NBA

Leave a comment Posted on Jerry West, Los Angeles Lakers, Sandy Koufax

Mr. Clutch, My Hero

As a little boy, I had no aspirations of becoming a professional athlete.  I was short, overweight and had zero natural abilities.  But I had a basketball hoop attached to the backyard patio roofline where I shot 16-footers every day imagining I was Jerry West of the Los Angeles Lakers.

That’s why it was sad to hear the news that the NBA Hall of Famer had passed away at 86.

West along with Hall of Fame Dodger pitcher Sandy Koufax were my two biggest sports idols growing up.

Jerry West had a handful of nicknames including Mr. Clutch and The Logo.  The one I liked best was the lyrical Zeke from Cabin Creek making him seem mythical.

I respected his tenacity to want the ball every time he dribbled down the court, especially during playoff games.  In his 14-year career, he made almost have of his shots which is why I felt confident that whenever he had the ball in his hands the Lakers had a chance to win. 

He had his nose broken nine times.  Imagine having the courage to go through that and to continue playing at an intense level, unafraid of driving to the basket.

The one Achille’s heal was his inability to beat the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals.  The Celtics beat the Lakers all six times they played each other with West on the team.  Even when the Lakers clearly had the superior team in 1969, something always happened which prevented the Lakers from claiming victory. 

Three of those contests went seven games:  only seven points separated the two teams in those deciding matches.

Laker fans felt the heartache of Jerry West who despite playoff heroics could not find a way to get the leprechaun off the Lakers’ backs.  In fact, he outplayed everyone in 1969 in points and assists, averaging 38 points per game making half of his shots, earning the MVP award, the only time a player on a losing team won it.  That did little to take away the sting from West’s psyche.

In his memoir, West described the depression he felt whenever the Lakers fell short of a title.  Even after his playing days were over and he became an award-winning basketball executive, West could not sit and watch his Lakers in playoff games.  He had to stand in a hallway away from the court, or drive around town in his car.  It’s funny that I used to do the same thing as a fan, unable to watch critical moments in a game, fearful that the Lakers would lose again.

Jerry finally won his one and only championship in 1972.  That team had the best record ever by an NBA team at the time of 69-13 which included a 33-game winning streak, the most consecutive wins by any team that still stands today.

When I was 13, I chronicled the streak by cutting out sports articles from the newspaper and taping them into a scrapbook.  

Earlier that same year, Sandy Koufax was voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, a good year for my idols.

I was fortunate enough attend the game when the Lakers won that elusive NBA championship against the New York Knicks.

When tickets went on sale for the Finals, my sister Debra drove me to the Fabulous Forum in Inglewood.  After waiting in line for hours, we were able to get tickets for Game Five at the face value price of $15.  That wouldn’t even get you a beer at a game today.  Of course, we weren’t sure if there would be a Game Five at the time.

As it turned out, the Lakers were up three games to one when they returned home at LAX on May 6th to play for the championship at the Forum the next day. 

We were so excited that my sister drove us to LAX to see the players. For people younger than 50, what I’m about to tell you may seem shocking.  

Back then, professional athletes would de-plane at the same terminal as the general public and walk by themselves (no entourages) towards the carousel baggage claim area.  Security was scarce so my sister and I stood back watching the players wait around for their bags.  That was a perfect opportunity for me to ask for their autographs.

And then there he was, number 44, Jerry West, 20 yards away from me—and I froze.  I was too nervous to approach him for an autograph.

Instead, I settled for two of the five starters, starting forwards Happy Hairston and Jim McMillian, and back-up center Leroy Ellis.  I even got Hall of Fame announcer Chick Hearn’s signature as well.

When my brother, sister and I went to the game the next day.  Based on past experiences, we had no confidence that they could finally win a championship, but they did, beating the Knicks 114-100.  It was the only time I was at a sporting event that resulted in my team winning a trophy.

I feel fortunate that both of my boyhood sports heroes have lived long lives (Koufax will turn 89 later this year).  Though I never shook their hands or got autographs, it has been a warm feeling knowing that they were still around for most of my life.

A page from my scrapbook chronicling the 1971-72 Lakers.

Leave a comment Posted on all-gender, transgender

The Anti-Gender Gang At It Again

Last week Gov. Jerry Brown signed Assembly Bill 1732 requiring by March 2017 that all public places, including those in schools, have a single-user bathroom “designated as all-gender.” Just another one of those new laws that makes you scratch your head.

The Williams Institute reports that 0.6 percent of the U.S. population identifies themselves as transgender.  That means that 99.4 percent do not.

Surely there must be more pressing issues facing the 99.4 percent of Californians than this.

The groups behind this—California NOW, Equality California, Transgender Law Center (and don’t forget the ACLU)—must be bankrolling the campaigns of enough state legislators to allow such nonsense to be enacted.

Single-use bathrooms already exist for families and disabled people at several places. Even Starbucks has them.   So why is this law needed?

Only one reason:  to push the agenda of very small but vocal and politically charged groups whose ultimate goal seems to be to get the government to outlaw recognizing people as men and women.

The NBA made a big stink about North Carolina’s law that mandates people use a gender-specific bathroom that matches their sex at birth by pulling its All-Star Game out of Charlotte.

Are there that many transgender basketball players?

In its support of AB 1732, Equality California stated that “we must change our focus from segregating access to equalizing access to this solitary room [enabling] everyone to get in and out on the same terms.”

Talk about a sentence that sucks dry the humanity of people. What these anti-gender groups want is for people to no longer be identifiable.  Already stores like Target no longer categorize toys according to gender.

The bill’s backers point to “the bathrooms in people’s homes” as proof that all-gender restrooms are not novelties so it shouldn’t be a big deal for any establishment open for business to have a single-user toilet not marked by gender.

Actually for schools to meet the new law’s requirement will require more than replacing the sign on the door; except for some faculty and nurse station bathrooms, the vast majority of schools have only multi-user facilities.   So this will require money, money better spent in the classroom not on the toilet.  Unless you allow all kids, boys and girls, to share the same restroom.

Over at Santee Education Complex in downtown L.A. there already is a multi-stall restroom so males, females, and others may use the facility.    I wonder how parents feel about that one.

Where I work there are single-use faculty bathrooms for each gender.  I like that because, without going into too much detail, men and women have different plumbing and toiletry needs.

Equality California claims that people have become “accustomed to the traditional ‘male’ and ‘female’ designations in order to determine the appropriate restroom facility to use.”  Yes, that is correct.  And there is nothing wrong with that as long as the word “traditional” doesn’t get twisted into a slur as has happened with the word “normal.”

Even though I am “traditional,” I still try to cause the least attention when using a public toilet—I don’t want to look at anyone, and I don’t want anyone to look at me.   That would be more challenging in a multi-stall, multi-gender facility.

I don’t mean to be insensitive to transgender people.   But this notion of forcing a large majority to go along with the will of an infinitesimal minority must stop.

God forbid we identify ourselves as men and women because it might hurt the feelings of 0.6 percent of the population.