I think to anyone my age (27 - still young, but not that young) and younger, especially if you're just a casual fan, this matchup just doesn't have the same cachet. The "big team" of my youth was the Jordan era Bulls, which dominated both the Celtics and the Lakers and took their mantles of league dominance away (briefly, for the Lakers, for quite a long while for the Celtics). The renewal of the rivalry certainly matters, but I'm not sure if it matters as much as the sportswriters make it out to - it may well be that the new / returning fans they're expecting to draw just don't feel this to be as compelling of a storyline as they expect it to be.

Not me.  I was hoping my Cleveland Cavaliers would make it, but not quite.  LeBron James is likely destined to be the next Michael Jordan, but the team isn't going to survive just on the strength of him.  Zydrunas Ilgauskus is good, and lives right in my neighborhood, but at the ripe old age of 33 (today is his birthday, BTW), he's no spring chicken any longer, and the knees on a 7'3" man don't hold out forever.  Varejao has been a pain in the ass.  Several others are OK, but also getting (for a basketball player) pretty old.  I think it's going to take a couple of years before the team has another chance.

there's only one way to find out...

Woohoo! Screw you Lakers!

It is easy to buy small plaster models of what you think life is like.

The whining of Laker fans...I'm surrounded by the most beautiful music.

It is easy to buy small plaster models of what you think life is like.