Archive for October, 2011

If, and I highly emphasize if, there are any more bargaining session between NBA players and owners in the future then you can count Kobe Bryant out. Not that KB24or any of the NBA’s marquee names for that matter have been involved heavily to being with. Like most players involved in this labor debacle Bryant will be on the sideline awaiting the call to go back to work. Last week Bryant spoke to a psychology class at UCSB. According to the OC Register when Bryant was asked what his thoughts were on one of the bargaining sessions he attended he [...]

For whatever its worth I grew up rooting for the Raiders, Lakers and Dodgers. They’re my hometown teams so it was just natural. As a result I’ve heard it all. Never mind that I love my teams but the sports themselves are my first love. Instead I get the usual heckles. You only like the Lakers because they win. You only root for the Raiders to act like a bad ass. You only like the Dodgers because of Vin Scully. Now Vin is a big part of my Dodger love. No doubt about that. But otherwise all of those remarks [...]

David Stern and the NBA owners were prepared to do this the moment they put padlocks on their doors preventing players from going to work. After 7 more hours of fruitless negotiating, both sides emerged no closer today than they were over 100-days ago. Thus Commissioner Stern held to his threat of canceling the first two weeks of the regular season by doing just that. Now we’ve reached the moment of truth. With no meetings scheduled for the near future. No progress made towards getting this labor dispute resolved. No chance to recoup what will be lost by nixing the [...]

There are some very easy ways to start a heated debate in any corner of the globe. Spark up a discussion on religion or politics or both and watch the sparks fly. But if you’d prefer something a little more civil yet just as engaging then simply suggest that Kobe Bryant is better than Michael Jordan. No matter where you stand on the topic you’re sure to have a strong opinion. Of course most would assume you’re talking about the greatest to ever play the game if those two names are in the discussion. Then there’s a chance you’ll get [...]

I’m taking a brief moment away from talking Lakers here on LSL to discuss some truly sad news from the world of football. By now you must surely know that Al Davis, the iconic owner of the Raiders, has passed away. What you might not know is that in addition to my duties here at LSL I’m also the lead writer over at Just Blog Baby. Many of you can relate to my passions for both the Raiders and Lakers as I grew up rooting for both L.A. based teams. While Davis is revered as a legend for his football [...]

So much for another one of David Stern’s deadlines. With Monday looming as the date in which “progress” needed to be made in order to salvage the first two weeks of the season a negotiating session was to occur over the weekend. But no sooner than a meeting was set it was canceled like so many NBC shows this fall. According to ESPN the owners called off the meeting due to the union’s reluctance to agree to a 50-50 split. This was a condition the owners put on the table just to have the meeting, mind you. Now call me [...]

We all knew there would come a time when Metta World Peace’s off-court interests would somehow factor in to his on-court performance. Though we’re still waiting for that to occur there have been some telling signs of just where World Peace’s mind is during this lockout. If you’re to believe Magic Johnson then Metta is somewhere in orbit at the moment. While I doubt NASA has had any sightings of a 6’7” human circling the Earth. There is reason to believe what we’ve seen from World Peace during this uneven offseason reflects where his true passions are. To date the [...]

NBA players are going to have to take a pay cut. That’s the only way this lockout is going to end. By the same token, NBA owners are going to have to change their business practices. That’s the only way we’ll be able to avoid another work stoppage the likes of the current one. To be clear, the owners only have themselves to blame for this situation. They’re the ones that agreed to a hideous 57-43 split. They’re the ones that assumed nothing would every affect their cash flow. To be real, though, it is up to the players to [...]

And just like that the biggest domino yet in the NBA labor strife has fallen. Today was supposed to be the most important day of labor negotiations. Instead it turned out to be the most impotent as neither side made any significant concessions. Four flawed hours of talks resulted in the expected cancelation of the preseason in addition to the possibility of wiping the first two weeks of the regular season off the calendar. Derek Fisher sums up the ever widening gap between both sides when discussing today’s session. “Today was not the day to get this done. We were [...]

Pau Gasol’s European vacation is quickly turning into a staycation. Already in his native country basking in the afterglow of being crowned European champions (again), Gasol is now reported to be practicing with his former club FC Barcelona. How long Gasol will remain in Spain is yet to be determined. That will depend on how things go with the current NBA lockout. Today’s talks could go a long way in spelling out when Gasol might return to the States. Pau played for Barca prior to his arrival in America. Both he and his brother Marc will be practicing with the [...]