that they would surely lose. That combination has worked in the past.

Well, I really didn’t watch the game. I flipped to it once when there was 4 minutes left on the clock in the fourth quarter and switched it back to whatever lame WB show was on at that moment. I knew it was a close game, and whoever would win tonight was up for grabs.

When I finally did see the final score about half an hour later, I didn’t feel too disappointed. I have faith in the Kings and what they can do. I know they can do well at home, and am sure they’ll be able to knock off the Lakers. They definitely have the talent to do it. It’s just a matter of how well they’ll hold up under the pressure. The expectations are great.

Jo Nisha and I chatted only briefly. We talked about what we really wanted the most out of these playoffs, which is for the Lakers to lose this year.. this year more than any other year. Let them win the next year or even the year after that. As long as they don’t threepeat, I’ll be one happy Momopanda.

It was kind of weird talking to Jo Nisha. I actually haven’t talked to her offline since last May, when we were still living in the same apartment together. Actually, scratch that. We went to see American Pie 2 opening day. THAT was the last time we really spoke in person or on the phone. What I missed the most about living with her was the late night “basketball” conversations we would have.

It was really comforting and refreshing to know that another person hated the Lakers, and shared the same passion and love for Michael Jordan. I think we belong to an old school type of basketball fan club. Fans that really value talent over empty flashy moves and bling bling.

Back then, it felt like we were the only ones who really felt like that. But people are slowly waking up. I’m meeting more and more Laker haters, not only around the nation, but here in LA. A good majority of my co-workers are anti-Laker, and a guy selling Laker gear on the corner of Hollywood and Highland was rejected by numerous people who said plainly that they hated the Lakers.

I’m glad people are finally seeing them for the imposters they really are. It’s about damn time.