Jon K.

AK,

"By the way, there's nothing arrogant about telling a jerk he's being a jerk and helping him to correct his/her behavior. It's called bravery.
Listen, just last week I almost beat up someone in a bar because he was grabbing/fondling a waitress who didn't want that. It was in a room filled with men who did nothing. I stepped up because it was right for someone to step up."

While I applaud you for helping that waitress, your comparison doesn't work because the situations are beyond apples and oranges. The situation in the bar is a violation of that woman's basic human rights and, depending on how far it went, a potential legal/criminal matter. The situation in Staples Center was just people acting in a way you don't personally appreciate, but really nothing more, in the grand scheme of things. The former is a situation that I'd like to think can't be defended on any level. The latter is more a matter of taste.

"I personally believe we, as a society, have become psychotically politically correct. So much so that when people act like irrational jerks, people, in general, look aside."

Actually, some might argue that your concerns are the more politically correct way
of thinking, being worried about how treatment from the fans affect a player on a psychological level. Back in the day, people were much less xconcerned about that kind of stuff. They'd bust their own players' chops all game and the attitude was "play tough or go home.". Not an ounce of sympathy. Yours could easily be considered the more PC mindset.

AK

All's I care about is can he speak Trianglese?

Good signing on DJ. We need a body and he's available. Webber has put us on hold while trying to make his decision (this isn't our first offer to him) and in the mean time we have games to play and to win. Kwame the PHX game was terrbile, was loosing it your fault NO! The Lakers stepped on the FLOOR and the LAKERS lost, not the Kwame Browns. The truth is Andrew has raised the bar and things looked brighter for a moment, don't blame the fans for seeing what's right in front of them, its just that simple. Winning is winning that what most fans want to be associated with a winner. Was it the best thing in support of our team and Kwame, not at all but most were not thinking like that at that moment. LAKERS 4 Life!

A little Photoshop is always good to know. LOL!

The Original:

http://cbs2.com/slideshows/Jackie.Johnson.Weathercaster.20.633348.html?rid=17

My Version:

http://thetenienteview.myphotoalbum.com/view_photo.php?set_albumName=album01&id=jackie_johnson

If you get a "skip this ad" on my version just click it and go to my version.

mike

Mbenga over Webber? That's like choosing Kwame Brown over Caron Butler.
oh.

I can't believe how lame this site can get. Why does it take hours to get the content updated on occasion?

No BYNUM and ARIZA!

Kwame, Mbenga, Walton and Vujacic? Lakers are falling fast! How to hold the fort? Lakers should RUN, RUN and GUN.

Turiaf, Odom, Kobe, Crittenton and Farmar

Speaking of sloppy reporting, which players leg did Ariza land on? Fishers or Odoms? What gives? Now that there are two conflicting reports out there, we have to break it down to most reliable sources... does anyone have any seemingly legitimate information regarding this?

Posted by: BynumBeliever | January 21, 2008 at 12:04 PM

See Aritcle from KCAL9 which broadcasts away Laker games.

Bad Break: Lakers' Trevor Ariza Fractures Foot
EL SEGUNDO (CBS) ― Another big-time blow has struck the Lakers lineup.

Forward Trevor Ariza got dangled up with Lamar Odom on Sunday during practice and has been diagnosed with a fracture in his right foot.

Ariza will see a foot specialist on Monday, where a timetable will be determined.

Besides being a stopper on defense, Ariza is averaging 6.5 points and 3.5 rebounds in 18 minutes a game.
(© MMVIII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

is the game gonna be on FSN too?

tell you what, buy a ticket, go to the game then scream at a the guys beside you who are booing. give them your lecture on how to love your fellow men.

I was at the game and i booed when he missed that dunk, It was a knee jerk reaction, (hell we were all ready to explode and chear and go nuts and then he blew it) a reaction that about 15000 people had. Now the subsequent booing afterward was over the top and uncalled for, frankly it was mean and ment to be mean, and thats not supporting the team. Worse is that it doesn't seem like Kwame can take it, and the team needs him. So the players called out the fans, blamed us, its a little like your dad telling you not to cry in public when you are a little kid; sure you scraped your knee but crying makes the situation worse.

As for all the fans, Flea included, who say they would have never booed, bull. When he missed that dunk it was like getting kicked in the groin, we all would have let it go if it was against a different team, or at a different time in the game, or hell if it didn't seem to tipify how much we miss Andrew and how much we need Kwame now, and he cant deliver a dunk. But all those things stacked up at that time ment we had had enough.

It doesn't mean im not a real fan, it means i am human, a guy who had been looking forward to probably his only laker game of the year,a game i spent a lot of money on and I was treated to about 35-38 mins of trash basketball, exlimated by a missed dunk, sorry i said i was upset.

Guys ,this is going from Bad to worse. That's all.

CrazyFan

I just want to apologize to all Lakers fans. My wife jinxed us. She got mad at me for watching the basketball too much(Lakers, League Pass is wonderful!). She wished that the Lakers would all get hurt! So, with that, I apologize to Laker Nation. I will spend more time w/ my wife and make sure this never happens again!

GO LAKERS!

This is sad commentary by the outgoing editor of Los Angeles Times against the Tribune Company, I'm sure one way or another it also affected our Blog

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/21/business/media/21cnd-paper.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

Now we know why sports columnist assail local LA Teams, they are serving this city but they are being paid by the same owners of Chicago Cubs and most probably the fans of Chicago Bulls. The people of Los Angeles should get back their paper by stop subscribing to their own LA Times.

Sorry if this is a report but I just came across a good Phil Jackson interview that was in Esquire magazine. It doesn't focus as much on basketball as it does on Phils life and personality.

http://www.esquire.com/features/what-ive-learned/phil-jackson-0208

Sign me up for the driver of the 'looking for Ruben Patterson' bandwagon. He knows the triangle, he can score in the post, what is he doing, watching on TV right now? Come on Lakers - get Ruben Patterson at least as fill-in. Am I on this road trip alone?

C'mon Lakers Fans: If You Believe in Kwame Brown, Clap Your Hands

by John Fatland from Bleecher Repot

"Every time a child says, ‘I don’t believe in fairies,' somewhere there is a fairy that falls down dead." – James Barrie, from the story Peter Pan.

Being a father of two adorable little children, I’m sure Kobe Bryant is well aware of the classic tale of the boy who never grew up. Perhaps this was in the back of his mind when Kobe chastised the fans for booing Kwame Brown in the third quarter of the Lakers' loss to the Suns on Thursday night.

"I thought it was terrible," Kobe Bryant said after the game. "If [fans] want to do that, they can stay home. He's going to be our guy for two months. Kwame's sensitive–you boo him, it's going to affect him. I told him I've got his back."

The fans had come to the point where they could no longer believe in Kwame, so they booed. For Kwame Brown and the Lakers, this was bad. Watching Kwame fumble his way through the third quarter, the fans were practically begging for coach Phil Jackson to hook Kwame from the game. "Captain Hook" didn’t oblige.

Kwame, who lacks in confidence already, could and would be devastated.

Kobe Bryant, aka Peter Pan, the leader of the "lost boys" since Andrew Bynum went down, reacted like the king of Neverland would, defending one of his boys with a firm "stay home!"

If you don’t know who Kwame is or have never seen him play, you can get a pretty good idea if you think of him this way: He’s the Inspector Clouseau of the NBA. He bumbles, stumbles, fumbles, and tumbles his way through the game. He is built like a Greek god, but plays like Disney’s Goofy. He is, "how you say, clumsy. No?" But like Inspector Clouseau, he somehow usually ends up on the winning side.

But back to our story, children. The clever, brave, and talented Kobe knows the Lakers need the "man-boy" Kwame to play well until Andy comes back. If Kobe could, he would sprinkle pixie dust all over Kwame’s body and make him fly through the air, swatting back basketballs and dunking with the best.

But we, and Kobe, all know that is just a fairy tale. With Kwame, we're in Neverland, he will never be the player we want him to be.

But the Lakers need Kwame. And so do we. (I can’t believe I just said that). But we really do. If Kwame doesn’t get his confidence back, then we are sentencing him, the Lakers, and us fans to a long walk off a short plank. Our marvelous season and hopes will be fed to the crocodiles.

I look at it this way. The Lakers' fans have two choices.

One, we can continue to boo Kwame. Boo when he is introduced. Boo whenever he touches the ball. Boo whenever he makes a mistake. Saying in effect, "I don’t believe in Kwame" as we watch him fall down dead. Then we can all boo-hoo as we watch our season fall down dead.

Or...

"Do you believe in fairies? If you believe, clap your hands."
-James M. Barrie, Peter Pan

If we follow our leader Peter, I mean Kobe, then say "I believe in Kwame" and clap. Please, I’m begging you, even if you don’t believe, clap.

Fans at the game, on the blogs, in front of their televisions, fans everywhere, all over the world, starting tonight, say "I believe in Kwame," and then clap hard, clap loud, clap long. And cheer Kwame and the Lakers on.

Kwame and Mbenga! hahahaha!

Twin brothers. Lakers now have the strongest frontline... and the weakest too!

I can completely understand why the fans booed Kwame. They are completely frustrated by having to watch him play. I would have done the same. He makes $8mm and can't catch the ball or shoot the ball. The pick and roll completely confuses him......or maybe Phil likes him roaming 30ft from the basket. By almost all accounts he's lazy and he doesn't appear to work on his game. Six years in the league and he's shown minimal improvement. Fans love Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher because they give 100% and they have passion for the game. Kwame is just collecting a check and the fans know it.

Kwambenga!!!
Though DJ Brown sounds more...sophisticated :)

WHo cursed the lakers? is it not the Booer fans? I believed those booer let the Lakers surrounded by Negative charges and they doesn't aware that they slowly affected everyones game not just to Kwame's game. If I'm a Laker's player I'll be more conscious with my game that means it's no longer fun to play this game in Staples.

Booer don't you know that the opposing team loves to play in Staples nowadays? Fans make their Job so easy. What they'll do is to make someone from lakers plays the game badly(force turnovers and makes good defense, just for one guy will do) and Staples will be their home court.

at the present time i trust DJ (the M is silent, theres no need to put it in there) benga more than i trust kwame
all kwame has givvin us for the past 2 seasons is high blood pressure

the booer

I have a trade proposal that would work under the cap and could provide help to both teams. It has become very apparent that even if the lakers can't survive the injuries that keep racking up, they are ready to compete for championships sooner than anyone could have ever expected. Therefore, as long as it does not affect the re-signing of Andrew Bynum, the Lakers should trade Kwame Brown's expiring contract and Vlad Radmonovic to the Memphis Grizzlies for Pau Gasol. True, we would be giving up defense in Brown but with Gasol, we get guaranteed offense and enough defense to get us through these injuries and more importantly, to the playoffs come April. And who knows beyond this season. I used ESPN's trade machine to make this trade so I know it would work. For Memphis, it provides cap relief to make other moves during the off season and go even younger.

I like the signing of DJ because he's got shot blocking ability & can help to clog the middle. He's not as big a body as Kwame, so he'll get pushed around a little, but he's another healthy body to come off the bench to spell Kwame and/or Ronny. Also, the fact that it's only a 10-day contract helps, but not because some bloggers are wanting to sign C-Webber. Everyone seems to be forgetting that Chris Mihm should hopefully be back by then. I like Mihm - he's a hard worker, has more offensive skills than Kwame or DJ, he's a fair blocker, he can rebound, and he's also strong enough to clog the middle. His conditioning is the only thing that worries me.

I would rather have Mihm, who knows the system, than C-Webber, who is probably out-of-shape & will take weeks to comprehend the triangle.

Regarding booing our own players, I may get upset about a player blowing a dunk or turning a ball over or something, but I will never boo my own team. The players & coaches are the team. To me, booing one component is essentially booing the entire system. I'm no fair-weather or bandwagon fan. I stand by my team through the good and the bad. I'll voice my discouragement or disapproval with a "WTF?", but I always try to encourage them with positive "Let's go! You can do it!" In order for the team to succeed, every player has to pick each other up & cover each other's backs. As a fan, I feel like I can be part of the team by helping to will the team to win through my positive feedback, not through negative.

GO LAKERS!!!