keeping up with... lamar odom

for those of you who personally know me, you know i love me some basketball, and tv. admittedly, since the kids have entered my life, i have watched a lot less of both, but i try to keep up with the phoenix suns, and my favorite shows (so you think you can dance, LOST, the hills, the office, 30 rock) as much as possible.
as a loyal suns fan, i find it important to dislike anyone on the la lakers. they are just one of the most annoying teams out there, with some of the most annoying fans in the world, and we always play against them at some point in the post season, provided that we make it into the post season. one laker in particular has annoyed me over the years, and that player is lamar odom. in my mind he was just another over-hyped, over-paid basketball player on the lakers.
until i watched tv last week.
on my list of 'quality shows' to watch, 'keeping up with the kardashians' is not anywhere near the top. or even the bottom. that show is on the top of my 'shows to never watch' right alongside anything that paris hilton decides to be on.
BUT, i happened to stumble upon the episode of 'keeping up with the kardashians' where lamar odom starts 1.dating khloe kardashian 2. gets engaged to her 3. marries her. yes. all in the same episode. it's almost in real time. (they met, a few weeks later got engaged, 10 days later they got married.) clearly i HAD to watch this episode the way people HAVE to watch a train wreck.
so as i am watching the ridiculousness of two famous people's paths colliding, i realize that lamar odom is a man looking for the simplest thing- love. there was no one from his side of the family present at any point of the wedding preparation. i thought it was pretty one sided of them to just focus the show on the kardashians, even if the series is named for them. but then it comes out that lamar doesn't have any family. his mom died when he was 12, and so he was raised by his grandmother. at this point i am riveted, and i have to google more of lamar odom's story. he just turned thirty. his dad was a heroin addict. he has had three kids with his previous girlfriend. the youngest one died of SIDS at the age of 6 months, a few years ago. oh lamar odom! i just want to give you a huge hug!!!!!
when i had heard about the insanity of this marriage, i thought to myself "now those are two people who have too much money and not enough brains between the two of em." i know they were/are the butts of a lot of people's jokes, people have pools going to see how quickly this marriage will dissolve. but you know what? i hope this crazy thing works out for the both of them. mostly because marriage is a sacred union that is supposed to be FOR LIFE. but also because everyone should have a family that loves them and accepts them and supports them- even if they are on a basketball team that i don't like. i raise my coffee cup to thee lamar odom and khloe kardashian! cheers! may you guys have a long and prosperous marriage.