Free Ballin’

People are too concerned about the accuracy of their sports predictions.  Predicting what you feel most likely to occur is a perfectly reasonable thing to do if you’re a necessarily disinterested party, like a journalist, or have a stake in the outcome, like degenerate gamblers.  But otherwise, the only benefit of being right is say, “Ah ha! I was right!”  I won’t deny there’s a certain pleasure in being right for its own sake, but there are greater pleasures, and rooting against the Lakers is one of them.

It doesn’t mean I’m rooting for something entirely implausible; there are plenty of reasons that the Magic could beat the Lakers.  Kobe could choose to have surgery on that poor injured finger of his, tonight, and miss the rest of the Finals, for example.  More likely, Pau Gasol could play like cotton candy; Odom could disappear for a few games; the Lakers could shoot poorly from 3; the Magic could shoot well enough (often enough) to give Howard some space, so he could get more touches in or near the paint; Orlando’s defense could improve to regular season level.  No, it’s not a yoga stretch to see Orlando winning (though winning in 6 is, but whatever,) but yeah, it’s more likely the Lakers will win.

But there are so many reasons to root against the Lakers.  I won’t go into them all here, because I have to run, but Kobe being less likable than Barry Bonds (though not Roger Clemens) is enough.  Add the nauseating adoration showered upon Phil Jackson, from every television commentator and most sports writers, and Dwight Howard dressing up like Shonuff, and there’s really no question who should win the NBA Championship in a good and just world.  It’s been a crappy year for the world; it would be nice for the Lakers to lose…er, for the Magic to win.