Lakers get a Nash Rambler for 2013

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Choices…..that is all you get in life….they say!  Hey, Kobe is off to the Olympics in London.  God bless him.  Bring home the Gold for the USA Kobe…..we know you will.  The Olympic Trials were really pretty exciting.  Bob Costas and Rowdy Gains did yeoman work and our Olympic Swimmers and Track Stars are going to be a force to recon with!  We are pulling for Lolo Jones.  Remember her?  She is a georgous hurdler in the 100 meters.  She crash in the finals four years ago in China.  It was a heartbreak, but she is getting more beautiful as the days go on and there is little doubt she will wind up being a wonderful color commentary persona for sports in general..for many years to come.  She just bearly qualified for London, but if she is lucky….she might even get a medal.   Wouldn’t that be poetic?

Sports are certainly what a modern day Karl Marx might call:  “The Opiat of the people…”  Sorry Karl, we know they didn’t have “Pay For View” or “NFL Rewind” back in the day – but those are all part and parcel of the new media and of course have a tremendous impact on our news, kids educations, politicians looking for new stadium cash and much more.  Modern day sports have and can become all consuming – should you include the dramatic rise in Global Gambling whether be for NFL Games or FIFA Soccer.  No one had hardly even heard of Manchester United before Beckham.  So, we are talking Global impacts and big mega-bucks!

The NFL is recently up against it, in spite of the billions and billions at stake.  The case against the New Orleans Saints, their Coach Sean Patten, their “hit squad players and coaches”  and “bounty hunters” are just “wine from the teaspoon” – as Harold Hall might say in the “Music Man”.  The bad boy Oakland Raiders even have a Defensive End that has been indicted for murder.  In fact, three murders – so far.  The NFL is also facing 2000 current and former NFL Players who are suing because efforts were not taken to protect these modern day gladiators from concussions.  What this has uncovered of course are the same issues at the college level, high school and even in the Pee Wee football leagues.  The sudden suicide of Junior Seau and many other NFL players due to possible Traumatic Brain Injuries are now at least being studied.   The dirt on football in general keeps growing and will take years to uncover everything.

OK, what about our Lakers?  The prognosis for 2013 is not looking so good.  The Lakers are starting to look more like the San Diego Chargers and the Oakland Raiders…..all the time.  What are we talking about?  For years the Oakland Raiders in the last days of Al Davis picked alot of the wrong folks.  We won’t bother naming names, lets just say Tom Cable led a list of bad choices for the “Dreaded Raiders”.  When was the last time they made the play-offs?  Sometime in the 80’s was it?  Just kidding.  Anyway, the 49ers are new Bay Area heroes now.  The San Diego Chargers and their almost great Quarterback Rivers……..well, when Antonio Holmes gets hurt…..the Chargers are on life support.  What kind of NFL Team might be get in LA if they build another Stadium?  Whew, kind of miss the LA Express of the World Football League or was it or was it the Southern California Sun?  Don’t remember, but Steve Young was the QB for the Express.

What about the Purple and Gold again?  Recently former Laker Coach Phil Jackson was on Bryant Gumbel’s Real Sports and interviewed by Andrea Kramer.  He was taking some time off after double knee replacement surgery at his ranch and get-a-way complex in Montana.  Phil was pretty forthcoming…for Phil and said he thought the current NBA ….is a joke.  The current NBA are a bunch of guys “shooting three pointers” without any strategy and he said that as far as he was concerned….he would rather watch Ice Hockey!  Congratualtions LA Kings!  We agree!  Face it, if we have to watch the Oklahoma Thunder and the Miami Heat for the next six years…….well, when they get old……let us know so we can watch the NBA again.

It wasn’t so many years ago, we  recall the dreaded Charles Barkley Phoenix Suns going against our Shaq/Kobe Lakers!  That rotten little kid Steve Nash kept making 48 points a game and it was pure frustration for Laker fans.  No one could stop him!  Well, after all these years – Charles Barkley is a major NBA Sports Commentator and Steve Nash, (now in his twilight years) is coming to the Lakers so that they don’t  have to negotiate with Ramon Sessions as the premeir point guard.  Sessions is a young guy that actually has a career “in front of him”. Every year he is going to get better.   Steve Nash has simply replaced Derek Fisher, who was sent inappropriately to the Oklahoma Thunder – as our go to last second make or break shooter.  Steve Nash was in the day…a great and very plucky player.  At times he was even nasty.  In his later years, he got pushed around a lot and got hurt.  He is no longer the driving force on the hardwood that he once was.  Oh, there is little doubt that Steve Nash can still come up with a great game, every now and then but what are we talking here?  What are we going to do?  Trade Ramon Session for the two draft picks we gave up for Nash?

We don’t like the Laker Coach Mike Brown.  Why?  This guy is not a force!  We don’t feel his control on the floor when the game is on the line and there are 24.7 seconds left to play, down 5 points.  This is the moment of the game when you need “the Riles” or the “The Phil”.  The Lakers are the Gold Standard of the NBA and we are hard pressed to understand why we can’t get a “Crunch Time Coach”.  Stan Van Gundy would at least be fun to watch.  You know – the out of work Orlando Magic Coach.  What about a world beater College Coach?  There are plenty of those guys.  Coach K, come on down!  Bobby Knight would be huge!  But what about the players?  “Bring us your old, tired and hungry…..” is not what we had in mind.   There is little doubt however that Meta World Peace and Andrew Bynum need to take off their Gang Member Clothes before they get on the court.  Their evil play reminds us of the Oklahoma Thunder and the Miami Heat.  Only without their lights out 3-point shooters!

Lamar Odom has come back to LA… only for the wrong team!  The Clippers got Lamar and the fans in LA loved Lamar when he was with the Lakers.  Well, the Clippers are now soon becoming the NEW LA team.  With Chris Paul and Blake Griffin…..the Clippers are now “comers” in the NBA.  Lamar hated being with the Dallas Mavericks and we are truly glad he and Khloe are happily back in LA.  Hopefully, they will not be a bad influence on Kobe and Vanessa.  We are truly happy for our neighbors Kobe and Vanessa getting back together.  We wish them every marriage success too!

All we can say is:  The Lakers are in disarray!  We didn’t need to get a Nash Rambler when what we really wanted was  a Big Block Cobra!  We agree with Phil Jackson…the NBA is not that fun to watch right now or what it used to be.  David Stern better have a few Owners and Coaches Meetings and Lunches to figure out how to get this program back on track.  What about making a shot from behind the mid-court line a 4 point play?

In the meantime, Go Kobe Go!  Get that Olympic Gold.  We will be watching!