Like Fansmanship’s founders, Sabrina Haggie is from Cayucos, CA. She got the invitation of a lifetime last week and this is her account of what she did. Her interests include health and fitness and she’ll soon write a regular column on that subject that will appear on this site.

By Sabrina Haggie

It was like any other Friday afternoon until my best friend, Colin, (who lives in southern California) sent me a text message saying, “Wish you lived closer, I have tickets to the Lakers game tonight.” I get off work early on Fridays though, and I texted back. I was going to make it to this one. After scrambling to throw things together, I began the three-plus hour drive down to Los Angeles. I was so excited to be going to my first NBA game that even the LA traffic on a Friday at 5:00 couldn’t dampen my mood.

When your friend asks you to to go to a Lakers game, this isn’t exactly what you expect. By Sabrina Haggie

Screeching to a halt in my friend’s driveway at 6:45, there was only enough time to grab my purse and jump from my car into my friend’s and we were off. Colin saved the best news for the car ride, telling me that we were not only going to a Laker game but that we would be sitting courtside!

Court-side doesn’t mean just a few rows back from the court. In this case, it meant literally sitting with our feet on the court, at the edge of the Lakers bench! When we arrived at the Staples Center, we were escorted to a back entrance where we used our parking pass for VIP only. We had the car valeted and it was parked among the Lamborghinis, Ferraris and Bentleys. Waiting in line to get into the Staples Center was the first time I held the ticket that said Court Seat, listing the cost at $2,750.  In pure shock and excitement, I just looked around and absorbed everything. Once inside, we walked downstairs instead of following the crowd upstairs.  Weaving through a maze of corridors, riddled with security guards to check our ticket at every turn, we made our way to the court.

When Kobe told center Robert Sacre what to do, apparently Sacre listened. By Sabrina Haggie

The second I walked into the powerful lights of the Staples Center, I was awestruck.  The thrill of walking in front of everyone and sitting at the end of the Laker bench was indescribable. Once I sat down, I was looking everywhere, at the players on the court within touching distance, at the various celebrities strewn in with the crowd and finally looked down the Laker bench only to see Kobe Bryant sitting three seats away from me.  I literally hit Colin on the arm and said “Holy —(curse word), Kobe Bryant!”  Feeling a little embarrassed for my brassiness, I sat back in my extremely padded chair and started taking pictures. A lot of pictures. And video. I probably spent more time capturing the moment then taking a moment to enjoy it.

The game was wonderful — watching Kobe give advice from the bench is something you don’t see on TV. I witnessed him giving some sort of signal to center Robert Sacre. The next thing I know, Sacre scores at the other end of the court. Later, Kobe was giving Wesley Johnson tips which he then used to beat the defensive coverage and have an incredible game. The game ended when Jodie Meeks passed to Kendall Marshall for a final layup at the buzzer. The Lakers won 110-99, beating the Utah Jazz. The best part of the entire thing was Kobe Bryant coming up to us, shaking our hands and saying, “thanks for coming guys,” then I high fived the entire Laker team, including the coaches. True story.

Best. Night. Ever.

When a list is made of all-time great players, placement of Pippen’s name will vary more than any other player. He won six championships, was a seven-time all star, a ten-time all defensive player, a member of the Dream Team, and was a Top-50 player of all-time.

He also won all his championships alongside Number 23 and with Phil on the bench.

In his post-Bulls and post-Jordan days, Pippen did have success. His Trail Blazers gave him his best chance at a title in 2000, but the Shaq-led Lakers were on their way to a title via an alley-oop from Kobe.

Following his first three championships, all of which came next to Shaq, Kobe critics called him the “next Pippen.” Nobody out-shined Shaq on the Lakers, and naysayers said Kobe couldn’t win a championship as the biggest star on his team. They said Kobe wasn’t a good teammate and couldn’t lead despite his remarkable talent.

For a few years in the middle of the last decade, the criticisms of Kobe seemed legit. It seemed like he might be the next Pippen — a star who never was able to do it without a brighter star. A “Robin.”

Late in Pippen’s career, as his skills declined, his place was as a mentor for a young Portland team that became known as the “Jail Blazers.”

For Kobe, it was the opposite. While his skills and mentality are clearly better than Pippen’s ever were, Kobe also proved over the past few years that he can be “the man” on a championship team. Where Pippen couldn’t rise above the chaos, Kobe willed his way to dominance.

The Pippen-Kobe comparison, or “experiment,” isn’t a great one to begin with. Kobe’s organization has made great personnel decisions while the Jail Blazers have struggled through the past decade despite some decent talent.

While Kobe put the Pippen comparisons to rest, the point is this: anytime a player is seen as “needing” other players to win and not being able to win “all by themselves,” their image is tarnished in the public eye. Writers and pundits talk about players who are dominant personalities on the court, and that is truly where players like Jordan, Kobe, and Shaq separate themselves from players like Scottie Pippen.

With players like Kobe to compare to, it’s clear what Pippen was and what he wasn’t. He was a great defender. He was an amazing second-option offensively to a player who might have been the greatest ever. He was a small-college draft pick who made it big in the NBA, but who never seemed to have the personality to change teammates’ behavior—it was always Jordan who did that on the Bulls, and Pippen couldn’t change the crash-course the Blazers were on before that plane crashed into the mountain.

Pippen was physical grace embodied. Kobe is raw drive personified.  Pippen was a key puzzle piece on six championship teams. Kobe has grown and changed his game to win five titles. Pippen was a seven-time all-star and eight-time All Defensive First-Team selection. Kobe has been to 13 All-Star Games and is a ten-time All Defensive First-Team selection.

Really though, all you need to know about where Scottie Pippen will go down in history in relation to other players is this: when it’s all said and done, Scottie Pippen will have a bust placed somewhere in the United Center. Kobe will have a full statue outside of Staples Center next to Magic Johnson, Chick Hearn, Wayne Gretzky, and Oscar De La Hoya. Enough said.