The evolution of sports hatred

From TNC, a good insight:

Jim Johnson died a couple weeks ago. For those that don't know, he was the defensive coordinator for the Eagles, and for my money, the best in the league over the past five years or so. I hated Johnson. Arguably no man ruined more Sundays for me over the past decade.

The thing I love about sports, though, is there's always this moment when hatred transitions into respect.

For me, this is exactly what happened with Michael Jordan. I hated Jordan all through the 90s for what he and his Bulls did to the Lakers in 1991*, and also just generally because he won every damn title. I rooted against the Bulls every year, and was glad when the Rockets were able to take back-to-back titles during Jordan's first retirement.

But of course, after that dynasty ended, and the Shaq-Kobe era began, the hatred turned into respect, and I acknowledge him as the greatest to play the game. I even own Jordan to the Max, and am seriously considering getting a pair of Jordans, if I can find any that aren't too horribly expensive.



*This was the year I became cognizant of sports--a heartbreaking year for LA fans, it would turn out, as the Lakers lost the championship and then Magic announced he had HIV. Meanwhile, the Dodgers missed the playoffs by one friggin' game. And both teams proceeded to suck balls for basically the rest of the decade. This all goes a long way towards explaining why my favorite Laker ever is Sedale Threat, and my favorite Dodger is Brett Butler. (I wasn't really into hockey, but it didn't help that that Montreal beat the Kings for the Stanley Cup in like 1991 or 1992. Which reminds me: Marian's mother was telling me that one time not too long ago she randomly ended up eating lunch with Marty McSorely. But I digress...)