There are always debates in every realm of sports as to which city has the best and most supportive fan base. Just about every Boston fan can make a logical (and sometimes illogical) argument as to why they are at the top. Folks in New York will make a counter argument. Cities all across the country will never back down from such an argument and would do just about anything to prove their point. Well, in MOST cities anyway.
Los Angeles Laker crowds are notorious for arriving "fashionably late" to games. It doesn't matter if it's a pre-season or an NBA Finals game, Laker fans are all about style, not substance. They're almost equally infamous for being a tame crowd, picking their spots to cheer (usually when Kobe does pretty much anything). So when they were provided with free T-Shirts to show their unity and display a "gold-out" amongst the masses in support of their team, the majority of them opted out.
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Not even the Lakers can tell a fashionable Los Angeles crowd what to wear.
Most fans at Staples Center on Monday night declined to put on their giveaway gold T-shirts for Game 1 of the Western Conference finals.
The Lakers handed out thousands of shirts with their logo on the back and the slogan "Together We Are One" on the front, attempting the popular color-coordination crowd stunt performed in several arenas during the NBA and NHL playoffs.
The idea definitely isn't hip in L.A., where the crowd gave the same polite disdain to thousands of giveaway white T-shirts earlier in the playoffs.
Some fans waved the shirts like a Terrible Towel, but most stuck them underneath their seats
Perhaps if Jerry Buss respected his fans a little more he would have had the T-Shirts designed by Gucci. At least LA fans would have considered it. Plenty of franchises in the NBA have done this very promotion, typically to rally the home team for a playoff game. Even the Miami fans have embraced it and they're not exactly known as the most supportive/hardcore fans out there.
The marketing department in the Laker organization should reconsider giving anything out at this point. After all, if the "fans" are going to toss the free foam fingers onto the court and not even wear the free T-Shirts, why bother?
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