If this is what it takes...

...I'll take it.

Six years ago, the Lakers beat the Kings in an incredible Game 7 of the Western Conference and then went on to beat the Nets in the NBA Finals to cap off their Three-peat. I was in Australia.

I came back to the US. The Spurs happened in 2003, some strange experiment with Shaq, Kobe, GP and the Mailman went inexplicably wrong in 2004, everything got blown up in 2005, and the 2006 and 2007 seasons were worthless.

I came back to Australia. And now this.

Now, I'm not saying I'm the reason for this, but I'm just putting it out there. And let's also not give the Lakers the title yet. But this has been fun. Yesterday, I avoided the score all day (not that hard to do when no one else in this country cares), came home with a bottle of wine and watched the game. My neighbors must think I'm out of my mind because there were noises coming from my house. Oh yes. Strange, loud noises.

Admittedly, I haven't been following this team that closely, but from afar, up until last night, I've had a tough time convincing myself that they're capable of winning the title. Maybe it's because I'm just too used to Kobe? People call him the best player in the NBA, but I see some really good players -- Lebron, KG, Chris Paul, etc -- in the league. But after last night's performance? I guess I see that he is. And I guess the Lakers are capable of winning it all.*

*All without Andrew Bynum! All without Andrew Bynum! And I'd also like to note the crazy circumstances that have created the core of the team that we're currently seeing. The Lakers traded Shaq to the Heat for Lamar Odom, Caron Butler and Brian Grant. Lamar's been huge this year, especially in tandem with Gasol. I mean, watching those two guys play off of each other has been really fun. And how did we get Gasol? Butler was spun to the Wizards for Kwame Brown, who was later traded to the Grizzlies for -- you guessed it! -- Frank Stallone. No, wait. I mean Pau Gasol. So that Shaq trade, four years after it happened, has hugely impacted the makeup of this team. Crazy.

Would it be better if I was back in the US to enjoy this? Absolutely. Just as when Jon Lester threw his no hitter the other week, there's no one here to share my excitement with. And I love being with others who get just as excited about these things as I do. But if this -- my sacrifice of being a few time zones away from the Lakers -- is what it takes, I'll take it.