30 Day Baseball Card Challenge

Wednesday, April 13, 2016

End of an Era


After years of being a diehard Los Angeles Lakers fan... I started to lose interest in basketball during the Gasol years.  The idea of buying NBA titles sort of left a sour taste in my mouth.  Plus dropping basketball from my radar freed up time for baseball, football, and hockey.


But tonight I'm going to hop off the wagon for one evening and watch Kobe Bryant's final NBA game.


When it comes to #24... it seems like you either love him or hate him..  Me?  I've always admired his passion and the way he approached the game.  On any given evening, he gave his franchise, his teammates, and his fans 100%.... and expected the same in return.


I don't really miss basketball... but there's a part of me that's going to miss The Black Mamba.


Happy Wednesday and sayonara!

7 comments:

Matt said...

I feel the same way about basketball as a Knicks fan. After 1999 ended, I was done. The game wasn't the same to watch. But I will miss Kobe even though his impact on the court hasn't been the same the last few years.Love that Ex card!

The Lost Collector said...

Sweet auto!

Tony L. said...

I jettisoned the NBA from my life in the mid-1990s. As a Milwaukee Bucks fan, that was basically about the time that they stopped being relevant (if not even a bit earlier than that). I"m pretty good with that decision.

I still follow Vanderbilt's results in college basketball, but it's a rare day that I watch a game.

Kobe is one of the best ever, but he is such a polarizing figure too. I'm happy for him that he got to go out with a huge game.

BobWalkthePlank said...

I'm a diehard college basketball fan. I have had season tickets to WVU basketball every year since I graduated in 2005. I'm still waiting for WVU to produce a high caliber NBA player so I can shift my allegiance to that team. As of now I don't pay too much attention and consider myself a free agent with my fandom.

Fuji said...

sport card collectors - man after watching last night's game... i actually laid in bed debating whether or not i'd jump back on the b-ball train. it's a great time, because the Lakers are really at one of their lowest points in franchise history.

the lost collector - thanks. i really wanted an on-card autograph of his and this is actually one of his cheaper autographs out there.

tony l. - i love march madness and enjoy following it when there are local teams in the pool... but outside of that, i think i'd rather watch my students play

matthew scott - congratulations on the success of wvu this season. overtime i saw their boxscores i thought of you.

cardstacks said...

Sweet cards and two great games last night. Current cards aren't as exciting to me with Panini's exclusive NBA license. Card-wise and overall, the 90s were my favorite time for the NBA. However between young stars like Curry, Davis, Westbrook, Durant, Harden, Leonard and the older stars like Lebron, Wade, Paul, and even a generation you could say before that wrapping up their careers like Garnett, Kobe, Duncan... it's an exciting time for the NBA. A Spurs/Warriors playoff series will be must-watch.

Fuji said...

A few years ago... I was actually transitioning into a Warriors fan. They're local and had struggled for decades... but had a lot of character during the Run TMC years. Sadly... their stock rose way too fast and I couldn't bare to jump on that bandwagon.

It's actually a great time for me to rekindle my love for the Lakers right now because they've pretty much hit rock bottom. I'm going to quietly root for them... but not sure if I'll actually dive into collecting basketball anymore.

As for the Lakers... I'm very happy for them and their fanbase. They're bringing a lot of energy to the Bay Area.