I’m agnostic about whether Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayotallah Khamenei is alive and healthy, dead or sick (tending toward the latter)? But I’d certainly believe he is among the living if he was holding up a copy of the headline from today’s Sports Illustrated in one of those photos – Hail to the Zen Master!/Jackson earns No. 900; Mavs’ win streak ends at 13.
Roger L. Simon
Blacklisting Myself Memoir of a Hollywood Apostate in the Age of Terror
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Simon's first non-fiction book - Blacklisting Myself: Memoir of a Hollywood Apostate in an Age of Terror - Pub. date: February 5, 2009 |
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9 Comments
1. promoguy:Gawd, this is turning into a sports blog:
1. Phil Jackson
2. Kobe Bryant
3. Rocky Balboa
Jan 8, 2007 - 10:37 am 2. pastorius:Turning into a sports blog? Keep it up, Roger.
As a fellow Los Angelean, I am as excited about the Lakers as you are, and thus far, this season looks to be one of those seasons where everything goes right for a team. Even when guys get injured, it seems that it was, in a way, for the better. The fact that Kwame went down means Bynum gets more playing time and this, of course, means he has a chance to grow. The fact that Lamar has gone down puts even more pressure on Kobe to play the team game. In the past, of course, this would have meant the opposite, but now he knows he has a team to rely on, and without Lamar, the job of facilitator is all on him.
Last night’s game was a wonder to watch. Heh.
We love Vujacic, he’s our man. If he can’t do it, no one can.
Jan 8, 2007 - 12:01 pm 3. XWL:Count me amongst the local folks who don’t mind more Laker love being shown at this blog.
The Lakers transformation from having a pitiful bench, to being one of the deepest teams in the league is remarkable.
And they did it by hard work over the off season (big improvements from Bynum, Brown, Turiaf), a smart draft choice (nobody expected Farmar to be this good so early, except maybe Farmar and Kupchak), and excellent mid-level free agent signings (Maurice Evans has been quiet, but essential to the Lakers success this year, and Radmanovic, hampered by a hand injury early, is starting to show why he was sought after).
The Lakers are athletic, long and young at every position.
Rarely do so many young players play so well together and without acrimony.
The only other thing I can say about this Laker season is, “Shaq who?”.
(Keeping Kobe and shedding Shaq seems like it was the right way to go now, not so much the previous two seasons)
Jan 8, 2007 - 12:57 pm 4. Doug S.:“Gawd, this is turning into a sports blog:”
It’s Roger’s blog. We merely comment in it.
Lakers games are again becoming appointment TV for me; I am astounded by how well they’re doing and the excitement level of the games. I agree with pastorman and XWL; I’m very surprised that they could lose both Odom and Brown and, it seems, hardly miss a beat.
I’m particularly pleased by Bynum’s emegence. When you pick a kid in the draft that young, he’d better turn out to be the real deal or you’re going to look silly. I always thought he had a reasonable chance of becoming a productive NBA player, but it’s happening sooner than I’d thought.
And let’s give Luke Walton some credit, too, for turning out to be a valuable starter. I thought he would be a solid sixth man at best.
Jan 8, 2007 - 1:54 pm 5. promoguy:I think I should have made a few more smiley faces.
But I’m in.
How about those Trojans. Yeah both basketball and football
FIGHT ON
Jan 8, 2007 - 2:04 pm 6. pastorius:I just want to point out that, at 19, Andrew Bynum is 7-0, 295 pounds.
When Shaq came into the league, at 20, he was 7-1, 290 pounds.
Andrew Bynum will likely continue to get bigger and stronger. He is just now starting to learn about nutrition. Earlier this season he was caught by Coach Rambis eating Fruit Loops to cure his “lightheadedness”. Now, he understands that protein is the way to go.
Can you imagine a guy that big and powerful who JUST learned about protein?
The unique thing about Bynum is that he combines that size and power with the finesses of a Tim Duncan, or a Kareem Abdul Jabbar.
Bynum is the future of the Lakers.
Jan 8, 2007 - 9:43 pm 7. David:Just at a guess Khameni is sick but not yet dead. He hasn’t shown up for events at this important time of year and the radicals aren’t droppping his casket in the streets.
Jan 9, 2007 - 6:23 am 8. michael ledeen:I wonder if Kobe will end up coaching Ohio State next season…
Jan 9, 2007 - 8:26 am 9. waterdragon52:Why “agnostic”, Roger: As the Supreme Guide, Khameini is more powerful than Ahmadinejad, who is doubtless looking forward to influencing the decision on who the next Supreme Guide will be, not that I think we are likely to see much in the way of “improvement”. Ahmadinejad’s own spiritual leader didn’t fare well in the recent Supreme Council election, so I don’t think he is a contender, but whomever follows Khameini will have enormous power to remove Ahmadinejad or otherwise see to it that he doesn’t have a second term.
Jan 9, 2007 - 9:39 am