Swensday Stuff

Celtics vs. Lakers: Do We Hate Each Other?
Swen Nater

As an ex-Laker, whenever and wherever I give my S.P.O.R.T. speech, somewhere in my introduction I ask the audience, “Do we have any Celtics fans here?” Without exception, I get at least one raised hand. When I do, I say, “OK; I’ll speak a little slower then.” The reason I get laughs is because people assume there is some degree of dislike between Lakers and Celtics. Much has been written about the “hatred” both teams have for each other. From a player’s perspective, generally speaking, that’s not true.

It’s mostly the Boston and Los Angeles fans that hate each other and, therefore, hate the other’s players. This hatred was displayed after we beat the Celtics in game 1 at their arena in the 1984 finals. After we showered and got on the bus and we drove up the ramp out of the Boston Garden, fans threw tomatoes and oranges at us. It sounded like thunder and I could hear their battle cries through the glass. I don’t have anything against them and I certainly don’t hate the Celtics’ players because of those fans.

UCLA fans hate USC fans, Oregon State fans hate Oregon fans. North Carolina fans hate Duke fans. On and on it goes across the country and the world. As a player, I can’t understand how anyone can get that far out of balance. For us, the game is not a means to destroy the opponent as in war; it’s a contest to determine who has the best team that day or year. For us, a game was a competitive civil gathering of like-minded people that wanted to test their skills and teamwork to determine who was better. And when the game was over, it was over.

Kareem didn’t have a dartboard, at home, with Robert Parish’s face on it. Magic didn’t slash the tires on Larry Bird’s Pinto. And Byron Scott didn’t have a Dennis Johnson Voodoo doll.

Celtics and Lakers players don’t usually play off-season ball together, but UCLA and USC players do. And, back in the day, we did. In fact, back then, Long Beach State had a pretty good team too and almost every weekend, we would arrange to meet somewhere (so the gym rats wouldn’t find us) and play ball. To make it fun and interesting, we usually played with our teammates: school against school. When we won, I wouldn’t stand there and sing the UCLA fight song. We’d play another game.

Just sayin’

Swen