I didn’t grow up a Lakers fan.
Sure, I knew who Kobe Bryant was and I casually watched when they were in the playoffs like everyone around me seemingly did, but basketball wasn’t really my thing: I played for two years, wasn’t very good and, as a result of my lack of patience, lost interest.
On the final day of my youth basketball season, a teammate’s parent of mine graciously came up to my mom and told her that I should try out soccer. I was adamantly against it at first because I knew less about soccer than I did basketball, but eventually it became my life.