KB8 Blog: The Long Road Ahead

It seemed like any normal Sunday night game at Staples. The Lakers were pulling ahead, the crowd was into it, and the winning mindset was about to grow even larger with yet another victory for the surprisingly surging team.

And then, it happened.

Within the blink of an eye, the heart of Laker nation seemed to be ripped out of the fanbase’s chest. The crowd stopped, time stood still, and the face of the future had a look of pain and misery that could be symbolic for the long road ahead. The devastating injury to one of the up-and-coming players in the league is going to dramatically change the way the entire conference looks by the time he returns. If Duncan went out, the same thing would happen for the Spurs, and while it’s unfortunate when any great player takes an injury-ridden sabbatical from the game, the fact that this statement is true is good reason to believe we have ourselves a winner. Following the victorious effort against the Seattle Supersonics, Kobe Bryant, once the man who wanted to “ship his *** out”, praised the youngster for making the Lakers a bona fide championship contender.

The word savior has been thrown around when talking about Bynum, and I feel that there is no better way to describe him. His play has not only made the most respected franchise in the history of the game relevant again, he has also helped secure Bryant’s future with the franchise that he should retire with. That in itself saved the franchise when all looked lost only a few months ago. If there was ever a time to give the front office credit for how they’ve handled things, now is the time. Jim Buss, once considered the biggest idiot in the world by Laker fans, now has made virtually everyone look like a fool. The same goes for Mitch Kupchak, the man who stuck to his guns and didn’t panic during a tumultuous off-season.

While the MRI showed that not all is lost, any fan cannot help but feel cheated. The taste of success is a sweet one, and during the moment when we finally sat in the drivers seat of the elite for the first time in years, the road ahead of us suddenly looked as if it was going to make our journey much longer than expected. However, we should be fortunate that the result wasn’t a season ending one, and while the road will be a little rocky for the next few miles, it’s assuring to know that the bad route will come to an end and a smooth drive will once again be in our sights.