RIP Jerry Buss

Steve Garvey's role in increasing the LA population can't be overlooked either.

 

Cooke also acquired Kareem. And traded for the pick that became Magic. And did all the behind-the-scenes wining and dining to get Magic to agree to a contract ---- even though he wound up selling the team more than a month before they could officially draft him.

 

Funniest thing I remember regarding Buss was when I was in eighth grade, when they showed us a film in school about Mary Pickford. The film mentioned the Pickfair estate in Beverly Hills that was owned by she and Douglas Fairbanks.

Buss bought the property eventually after Pickford's death, and henceforth it was known as "Bussfair."

 

From Plaschke's column:

"Jerry Buss was the showman behind Showtime, the man who won 10 NBA championships by acquiring some of the greatest and most glitzy players ever, from Magic Johnson to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, from Shaquille O’Neal to Kobe Bryant."

Crediting Buss with acquiring Magic is a stretch (Cooke had decided to draft Magic, and a contract was set to be signed as soon as they made the pick official).

Crediting Buss with acquiring Kareem is outright stupid.

Anybody running this column should change "acquiring" to "inheriting and acquiring"

 

Inaccuracies?

Look!

It's Plaschke!

 

Ten or so years ago, I covered a Laker playoff game when they came to my market. In the press dinner room and in walks Jerry Buss. Probably not more than ten people in the room.

Buss walks over to me and my photographer. I invited him to sit down and he did. We talked about his team but I also asked about his first year, with McKinney and Westhead. Buss was very chatty and couldn't have been nicer.

RIP.

Although I assume McKinney, Westhead and Randy Pfund will not be pallbearers.

 

Props to Buss, but O'Malley conquered the West for baseball. Epic legacy.

 

And the error is repeated in this week's Sports Illustrated. Writes Jack McCallum (who should know better):

"Buss, who had a Ph.D in both physical chemistry and Living Life Large, brought Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal, as well as celebrity coaches Pat Riley and Phil Jackson to L.A."

3 out of 6 ain't bad, I guess.

To recap:

Kareem was a Laker three years before Buss bought the team.
Magic was all but signed, sealed and delivered by Cooke weeks before Buss bought the team.
Buss hired West to replace Westhead ---- or thought he did, until West said at the news conference that Pat Riley is the coach.

Buss is a great enough figure that we do not have to overstate what he did for the sake of a good story.

 

Chick Hearn or Vin Scully could easily fill one of those slots.

 

One of the reasons Riley stepped over from broadcasting (as Hearn's assistant) into coaching was Hearn's assurance that he could have his job back if things didn't work out.

Riley was envisioning a TV career for himself before Westhead asked him to be his assistant following Jack McKinney's bicycle accident.

 

Hearn had more influence in the Cooke regime than typical broadcasters. I believe he had the title of assistant GM at one time. Hearn also played a role in bringing Bob Miller to the Kings when Jiggs McDonald headed to Atlanta.

I have made mistakes but the Abdul-Jabbar error is a real whopper, IMHO. Then to see it regurgitated? But, shit happens.

 

A few weeks ago in SI's Super Bowl preview they were remembering the best and worst 2-minute drills in Super Bowl history.

Among the worst was the Cowboys' in SB V, where Morton threw a pass that was deflected and picked off by Mike Curtis, setting up the Colts' winning FG.

SI said the kicker was Pat O'Brien.

It was Jim O'Brien.