04/29/2008: "Pau Gasol--Wow!"
Pau Gasol
He is SOOOO cute!
I usually write about politics and such on this blog, but I am making a exception here to call attention to my new crush, Lakers starting center, Pau Gasol. Some of you may know that I am an ardent Laker fan. The Lakers, for you non-basketball fans, are the NBA's glamour team. From coast to coast they sell out arenas and occupy the minds of sports writers in every hometown newspaper. They're the LAKERS.
The past few years, however, have been our years in the wilderness. Since Shaquile left in a huff and Kobe stayed in a huff, the team has been divided and divisive, and unable to play as, well, a TEAM.
All the sports talk pundits questioned Lakers G.M. Mitch Kupcheck's competence for refusing to trade young Andrew Bynum for a proven star, and Lakers owner Jerry Buss's sanity for not firing Kupcheck. Kobe bitched and threatened, and even the Zen master, coach Phil Jackson began to hint that something should be done.
This year began with the promise of Bynum's talent, giving the Lakers an early edge, but his knee injury early on deflated our hopes for a team that might make a good showing. The early games showed a team with real promise, but all of us held our hopes in reserve, because the same thing happened last year and we tanked early. When it became clear that Bynum wouldn't soon be back, we all shrugged and said, "Maybe next year."
Then came Pau, born in Spain, seven feet tall, and 27 years old, he's exactly what the Laker's needed--and what I needed. He's not only a talented player who adds depth and breadth to the Laker's lineup, he has added heart. The Lakers stormed through the season and finished with the lead in the West, and now they've swept the Denver Nuggets in the first round. Pau is a large part of the reason. The Lakers have come together into a cohesive, hard-playing team.
Jerry Buss, is a longtime friend (he backed one of my movies in the 1960s) and he always invites me to sit in his VIP suite. I haven't been to a Laker's game for a while, but now that Pau is here, I'm going to start going again. Personal to Jerry: Please make sure that I get to meet Pau!
For sure, the rest of the playoffs will not be as easy as the sweep of the Nuggets, but the Lakers--Kobe, Pau, Luke Walton, Sasha, Fisher, and Vlad--and an ass-kicking bench are going to be a force to be reckoned with.