Few NBA teams have as many soccer fans on their roster as the Lakers.
Here’s the short list:
- Kobe Bryant loves the game he grew up playing in Italy, and still follows international and club soccer closely. The world’s best basketball player has soccer skills, too.
- Pau Gasol is from Barcelona, Spain, home to some of the world’s greatest players and one of the world’s best club teams (FC Barcelona, also Kobe’s favorite squad).
- Sasha Vujacic played soccer in his native Slovenia and while playing professional basketball in Italy as a teenager.
- Adam Morrison is possibly the NBA’s best FIFA 2010 (video game) player, while Jordan Farmar and Luke Walton aren’t far behind. The three are occasionally joined by Lamar Odom four two-on-two games of FIFA on the team plane.
There are plenty of soccer players that are big fans of the Lakers as well, including respective stars of L.A.’s two Major League Soccer clubs: David Beckham (L.A. Galaxy) and Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA). Both players attended Friday evening’s Lakers loss to the Mavericks, and are bracing for a big L.A. soccer showdown on Sunday afternoon (2 p.m., Galaxy @ Chivas USA on ESPN2).
This in mind, we spent some time chatting with Bornstein about how Kobe’s soccer skills help his hoops game, the massive goal the defender scored to send the USA to the World Cup and how it’s made him a hero in Honduras (the Honduran President called him).
Bornstein, a big Lakers fan who grew up in Torrance, CA (before moving to Los Alamitos in Orange County) and starred at UCLA, sat down with us at halftime. Here’s a transcription of our conversation:
MT: So when you sit here and watch Kobe, do you recognize how some of his body movement is similar that which you might see on the soccer field?
Bornstein: Oh yeah, whenever I watch Kobe, he’s more free flowing than many of the other players. He moves around the court very similar to how you react when you’re on the soccer field. You also see that with Steve Nash, another player who’s very interested in soccer and grew up with a soccer mentality. They incorporate that into their basketball game and obviously they’re really great players.
MT: And I suppose it goes the other way with you and your USA National Team teammates, who often have an edge athletically on other countries as many Americans played other sports - like basketball - growing up?
Bornstein: I completely agree with that. I played every sport growing up - baseball, basketball, football, soccer. My body type was such that I fit into soccer the best. I’m obviously not that tall (about 5-9 and 1/2) but I can dunk a tennis ball.
MT: I know Kobe’s been to a few Galaxy games…
Bornstein: Yeah, he’s friends with David Beckham and Beckham’s coming to America has brought out a couple of big time athletes in other sports, but it would be amazing to see Kobe come to a Chivas game wearing Chivas gear. I think it’s great when other sports support each other in the same city; I try to go to as many Dodgers and Lakers games as I can. We all are competing for the same goal - to win championships.
MT: I know that everybody’s excited for the coming World Cup this summer in South Africa, particularly with the full coverage on ESPN and ABC all in HD…
Bornstein: Definitely. ESPN coming in is huge for soccer, and we’re already seeing more and more highlights on SportsCenter, which may show that there are more and more fans in America. The World Cup can only keep that going.
Continue reading ‘Talking Soccer At STAPLES Center’
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