Jerry West Says Lakers Fans Are Crap

[FireDavidKahn]

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/eye-on-...an-lakers-fans

Golden State Warriors executive and former Lakers legend Jerry West is doing the rounds as part of a promotional tour for MyAFibRisk.com to raise awareness for stroke prevention. He stopped by The Jim Rome Show earlier this week. In the interview he touched on the experience of winning the title with the Warriors, glanced over the "luck" question about the Clippers, mostly by praising how good the Clippers along with the rest of the West and talked about the Lamar Odom situation.

Rome asked West whether Warriors fans were the same, different, or "frankly better" than the notoriously huge Lakers fan base, and West did not hesitate in the slightest to confirm that the Roaracle blows Staples away.

"Oh, much better than LA fans, OK? They don't ever leave the game," West said. "Once we moved into Staples Center, our fan base changed, I thought. It's a completely different kind of fan than Los Angeles. Los Angeles has a lot of corporate fans there, whole different people sat in different seats. You can go up to Oracle right now and you'll see the same fans in the same seats every night. The fans in Los Angeles are great, but I've never seen fans like this here."

The Lakers' fan base is massive, but that's also been built on the backs of championship contention for much of the past 40-plus years. The Warriors could be building a dynasty in a huge market, and they will unquestionably become one of the most popular teams not only in California, but across the country with their style of play and likable stars.

Staples Center is well known for being exceptionally empty early in games, something always chalked up to traffic issues. It's a celebrity hotspot, and as such the prices for tickets are always crazy. During the Conference Finals last year, I spoke with several lower-bowl season-ticket holders whose tickets had been in the family since the 70s. There are great Lakers fans, as you would expect with a team with that much success, and a lot of bandwagoners, again, as you would expect.

It'll be interesting to see how the atmosphere and fans at Warriors games changes when the team makes a similar move to San Francisco. You can see many long-term fans getting priced out or unable to make the trek across the Bay every night. For now, however, it's pretty clear that the Warriors enjoy the best fan experience in the league.

[Legends66NBA7]

This happens with every team, including the Warriors.

[catch24]

"The fans in Los Angeles are great, but I've never seen fans like this here."

Right in the link you posted. And I would agree, GS has some of the greatest fans in sports.

[DoctorP]

**** your clickbait.

I did like the article, though.

[ClipperRevival]

West is right. But I can tell you that LA has more die hard fans than any other team. The Lakers absolutely RULE the LA sports market, no other team in any sport comes close. And another reason why the Staples crowd isn't as loud is because as the article stated, a lot of the people sitting in the lower bowl are celebrity/rich type people who sometimes go there for reasons other than to enjoy the game. But like I said, LA is Laker county and has been for decades. People who don't live here don't get it but the people who have, know what's up. People love the Lakers with a passion around here, not just bandwagon fans.

[imnew09]

Reported for misleading and being a fken dumb a$$ who cant read for sh**

[ClipperRevival]

Also, like Knick fans, LA fans are very knowledgeable about the game. A lot of them have been following the team for decades.

[WayOfWade]

I feel like LA fans in general get a bad rep for all their idiot fans but not enough praise for their good ones. I would say that they have more bad fans than any other fanbase, but there are many good ones in there as well that are good people. On this forum that's pretty hard to find, but in real life it isn't, as a matter of fact I met a good Lakers fan just 45 minutes ago.

[ClipperRevival]

To me, Miami fans are the epitome of bandwagon fans (no disrespect to the die hard ones). Their "Let's Go Heat" chant makes me cringe. And like some LA fans, a lot of the fans in the lower bowl seem to be there just for show. And the way they left early in the finals?

Fans of small city teams, who don't have much going on in that region for entertainment, are usually the most dedicated. Like Utah, Portland, OKC, etc.

[L8krH8tr]

its really just a bunch of mexicans/asians who are the real fans.. All the wannabe hollywood cool people just show up with some fake tit chick on their side and check their smart phone the whole time with their head down.

the biggest bandwagon franchise in sports

[qrich]

Corporate seats are crap.

I went to a game with friends, sat in the 100s, and we were on our feet near the end of the half, and "fans" complained that we were being too rowdy. .

Laker fans are in the 300s, rest is corporate filler.

[Mr. Jabbar]

Team Hollywood making ppl jelly (op) again. 1st sign our future is fkn BRIGHT!

[Raymone]

Direct quote in your quote:

The fans in Los Angeles are great

[IGOTGAME]

If I ever got really rich I'd buy 100 tickets to every Lakers home game and give them out to real laker fans. People who be there for the game and enjoy it. I hate that the prices are so damn high and the people in those seats usually don't know anything about the game.

[West-Side]

Please people don't confuse us fans with all the celebrities that go to the games.

Those people make us look bad.