The Arrogant, Entitltled World Champion Los Angeles Lakers

[Bklyn]

If Kobe's chick dumped him before the Playoffs, he would single-handedly wreak havoc across the L. Straight pure focus and destruction.

Gasol is a chick lit main character...

[Simitar]

Lakers' Bynum suspended five games for Barea foul

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. (AP) -- Lakers center Andrew Bynum has been suspended for five games next season for his flagrant foul on Dallas guard J.J. Barea in Los Angeles' final playoff game.

The NBA announced the suspension Tuesday, two days after Bynum was ejected for the foul late in the two-time defending champions' 36-point loss to the Mavericks in Game 4. The league also fined Bynum $25,000 for ripping off his jersey while heading to the locker room, which means the suspension will cost Bynum more than $700,000.

http://www.nba.com/2011/news/05/10/lake ... ef:nbahpt2

[Bklyn]

He deserves it. I like bitches, just not that kind.

[Jungle Rat]

Too old for you?

[Bklyn]

Actually, I used to roll with the "60 credits" rule. If you were eligible to have earned 60 credits in a college...any college...you were fair game.

So, Bynum fails via a different criteria...

[Johnette's Daddy]

[Bklyn]

We are Los Angeles. We reload like a clip automatic, not a revolver.

[Bklyn]

Pau tries his best to clear up the bullshit

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ball_d ... nba-wp3034

and Plashke is a horrible journalist. And a bitch.

[T Dot O Dot]

If D12 skips Orlando to become a Laker, do you lake fans really feel good about yourselves after?

I know it sounds silly, but reloading like that would make the next chip feel cheap & dirty.

Wouldn't you rather show your top class organization off by making savvy trades for young up & comers (not complete rapes) & draft picks who arent threatening to play in Italy if they dont go to LA?

[Owlman]

Wouldn't you rather show your top class organization off by making savvy trades for young up & comers (not complete rapes) & draft picks who arent threatening to play in Italy if they dont go to LA?

I'm not a big Laker fan, but I think I can answer this one. No.

Winning a championship is winning a championship. Wouldn't feel cheap. Wouldn't feel upset. Would feel like bragging.

[Bklyn]

Many people have tried to steal championships and come up short (I hope Miami gets thrown on that heap like so many others). It's not as easy as "get a player, get your rings."

If we win another championship before Beanhead hangs 'em up, it will be due to hard work and front office acumen, not one deal bringing the best 5 in the L to SoCal.

[Johnette's Daddy]

Wouldn't you rather show your top class organization off by making savvy trades for young up & comers (not complete rapes) & draft picks who arent threatening to play in Italy if they dont go to LA?

I'm not a big Laker fan, but I think I can answer this one. No.

Winning a championship is winning a championship. Wouldn't feel cheap. Wouldn't feel upset. Would feel like bragging.

Bingo. I would talk much trash , maybe post here from the parade, etc.

[tin mad dog]

He's already showing he's got the "I know I fouled him but can't you read the front of my jersey" look down pat. He should fit in well with Kobe.

[Johnette's Daddy]

He's already showing he's got the "I know I fouled him but can't you read the front of my jersey" look down pat. He should fit in well with Kobe.

Agreed. Let's call Otis Smith and just make it a straight up Bynum-for-Howard swap.

[Johnette's Daddy]

Lakers' loss cuts merchant sales to a dribble
For bars, restaurants and athletic apparel stores, the Lakers' early exit from the playoffs means a drop in revenue.
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Trader Vic's at L.A. Live saw traffic plummet after the Lakers’ loss. "As a fan, I’m extremely disappointed, but as an owner, it’s pretty devastating for business," owner John Valencia said. (Liz O. Baylen, Los Angeles Times / May 10, 2011)


By Andrea Chang, Los Angeles Times

May 12, 2011
When the Lakers were prematurely eliminated from the NBA playoffs this week, it was a brutal defeat for diehard fans. But for business owners who had anticipated several more weeks of selling pitchers of beer, plates of nachos and purple-and-gold gear, the loss was also a financial blow.

"I'd say we're probably losing about $20,000 easily," said Helen Handy, co-owner of Champs Sports Pub in Burbank, which shows Lakers games on all 18 television sets during the postseason. "It's definitely going to hurt us. We got spoiled the last two years."

Over at Trader Vic's in downtown's L.A. Live on Tuesday — when the Lakers would have played Game 5 against the Dallas Mavericks at neighboring Staples Center — just nine people were seated in the lounge of the tropical-themed restaurant, and a party of 10 was finishing up in the back dining room. Typically, there's at least a two-hour wait for a table on game nights, owner John Valencia said.

"As a fan, I'm extremely disappointed, but as an owner, it's pretty devastating for business," he said. "We're event-driven, and when you have a Laker game on standby and it doesn't happen, it's very difficult to backfill."

After back-to-back championships, the Lakers were swept 4-0 in the second round, a staggering and swift demise for a team that many thought would three-peat in mid-June.

Now business owners and managers across the Southland are cutting staff hours, placing smaller orders with their food and merchandise vendors and trying to drum up interest in other sporting events (Memphis Grizzlies game, anyone?).

The Lakers are a huge draw for merchants and won't be easy to replace, said economist Esmael Adibi of Chapman University, who estimated that local businesses would lose at least $60 million to $70 million because of the team's early exit.

"When you take the crowd that would go to the Staples Center itself and all the activities that take place, it is a large sum of money," he said. "Every sporting event has some economic impact, and unfortunately there is no substitution."

That was apparent at L.A. Live on Tuesday evening, which was decidedly not lively except for some tourists, convention-goers and the occasional Lakers fan — a stark contrast to the usually frenetic vibe that pervades the neon-lighted entertainment complex.

"It's been pretty dead ever since the Lakers lost," said Jason Nguyen, a security official for L.A. Live who said some of his part-time co-workers were told not to report for their shifts. "It's depressing. We thought we were going to the finals."

The Lakers' epic collapse was still weighing on the mind of Xavier Readus, a USC pre-med student who was hanging out in front of Staples Center with his sister.

During the playoffs, Readus usually heads to the ESPN Zone at L.A. Live, where he orders a large beer and French fries while watching the Lakers on one of the flat-screen TVs. But with the team out of the running, Readus, 24, said he'd rather save his $20.

"I probably won't get any food," he said. "If there was a game, I would."

The Lakers' unexpected loss will also affect merchandise sellers, who said Lakers gear is among the most popular of all professional sports team products.

Sport Chalet stores saw a windfall of business after the Lakers' most recent championships, selling jerseys, T-shirts, license plate frames and basketballs to celebratory fans, Chief Executive Craig Levra said.

This year, the La Cañada Flintridge sporting goods chain won't be able to match its 2009 and 2010 Lakers-related sales, he said. Now the company is turning its attention to other playoff series, including the NHL, and making sure it has ample inventory of merchandise for those teams.

"There are winners and losers, and we keep score and it counts," Levra said. "You never budget a championship — that's extra."

After the Lakers won the championship last year against the Boston Celtics, product sales at Staples Center set a record, said Sean Ryan, vice president of merchandise for AEG, which owns the arena and developed L.A. Live.

Now that the Lakers have been eliminated, there's no need to set up pop-up tents and kiosks to hawk Lakers paraphernalia, Ryan said. Although fans can still stop at Staples Center's Team LA store, which operates year-round, employees are in the process of removing some of the shop's Lakers merchandise to make more room for Clippers and Kings gear.

"Obviously there's definitely going to be a lack of game revenue," he said, "but in comparison to years past, there's a lot more traffic throughout the area."

Merchants can also count on hard-core fans such as Ricky Kelly, 20, of Culver City, who went to the Team LA store this week to buy a $41 Lakers hat.

"I'm still representing them," he said. "You stay with your team for the ups and downs. I'm Lakers for life."

Although restaurant and bar owners said they were hopeful that the crowds would turn out for other basketball games, many noted a lack of interest in the remaining teams.

"There were two games on last night, and I did three times more business during the day than I did last night — it was a horrible sign," said Randy Murzynski, manager of the Varsity Sports Bar & Lounge. The bar on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles expects to lose $60,000 for the rest of the NBA postseason.

"We have a big Laker base, and with them being eliminated like this, it cuts down our business by I would say probably 80% during those games," he said. "We pack 'em in. Now, who knows what's going to happen."

[Jungle Rat]

too fucking bad.

[T Dot O Dot]

is still posting at crymic, all by himself

that dude is a different duck... who floats in a different pond

[Johnette's Daddy]

http://blacksportsonline.com/home/2011/ ... 4c6ad1%2C0

BSO’s Resident NBA Expert EXCLUSIVE – The Truth Behind Pau Gasol Drama

Published On 13 May 2011 By Belal Abdelfattah.

Ever since the Lakers were shockingly swept out of the playoffs by the Dallas Mavericks, people have been wondering what exactly happened to rattle this team so badly. It’s not often that you see a defending champion go out in such stunning fashion, and many believe that there had to be something going on in the locker room that was causing the Laker players to lose focus on their goal.

Laker center Andrew Bynum pretty much told us what we knew all along when he said the Lakers had “trust issues” after a Game 2 home loss saw Los Angeles heading to Dallas down 0-2.

The main target of the speculation was Lakers All-Star Pau Gasol, one of the premier bigs in the NBA who never did show up during these playoffs. Gasol’s numbers dipped dramatically amid speculation that he had a confrontation with an unnamed teammate who’s wife had broken up Gasol’s engagement to Silvia Lopez Castro.

Of course, any time you hear “Lakers” and “internal strife” the first person that comes to mind is Kobe Bryant. While he may be an assassin on the court, Kobe isn’t necessarily the most street smart player in the league, and has been known to break a “Man Law” on occasion. So naturally, many have assumed that Kobe told his wife Pau had a girl on the side and Vanessa Bryant caused the rift by telling Ms. Castro, thus leading to her breaking off their engagement and Pau playing softer than cotton candy.

If you are one who believes that story then congratulations you are wrong! Well, sort of. After speaking to sources very close to multiple NBA locker rooms and specifically the Lakers locker room, here is the worldwide exclusive of what really happened, remember where you heard it first!

The Gasol-Castro relationship is definitely on the rocks as their engagement has been put off for now, and it definitely played into the surprising decline in numbers and confidence that we saw from Pau throughout the playoffs.

However, surprisingly it isn’t Kobe and Vanessa who are behind the rift, although they do have a part in it. In fact it is a bench player for the Lakers who may have cost the team a chance at a three-peat.

The word I’m getting is that Shannon Brown, yes the same Shannon Brown who is married R&B singer Monica, slept with Castro during the season, and the affair was discovered by Gasol towards the end of the regular season.

The confrontation we’ve been hearing about did indeed take place, but it was between Gasol and Brown, who nearly came to blows in the locker room and caused a rift that the Lakers were never able to recover from.

The word is that Mrs. Bryant and Ms. Castro engaged in a bit of a cat fight, that ultimately led to Castro saying that Vanessa sleeps around, and Mrs. Bryant basically announcing to anyone who would listen that Castro is really the one sleeping around, specifically with Brown.

That’s right Laker fans, the reason your team is home right now instead of heading towards a Finals series with Lebron and Co. could very well be Shannon Brown.

While many may believe this to be nothing more than gossip, remember where you heard it first when Brown is traded or let go during the off-season.

[Douger]

His name is Shannon. What other choice does he have but to be a bitch?

[T Dot O Dot]

http://blacksportsonline.com/home/2011/ ... 4c6ad1%2C0

BSO’s Resident NBA Expert EXCLUSIVE – The Truth Behind Pau Gasol Drama

I'm supposed to believe this shyt?