Amen, Astro. And earlier I really should have written "CP can play and win with anyone, because he has an even better ability to make any teammate a better player," not "he has the ability." Kobe is an excellent teammate, too, but Chris is really an absolutely unique talent. The fact that he's a normal-size person makes it that much easier to identify with him, plus which he rates A-plus as a citizen, role model, and all-around nice guy.

I've always rooted against Los Angeles teams while liking and admiring many of the players on those teams. I suppose this attitude dates back to my early childhood days and my dad's influence as a NY Giants baseball fan who "hated" the Dodgers while having nothing but admiration for Jackie Robinson, Pee Wee Reese, Gil Hodges and the rest of those "Boys of Summer." (Of course, we really hated the Dodgers' owner for abandoning New York for California and more-or-less forcing "our" Giants to tag along and move to the second-choice West Coast city after LA, the smaller but infinitely more charming and cosmopolitan San Francisco.)

And as far as the Lakers are concerned, I've been a big fan of Jerry West and Elgin Baylor, Kareem and Magic, and many more of those great players who performed for a city and a franchise I almost always rooted against.

And then there's Phil Jackson, a special favorite of mine from his playing days with the Knicks, the brainiest and hippest guy in professional sports. If he hadn't been a big favorite of mine already, he really sealed the deal for me in the summer of '71 when he picked me up hitchhiking in the mountains above Aspen. CO.

And finally, there's young Bynum, who's from my own high school for cryin out loud!

Of course, now more than ever, like 'em personally or not, I'll be rooting hard for the Lakers, and/or whoever stands in the Hornets' way, to LOSE!