Chris McGowan @blazerschris RIP Dr Buss. Laker land will never be the same. Thoughts go out to the entire organization.
That is very sad. But Jim Buss has been running that front office for the last few years. I don't really think they miss a beat organization wise anyway.
Re: OT: Jerry Buss has a few days to live...dying of cancer I never hated on Dr. Buss. I admired how willing he was to always have a winning team. He will definitely be missed.
RIP Jerry. I hate the Lakers, but as everyone else said you have to respect Buss. Ownership is such a crucial aspect of the quality of the league that's often overlooked. The Lakers are probably still in good hands but its never good to lose a great owner.
A family story about my uncle and Buss My Uncle is a surgeon in NY and would sometimes play poker at some friends house who would have a big game once a month. 10K buy in. My uncle gets invited and told that Buss would be there so he goes, excited to play in the same game. 10 minutes into the night Buss suggests they up the buy in to 100K and needles those who didn’t want to change. (I should mention that the poorest people playing likely had 25mil). My uncle played and lost one buy in and quit. Buss ended up slightly and some tennis pro (my uncle would not tell me who) ended up the big winner up over 400K.
This isn't the time to critique Buss' performance, but for many years I have thought that the Lakers have a terrible record of trades, considering the Paul Allen-like advantages they never use. They have had poor depth for years because they always depend upon a couple of highly-paid stars who were attracted purely by the glitzy media center angle. It's been going on at least since 1979, when he became owner. But this isn't the place to say that he should have been much better, so I'll be silent.
Imagine the tantrums the conservative Oregonian would throw if Paul Allen had any discoverable fun-loving side. Allen lives in paranoia of those ass journalists and the drone fans who follow the paper's every command.
He was like an old, filthy rich version of the McConaughey character from "Dazed and Confused". "That's the thing I like about these girls. I keep getting older, they stay the same age." Always had a smile on his face.
[video=youtube;j0E3v4fsDhI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=j0E3v4fsDhI[/video] I wonder if they realize they used a song originally titled "good riddance"....
