Kings vs US-team - Where you place the loyalty?

by KingsFanfromCentralEurope on Aug 22, 2008 10:20 AM PDT

As a non-US Kings fan, I just wanted to ask you how you feel about the US basketball team. It has not been discussed here too much (so I hopeit is not a sensitive issue), but I would be interested in the cultural/individual forms of club/national attitudes.

What I mean is that here in Europe, most of the people are really interested in how national squads do in international competitions, particularly in popular sports, although they do not care about sport otherwise. However, it is quite usual that the hard-core fans would ignore or even boycott and stand against their national squads if it includes players they dislike or it is based around their rivals. In short, for the most loyal fans, the club is much more than the national team.

Therefore I was wondering what is the situation at the Kings' hard core, whether those two attitutes can co-exist, whether you actually care for national team or whether to root for Kobe Bryant no matter what jersey he wears you find to be simply immoral... Thanks for answers

(This is a FanPost from a member of the Sactown Royalty community. The views expressed come from the member, and not Sactown Royalty staff.)

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Comments

very good question

as a loyal Kings fan, I will never cheer for Kobe Bryant as an individual. I will never cheer for an NBA team that he is on either. But as I want that Gold for team USA I can’t help but hope one of his MANY forced shots go in. I am a Huge LeBron fan also so to see that he is doing better than kobe in pretty much everything statistically makes it okay for me to want kobe to do good(lol.) I would feel pretty anti-american to not cheer for the USA team just because kobe is on it, but the fact that LeBron and many of my favorite NBA players are on the team make it much easier to cheer for a team with Kobe on it. Very nice post though

by Caliballer91 on Aug 22, 2008 11:33 AM PDT reply actions

i tend to agree

even if the US Olympic team were filled with Kings rival players, Olympic competition is not NBA competition, so i consider it completely different in my head.

to be honest, the thought never even crossed my mind….its interesting that it seems so different in your part of the world.

by sactoreg on Aug 22, 2008 12:01 PM PDT reply actions

yeah

I love watching the national team and I am definitely pulling for them to win gold. I have no qualms about rooting for any player on the national team, regardless of his club affiliation. As Caliballer noted, I cringe at watching some of Kobe’s forced shots, but that’s a basketball issue, not a loyalty issue.

I think Kobe is a crazy sociopath and I will never root for him in the NBA, but if he is taking the game-winning shot for the U.S., I’m using all of my psychic basketball fan powers to help guide it through the net.

by furious.d on Aug 22, 2008 12:10 PM PDT reply actions

I'm rooting for the Americans to win the gold -

Followed by Kobe proclaiming that it is the zenith of his career and abruptly announcing his retirement.

In a related fantasy, K9(woof!) defects!

SACTOWN ROYALTY - Try our thick creamy shakes!

by section214 on Aug 22, 2008 12:35 PM PDT reply actions

If only...

Kobe retires, K9 (woof!) walks away from all his “sitting on the bench money.” Nice.

by the3rdK-Mart on Aug 22, 2008 1:37 PM PDT up reply actions

I root for the US to win

while criticizing nearly everything Kobe does, along the way.

Ball movement ... is like jogging for most people: They do it occasionally, and it makes them happy. Then they go back to not doing it. - Henry Abbott

by Kfan in Korea on Aug 22, 2008 1:54 PM PDT reply actions

I am a psychopath team USA fan

I’ve got alot of international friends, and these Olympics have involved lots and lots of shit talking. The China-USA game resulted in me sitting in the middle of a sea of ten chinese nationals and five former nationals (all my friends), cursing, cracking up, and being an obnoxious bigoted jerk (including doing every single type of mispronounciation of Yi Jianlians name… boy did that piss them off).
If Kings players were involved, I’d root harder for the player, but I consider international competiition different from NBA competition, so I always support Team USA.

Donte? Donte'! Donté?!?!
'spect da 'xtra E'

by iashwash on Aug 22, 2008 4:55 PM PDT reply actions

I'm not interested that much in the national team winning...

…I’m more-so interested in the talent level of these athletes. I look at it as an entertaining thing to watch. It’s kind of like watching the NBA All-Star game, except that they’re all on one team, not two.

by CloudyEyes on Aug 22, 2008 7:37 PM PDT reply actions

i'm rooting against team USA

Mainly because they are the favourite but also because I have a bet running with my friend (they have to lose a game for me to win), so I’m pretty bummed right now.
Too bad Manu got hurt yesterday, it could have been a helluva game with him playing.
side note:
I can’t understand how come no team in the nba offered delfino the MLE. He’s definitely a 30 mpg guy in this league (either as a starter or a 6th man), and he will be playing next 3 years in Russia at bargain price (8,5 mln euro for 3 years). shame on you nba, shame on you.

http://pl.youtube.com/watch?v=Gd2—een7SI

by cwebb on Aug 23, 2008 4:50 AM PDT reply actions

something different

As a Non-US citizen this is a different position….

I’m Greek, I like the Greek team, but every day for the past 10 years I’ve been reading and watching only NBA. I can’t help feeling more connected to the NBA players than the Greek ones. So my support goes to the USA most of all and then to Greece. And I don’t mind whether its Kobe or anyone else. GO USA!

by ZenBaller on Aug 23, 2008 6:35 AM PDT reply actions