I despise the Los Angeles Lakers.
It’s really only Kobe Bryant that I detest, but by association, his teammates suffer incidental ricochet from my misdirected rounds of Kobe-hating ammunition.
In saying that, my passionate hatred of Bryant has nothing to do with why the Lakers aren’t fit to be called the 2010 World Champions. Nor am I disputing the fact that the Lakers beat the Celtics fair and square.
The reason the Lakers should be stripped of their title as 2010 World Champions is because they haven’t earned it.
Don’t get me wrong; I’m happy to crown them the 2010 NBA Champions. I’ll even let them be labelled the 2010 North-American Champions, as it can’t be refuted that they beat the Toronto Raptors (the best Canadian team) on their way to the NBA title.
However…
Until they beat every other team on the planet Earth, the Lakers can not be called World Champions.
I’ll concede that the Lakers would probably be victorious if a world club championship were held this year. I imagine they would beat all the best club teams in the world and would, in fact, become legitimate World Champions. If they were to win however, they would have to beat teams like Regal FC Barcelona, Olympiacos, CSKA Moscow, Efes Pilsen, the Guangdong Southern Tigers, and the Perth Wildcats along the way.
As one of the billions of international fans of the NBA, I am bewildered at the brashness of teams labelling themselves "World Champions" after winning a national competition. The title "World Champions" suggests a long, drawn-out battle for world-wide supremacy, with every nation jetting its hopeful team from one country to the next in a bid for unsurpassed glory.
No Sir, the Lakers are not the current World Champions.
That claim to fam...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Los Angeles Lakers
