For 1,042 days, from 2011 to 2014, Phil Jackson was an unemployed basketball legend, living by the beach in Playa del Rey, California. With no players to coach, and no championships to chase, he channeled his energy into other interests. "I would come home from work, and he'd be reading cookbooks," Jeanie Buss, the Los Angeles Lakers president, said of Jackson, her fiance. "He became fascinated with the chemical [reaction], like how food plays off each other and the different ways that you prepared food, whether it's in the oven or over a fire." The so-called Lord of the Rings, owing to his 11 titles, had become the King of the Cuisinart. "I think he even made beef jerky," Buss said. Jackson studied, explored, experimented, investing fully in every dish, as if he were preparing for Game 1 of the NBA Finals. "I'd take pictures of them," Buss said. "The presentation was as good as the food." This was Phil Jackson in retirement: curious, creative, antsy. To stay active, he worked out with a trainer. He indulged his competitive urges playing "Words With Friends." He watched the NBA, and hockey and tennis and soccer, too. - See more at: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...utm_campaign=br_knicks&utm_source=twitter.com
