‘The Lakers - Circa 1987′ (Andrew Bernstein - NBAE/Getty Images)

My better half, Kurt, loves the Lakers. I am ashamed to say. He has been a fan since before we were married. He cheers for Utah in every game of every season but when it comes to the Lakers, his loyalties are divided. In all honestly, it is very very difficult not to respect the Lakers. They have a fabulous record, big name superstars, fans that make more money than they do. I like to argue with Kurt that it sure is interesting what can be done with a BIG CHECKBOOK. Doing what Utah does each year while staying WITHIN the salary cap, now THAT’s an accomplishment! Regardless of where your loyalties lie, it’s always intersting to learn a little about the competition.

The Los Angeles Lakers hold one of the best all time records of any NBA team. Originally the Lakers were from Detroit and the name was the “Detroit Gems”. They then moved to Minneapolis where they were named based on the state’s nickname of ‘Land of 10,000 Lakes”. The Lakers arrived in Los Angeles in 1960 and have been there ever since.

I am not going to list the seemingly unending stream of names of awesome players who have played for the Lakers. Suffice it to say there are many. Even the coaching roster is full of names we know and love. And, yes, as we are all acutely aware, they have won many NBA Titles (15 total but who’s counting?).

Another well known fact about the Lakers is that they claim some pretty big names as fans. Hollywood is just around the corner and many big actors/actresses and other “stars” can be seen at the Laker games.

The Lakers enjoy an almost new arena built in 1999 named the “Staples Center”. This replaced “The Forum” which was their arena from 1967 to 1999. I can’t vouch for this fact, but I’m sure that getting fans in the seats is not an issue for them!

I’d love to find something wrong with the franchise. I could go on endlessly about why I hate DISLIKE some players (past and present, i.e. Kobe) but you can’t argue with success. Nothing would make me more happy as a Jazz fan than feeding those Lakers some humble pie. And, I wouldn’t mind dishing some of that up to my husband either. Here’s to the Jazz, may they swim through the Lakers and come out victorious!