racing to the red light

I watched the Lakers play the Houston Rockets last night, on my last day off before returning to work (and what a bummer that has proven to be already). 

It was an exciting, high-scoring game with multiple ties and lead changes. And the fans?  It was so quiet at times, I mistakenly thought that the audio feed had been cut.

Seriously, with the Laker’s home crowd, it seems like they can’t be bothered to cheer for their team. They will cheer loudly only if a player makes some unbelievably difficult or glamorous shot, or if the team is rallying to come back from behind.

I have a theory that goes something like this: Lakers tickets at The Staples Center are so expensive, that it mostly draws an older, wealthier, more subdued crowd. And for whatever reason, those people don’t get excited about seeing an NBA game live.

After three quarters of each team taking the lead from each other, finally in the last quarter the Lakers began to pull away for the win.   In that final quarter, at one point the TV was so quiet I figured that they were bleeping out some unruly fan as they do from time to time.  I was surprised, but not shocked when instead I heard one of the commentators sniffle a little bit.  It was just that quiet.

Why do they riot during the championship parade, but not make a sound during the games?