Flying anywhere during the holiday season is a trial in patience.
Include a cat and you’re asking for fun. I know I was. I placed my cat – his legs and arms flying in all directions – in a black mesh bag prior to leaving. I arrived at the airport to go home and naturally, they ask me to remove the cat from the bag, then take him through security.
Just what I need, I’m thinking, a terrified cat leaping from my arms and running around the Eugene airport. Thankfully, he stayed put in my arms, and went immediately back in his bag.
Over Christmas break, I flew home to Southern California, with my gray cat, Storm, in tow (He also had come back last summer). He had moved up to Eugene with me when I transferred to the Oregon in fall 2005. His return to where he spent the majority of his life is akin to Phil Jackson leaving the Los Angeles Lakers and returning a season later – something I never thought would happen, but did.
My parents have two small dogs, Kelsey, a mix of Jack Russell, Dachshund and others. Her uncle, Kobe, is the color of a basketball and is named after you-know-who. I have often thought a more accurate nickname for my gray-haired feline would have been Shaq.
The two – Kobe and Storm – barely managed to co-exist in the same household. Storm often tempted the dogs, running from one high location to another.
Everyday, as if by schedule, Kobe would chase Storm around the house at dinner time. The cat hisses back – hollow threats he could never follow through on. This once-potent tandem, always good for nightly entertainment, lost momentum as Storm grew older.
Now in his teens, the once-limber cat finds more enjoyment sleeping in my closet.
Once I had completed my two years of community college, the decision was made – it was time for a split. He enjoys a solitary life in my apartment. My parents have peace.
I ended up with a cat that is scared of every other living soul and had a habit of wiping his behind on the carpet – a habit, thankfully, he’s broken.
In a way, the attitude Kobe and Storm had toward each other shares similarity with the real-life relationship between Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal. The pair has for all their brilliance, and three titles attest to that, struggled to peacefully co-exist.
A lifelong Lakers fan, I was stunned when Los Angeles split up the duo and shipped O’Neal to Miami. I glanced at the players coming back – Caron Butler, Brian Grant and Lamar Odom – and thought Miami had a steal.
Miami initially benefited and won the championship in 2005-06. As two seasons have passed and O’Neal has aged, it has become increasingly clear that the Lakers gained the better end of the blockbuster deal.
Odom and Bryant are arguably in the primes of their careers. Surrounded by a young supporting cast, and a future All-Star center in Andrew Bynum, the two are helping Los Angeles put together a legitimate contender in the challenging Western Conference.
O’Neal is injured, a shell of his former self, and on the decline.
Though the deciding measure of the trade – championships – leans in O’Neal’s favor, it’s likely to swing the Lakers’ way with a squad capable of making lengthy playoff runs for years to come.
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