LA Lakers

When I went to that UCSB happy hour in early November, I was talking a few people, one of whom said that he was the president of the LA Lakers Fan Club in New York City. I laughed and I laughed... until he pulled out his business card for exactly this position and then I shut my mouth. Oops.

So I finally made it to one of the get-togethers last night, which is naturally at a sports bar watching their games, yesterday against the Houston Rockets at an Irish pub in Midtown West. It was pretty fun, and I met a few people (one girl, from the High Desert, had all her best friends study at UC Riverside, so she spends most of her time in Riverside when she goes back to California now. What a nice girl!) and there were even some people from New York who supported the Lakers. I had to refrain from asking stupid questions, because I really don't know anything about basketball, and my Lakers knowledge peaked around 2002 when they were in the midst of their threepeat and I was hanging out with Mat and Ryan a lot who were obsessed and I absorbed all the stats and deferentials from them. So honestly, as far as I knew, the team was still the likes of O'Neal, Bryant, Fisher, Fox, Horry, Madsen, Shaw, and Walker. And I still thought that Vlade Divac and Mike Bibby were playing for the Sacramento Kings. So I bonded more over Los Angeles than the Lakers themselves. But I still support them.

The president (the UCSB alum) does really well at managing the group, and always changes the bars so that they cater to the group and give us killer specials. See how nice they were? And on my walk to the train I went up Fifth Avenue, and though I was further south than where all the main Christmas displays are, I passed Lord & Taylor who had a few... okay displays.

Not the best, but still cheery and fun to look at. I love Christmastime in the city!