As Mrs. Bueller asked Principal Rooney

Rooney was the Dean of students.

Jesterguru,

Friday's game is IMPERATIVE.

You know and I know that Portland Hates the Lakers worse than Phoenix does. Their announcers perpetually breed hate and contempt and some bull crap conspiracy theory involving the refs (they've had this us vs. them mentality for decades and ALWAYS blame the officials).

Jesterguru we need some help in the "Gaden"... my suggestion is to purchase a beverage before the game, drink it quickly, and then dump out the ice in the trash can while you tear out the bottom of the cup to create a mini-megaphone. Tell other fans you see to do this too, let them know the game plan. We need every Lakers fan in the house to chant MVP...

It's the one thing I'd love to see before I die... the Portland Rose Garden chanting MVP for Kobe Bryant.

Whatever you can do to achieve this end, I will be eternally grateful.

Jon K.

Sorry for the the LO quote last week. I think I owed yo that,

LO is great this year for what we are trying to do. He makes our team even deeper then people really understand. I under estimated his value to this team.

Luke Walton has to step his game up or he could be the odd man out.

Smush Parker is gone and I don't have to defend Kwame any more.

It is great to be a Laker fan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lets go Lake Show!!!!!!!

REPOST OF A REALLY GOOD ARTICLE

Check out this great, in-depth analysis of statistics in context:

http://www.respectkobe.com/?p=18

The author at RespectKobe.com shows why you can't just compare two players statistics straight up. So, when evaluating field goal %, rebounds, assists, etc., he shows that Kobe is a MORE EFFICIENT shooter, a better rebounder, and at least as good a passer as LeBron.

If statistics interest you, you'll really enjoy this article. If you ever make comparisons of two players using stats, you should REALLY read this article.

KOBE 4 MVP

Is it me... or does anyone else here want to SNAP OFF Mutombo's waving finger thing???

Shouldn't that be a 'T'???

Best line of the day:

"But then knowing Lakers fans, they wouldn't mind those question being asked every day, a different answer every day undoubtedly keeping their interest.

The only way, I guess, you can explain the success of the "Loose Cannons."

Laughing my butt off at that one. I've never understood the "Loose Cannons" myself, 3 hours of saying the same thing over and over and over and over again, and they do that 5 days a week? What a life.

Tim-4-Show,

Do you really think that Portland fans hate the Lakers more than Suns fans?

I wonder.

By my estimation here are the fans that hate us more than anyone (in order of hate):

1. Sacramento
2. Celtics
3. Suns
4. Denver
5. Utah
6. Detroit
7. Portland

What are your thoughts, big Tim?

GO LAKERS!

"Mihm is scheduled to undergo a procedure Thursday that he hopes will aid his recovery from surgery to remove a screw from his right ankle. Blood will be drawn, treated, then reinjected into his body in an attempt to speed the healing process."

Hey Jon K, do you think they're adding Sea Minerals to his blood?

I don't think anyone should count the Rockets out. Do you guys forget they have Tracy McGrady, and some guy named Luis Scola? TMac could be pretty potent as he takes on more of the offensive burden, and his teammates are not scrubs.

Kobe has got to watch the cumulative technical count. I think he has 11, and it's at 16 that you get the automatic one game suspension.

I get so happy when I see that Cleveland and New Orleans have lost. Anytime that happens, another vote for Kobe for MVP materializes!

Tucker - thats a pro-Kobe website clearly biased in favor of Kobe over other players. The same writer said Kobe was playing with D-league players the last 2 years. Guess he forgot Odom and Vald were on the team. The guy has no credibility at all.

Many of those "D-league " players have helped the Lakers get the record they have this year including Bynum, Turiaf Sasha and Farmar just to name a few. This is a true team effort lead by Kobe and Fisher.

J. Walter Weatherman,

God, I hope so. And Vitamin D.

Blank,

Is Vic the Brick using Haikus now?

Vic the Brick, loudmouth,
Empty winds without a heart
Lakers Haiku best

GO LAKERS!

Very classy move by Ronny - bouncer says 'reservation only' and Ronny says "OK." No tantrum, no "I'm a Laker so let me in" - very refreshing to see a millionaire behaving like a man and not a baby.

Jon K,

I haven't lived in all those cities, so it's really hard to say which fans hate us the most. Detroit has only lost to us once in the playoffs (88). I don't see why they'd "hate" more than these Western teams. The Celtics "hate" us because there's really no one else to hate... no seriously, who else, the 76ers? The Kings hate because of North/South rivalry and because they were good but not good enough a FEW times. The Suns... well, over the years they hate because we've been so good and they haven't. They're obsessed with their first round "rivals"... ha ha ha... I never knew there was such a thing as a "first round" rival.... Portland on the other hand, has HATED us for decades. They had one year where they beat us in the first round and then they put up a sorry pathetic performance after that... and the media put it this way "at least we beat the Lakers"... that story doesn't even do it justice. Lakers fans just don't hear about it much, but believe me, it's there, I know, I lived there.

Right now the Blazer fans are all depressed because of the Gasol trade. Can you imagine that?? They aren't even in the playoff hunt and they're actually DEPRESSED that we got Gasol. I'm dead serious. The reason is because they thought they were going to win like 8 straight titles with Oden in the middle, and now that Bynum has shown his strength and is only 20 yrs old, plus Pau Gasol, it effectively means they aren't "gauranteed" to win all those titles...

I really do not like their fans and I would love nothing more than to hear MVP chants for Kobe in the Rose Garden. I would cry tears of joy. Can we make this happen somehow??

J. Walter Weatherman,

Where'd you get the quote about Chris Mihm?

GO LAKERS!

AndrewZ,

WHIPPED :)

Andrew Z,

Great points. These are the games we would lose in years past by playing down to the competition. Also, we get very thrown off when a star doesn't suit up for the other team.

Greg Anthony said something really interesting on the radio yesterday. Bad teams find a way to lose and that losing's contagious, just like winning is.

Confidence breeds winning, winning breeds confidence. That's a vicious cycle that we don't want to break.

I knew we would win that game in Phoenix, not because Shaq would break their rhythm, but because this team is confient they can do it. Besides, Phoenix hasn't shown anything against the top teams in the West, but I'll ignore that because it doesn't support my point.

Furthermore, it's amazing that the Lakers are doing what they're doing even though teams are gunning for us now.

Did Kobe really say, "It's starting to smell familiar?"

AN1,

"And, ........they looked just like the San Antonio Spurs."

I was just going to post that that win was Championship Spur Team type win. Could've easily lost it but came back in nasty discombobulated fashion. Except ofr Kobe of course.

The 2 other players with the most PJ triangle experience looked lost last night. Fish and Luke, you guys......

Simers is a condescending ingrate. He is condescending to the Lakers and to their fans. His articles exude a sense of "I’m smarter than you because you’re idiots for being fanatic about the team". I’m sure he would be surprised to hear that the majority of us are professionals with above average salaries.

The truth that really hurts is that no one in this city would download his articles, unless the headline has the words "Lakers" in it. He admitted as much several times, when he had the show on 570 – which was cancelled.

The bottom line is that Simers can’t understand why the rest of us don’t want to read his, self proclaimed brilliant drivel on other topics, and is chafed to non-end why he only gets hits if he writes about the Lakers.

TJ, you only get read if you write about the Lakers because your articles suck. Laker fans are kind enough to throw you a bone when you discuss their team because they are hungry for information about their team. Instead of being condescending to us, you should thank us for keeping you employed for the past 10 years.

Good luck writing about NASCAR.

Tim-4-Show,

I think that we are the most hated team in the NBA out of pure jealousy. Not only do we have the best organization in the NBA, but possibly professional sports in general.

AND we're in Los Angeles!

I've been in the purgatory of Cleveland for about a year (God! Please speed up my move back home!) and people have this weird love/hate relationship with Los Angeles. They're like "People in Los Angeles are so shallow! They have no heart!"

And then you ask them, "Well, would you live there?"

"OH, HELL YEAH!"

Strange. People in second cities have weird inferiority complexes which they externalize as hatred for places that are actually nice places to live.

In the West, hatred towards Los Angles and Lakers is a more regional thing. Los Angeles is the clear power base of the West. And a lot of Californians, when the leave, move to places like Oregon, Colorado, Arizona, etc. and "modernize" their lifestyle. Well, some of these people don't want to be "modernized" and the changing way of life is resented.

So, the Lakers, embodying L.A. as they do, get to enjoy all their wrath.

Unfortunately, if they were smart, which they're not, they'd choose the Clippers as their enemy so they could beat up on them more often. Instead, they've chosen the Lakers, who have and will (for the most) kick the crap out of them for decades.

And, thus, their inferiority complex is reinforced.

The decisions people make are often perplexing.

Jealousy in West
The Lakers victorious
All others, faces down

GO LAKERS!

I don't know if someone already posted

http://www.sportshubla.com/2008/02/27/with-all-the-lakers
-pretty-ponies-is-luke-the-plowhorse/#more-403

I was feeling pretty the same about his game for the entire season

BK- lost in the post game analysis is the continued poor shooting and play of Fisher, 2 points more than a dead guy. Fortunately Farmar picked up the slack but Fisher has been struggling for several games now shooting the rock.

Tim,

I like the megaphone idea. But did you have to quote my typo? hahah

I will ROUSE every Laker fan I see.

Jon, believe me when I tell you, Portland fans, up until the drafting of Oden, were still living in the past. To them, the '99-'00 meltdown and ensuing Lakers championship run is YESTERDAY.

So, while we almost think of them as our little brother who we used to beat up on in the play-offs years ago before they completely crumbled and became obsolete, they still HATE us with a PASSION. We are their Celtics, their Jazz, their Spurs, their Funs, all rolled into one.

I will probably be killed Friday night but so be it. I'm gonna go loud and proud and, now, soda cup megaphoned.

Vman - if disagreeing about what to watch on TV is your only problem, you'll be ok. That's why God invented TIVO - and don't forget - He's a Laker fan!

Jesterguru - what do you want us to say about you at your eulogy? LOL!

SA said:

“In the 90s the teams were old, and thinned out due to expansion like no other.
the 91 lakers, while they were my team, they never had a chance because of age and vlade divac.
the sonics with shawn kemp and gary payton? Neither of those players would have been the 2nd best player on the bulls.
the Suns? again garbage. Where is KJ or Barkley. Barkley is supremely overrated. In the league today there is a player just like him, he is Big Baby, Glen Davis. And of course he is so great. Barkley was made more on hype than skill.
the blazers? with an old clyde drexler, jerome james and who else? PLEASE somebody name me players on this team.
the Jazz. . . there is a reason why jerry sloan has never won a title. Neither has Karl Malone nor John Stockton. They are adequate players, but they aren't winners. That special breed of players that can come through in the clutch. Also Sloan plays his players so hard during the season, they will never be able to win a title. Thats exactly what Larry Brown used to do. And if it wasnt for magic, and kareem or shaq and the refs, Riley would never win a title either, we saw how good he did in New York and how he cost the lakers the 88 title.”

I am sorry, but you simply do not know what you are talking about. Either you did not watch basketball during this era or you were not paying sufficient attention.

The ’91 Lakers were hardly old. Magic was the oldest starter at age 31. Worthy was 29, Byron 29, Perkins 29, Green 27. Vlade, who you try to scapegoat (the fact that you do makes me seriously question whether you followed the Lakers during this period when he was wildly popular with Lakers fans), put up 16.2 ppg, 8.8 rpg, & 2.4 bpg in that series and completely outplayed his counterpart, Bill Cartwright (8.8 ppg & 5.0 rpg). The Lakers lost that series because Jordan played out of his friggin’ mind, putting up 31.2 ppg on .611 fg%, 11.4 apg (that’s right: 11.4 apg), & 6.6 rpg (see http://webuns.chez-alice.fr/finals/1991.htm).

Again you show your ignorance. Kemp, who was the Amare Stoudamire of his day with the exception that he was a terrific defender (you need to learn about the Reign Man, seriously you’re embarrassing yourself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ALdNck0f2o) and Gary Payton were at their peak in ‘96 (with Kemp putting up 21.2 ppg & 12.4 rpg and Payton being named DPOY- the only guard to win this award in the last 20 years) and they completely outplayed Pippen in those finals (who only put up 15.7 ppg on .343 fg% in that series).

I just don’t know how you can call a 6’4½” PF who averaged 21.7 ppg on .541 fg%, 11.5 rpg, & 3.9 apg over the course of his career overrated. The guy was an absolute marvel and to compare slightly undersized 6’7” Glen Davis who is putting up 4.5 ppg & 2.8 rpg goes beyond the pale. Speak when you know wtf you’re talking about next time: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAYQIrqbArQ.

Again, you’re just wrong. Drexler was 29. Yeah, he didn’t have a bunch of big name teammates, just a bunch of hard-nosed guys who could flat out play the team game like Terry Porter, Buck Williams, Jerome Kersey & Kevin Duckworth (not to mention an up and coming Cliff Robinson and quality vet in Danny Ainge coming off of the bench). That’s why they put up 59, 63, & 57 wins from ’89-90 through ’91-92, finishing 4th, 3rd, & 2nd respectively in team defensive rating and making the NBA Finals twice (‘90 & ‘92) and the WCF (‘91) in the other year.

The only reason that the Jazz didn’t win a championship is because of Michael Jordan. Stockton and Malone’s numbers speak for themselves. To disrespect what they accomplished is to disrespect the game of basketball itself.

Of course, I am trying to explain all this to the genius who thinks Riley cost us the ’88 title (uh, we won that year, dude… maybe you mean ’89 when Riley maliciously took out Byron and Magic’s hamstrings in the Finals after guiding us to sweeps in the first three rounds that year?).