Grandma and Basketball

The other day I was chatting with my grandma. Real chat. Telephone chat. Not that computer stuff that passes for conversation these days.

Anyway, I asked her what she was doing, and she said she was watching the basketball game on tv. And as she watched it, part of her imagined that her grandkids were probably parked in front of the tv watching the same game. After all, we were the ones that introduced her to the joys of the NBA.

Anyway, she likes watching the game for the action, but she can't really speak to strategy or anything else. She can only name three players in the NBA. One, Yao Ming. Every Chinese person in the world seems to know that name. Two, Shaq. Three, Kobe.

It's my fault. At home down in LA watching TV with her, I pointed out the big guy and said that's Shaq. I also pointed out Kobe and said, his dad played in Japan and named him Kobe for Kobe beef. She immediately corrected by pronnounciation. It sounds like Kobay, not Kobee.

She was very disappointed when the rape story broke. (Yes, I meant rape, and not alleged rape.) She said, "That guy has embarassed his family for generations to come."

Okay, here's the thing that's bothering me about all of this. I was in LA and I was watching the only thing on TV with my Grandma. Now she's probably under the mistaken impression that I'm actually a Lakers fan. Argh.