𝐁𝐔𝐒𝐒 𝐅𝐀𝐌𝐈𝐋𝐘 𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐈𝐍 𝐋.𝐀., 𝐑𝐄𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐄𝐃 𝐁𝐘 𝐃𝐄𝐄𝐏-𝐏𝐎𝐂𝐊𝐄𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐎𝐖𝐍𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐏~𝐒𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐍𝐘 𝐋𝐔𝐊𝐀 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐒𝐒 𝐋𝐄𝐁𝐑𝐎𝐍 𝐆𝐄𝐓𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐘

 

From the editor: Surely no one cares about my teenage experience in 1963, with my bus stalled on a clogged freeway, retrieving my raggedy suitcase, getting off the bus to walk past the famous Hollywood sign about a mile from downtown LA. 

Yes, I got a room at a marked-for-demolition hotel on Figueroa Street for a wonderful 80 cents a night; an old bathtub with clawfoot legs, a patchwork quilt on the bed, no AC and a wood-framed window without a screen. (I got a little scared witnessing from my window one man pulling out a knife on another and stupidly, I gave in to the desk clerk's challenge to "wrestle," only to wake up to smelling salts and laughter.)

Hollywood and Vine wasn't much, just two streets intersecting and a Chinese restaurant nearby.

But, forget that.  What I started to write about is the shift in ownership of the Los Angeles Lakers.  That story follows:

                                       

Let's see: Hollywood sign, Lakers logo, new Lakers owner Mark Walter, thinner Luka Doncic, 40 year old physical specimen Lebron James

  

Beneath white wooden letters of the HOLLYWOOD sign lies the city of Los Angeles, a city built on fantasy, with one of basketball’s most storied sports franchises part of that fantasy. 

After 45 years at the helm, the Buss family, once synonymous with the purple and gold, ceded control of the franchise to Mark Walter, a man whose influence stretches from banking to the Los Angeles Dodgers and now, basketball. The price: $10 billion. 

In a new era where ownership is measured in spreadsheets, the soul of the sport has grown distant, digitized, and dressed in corporate attire.

There was a time, not so long ago, when owning a team was a gamble, not automatic wealth. Jerry Buss, who purchased the Lakers in 1979, was of a vanishing breed, a former chemist turned real estate magnate, who sold much of his portfolio to acquire the franchise.  

But American sports, like American cities, rarely stays the same.  Teams are now traded like assets, valued like startups, and owned by conglomerates with diversification strategies.

The sale of the Lakers marks more than just a change in ownership. It is a cultural shift, the passing of an era where heart could trump numbers, where owners were dreamers and not stewards of equity funds. Jerry Buss was a man of his time and his time has passed.

Now, under new ownership, the Lakers begin a new act.  The curtain has fallen not just on a family, but on a philosophy. Conglomerates and Bernie Sanders-hating billionaires now own sports teams.

Legendary Laker Magic Johnson annoyed the Hell outta me recently with his unfortunate advice to Luka Doncic to "get in shape."  Shit, Magic.  Pay a little attention.  Luka has gotten into shape after somewhat bloating last year with a leg injury inhibiting his workouts.  But, these multi-millionaire commentators, like Stephen A. Smith et al, are paid to be loud and controversial, not accurate.

With small market Oklahoma City now celebrating an NBA championship, the storied Lakers can get down to the business of locating a starting center and an additional wing.  If any skilled vets wanna chase a championship and  join Luka and Lebron for minimum wage, that door is open.

I'll keep checking the thrift stores for a Lakers windbreaker, preferably in purple, not gold. It's been quite a ride for my sports fanaticism: starting with hydroplane racing on Lake Washington, Elgin Baylor at Seattle U., one-eyed Bob Schloredt quarterbacking the Huskies, Nolan Richardson's national championship at Arkansas, Jerry Jones firing Tom Landry then Jimmy Johnson, Brownsville Veterans whipping Corpus Christi Miller, etc.

Go Hogs!