the lakers that we knew and hated... are gone. if i remember correctly, it was shaq, not kobe, who said most of the stuff during the rivalry. all the guys i hated are gone; shaq, george, horry, malone (yeah, i hated malone), rick fox.
i actually like the guys they have now. i like bynum, who continues to improve under kaj, walton who plays within himself perfectly, odom, the glue that keeps their team together, and even ronnie turiaf, who brings energy off the bench as a hustle big man. i even think kobe has matured into the leader that he never had to be with shaq and a veteran team.
maybe some of this residual hatred everyone seems to have is also envy/jealousy. they deal away arguably the most dominant center to play the game not named wilt, yet still get a potential all star center, AND a previous no 1. draft pick center, while we play 6'7" corliss and lost the will to win reef in the middle. WE deal away the closest thing to a hall of famer, and we get bloody fricken k9.
its time to move on people. rivalrys only exist at the height of competition. otherwise, its just people getting into fights and pretending that passes as passion (nate robinson anyone?). there will be new rivalries.