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good read
Image is everything with Andrew Bynum 'coverage'
Despite all those overheated Internet accounts, Lakers center's escapades at the Playboy mansion hardly qualify as news, particularly when viewed in the context of the franchise's wild history.
Mark Heisler
o, mother lode.
Even for the Lakers, who have had as many stars as any NBA team, and as many clowns as Barnum & Bailey has climbing out of that little car, it was some week.
Talk about images that will live forever, like Jerry West hitting that half-court shot, and Magic Johnson's junior, junior skyhook, and now . . .
H-e-r-e's Andrew, partying at the Playboy mansion, with Playmate Nicole Narain on his shoulders!
The team's on the road, getting its itinerary rearranged -- OK, that's Games 1, 2, 6 and 7 in Cleveland -- with Lakerdom waiting breathlessly for updates on Andrew Bynum . . . and he's running around with a Playboy centerfold on his back?
Even if it may have just been some new kind of therapy, it wasn't the kind of update they had in mind.
In Lakerdom, we call this a Full Kwame, for Kwame Brown, who attained immortality during his brief stay by hitting a fan with his own birthday cake.
Of course, no NBA le has ever depended on Brown. Bynum is a franchise player in training, or, at least, that's one of the things he's training for.
Everyone laughed at Brown. With Bynum, there was a Great Disturbance in the Force, although most people were understanding, apart from talk show hosts and the usual percentage of people displacing rage, as in this post to our Lakers Blog:
"disgusting. trade him. trade him for marc gasol. then he'll always be injured since he'd be in memphis. serves him right. what a [bad word].
"Posted by: pinkalink"
The real significance of Andrew's Night Out was . . . zip . . . although it was a clinic on coverage in the Information Age, also known as the Bonkers Age.
If going to a party is too dangerous, they should hospitalize Bynum so he can't get out of bed.
Since he does squats with twice as much weight as Ms. Narain carries, it was hardly reckless to hoist her on his shoulders. It didn't even qualify as a workout.
He wasn't ignoring his team, which wasn't playing that night.
Whatever this was, whether you found it a monumental pain, like the Lakers, who go through something like this every day; or shocking (get a life); or a laugh-riot because of the overreaction (bingo!), it was huge.
The story by SI.com's Arash Markazi got more than 200,000 page views and was cited by ESPN's "SportsCenter" and "Pardon the Interruption." We're still waiting to see if "60 Minutes" mentions it.
And whatever you think of the process, it's not going away.
Of course, we're still trying to figure out what hits and driving traffic have to do with journalism, which, unfortunately, was rare enough in newspapers before the Internet.
On the other hand, if there's one thing everyone understands by now, it's no traffic, no journalism.
Journalism involves explaining, or at least trying to explain what things are, as opposed to what they look like, no matter how shocking or funny that is.
Given Bynum's previous star turn -- "making it rain" (throwing money at the performers) at his 21st birthday party last fall (still up on YouTube) -- he's starting to look like the Lakers' version of "Girls Gone Wild."
As if that would represent some break with tradition.
Among the Lakers, the mansion is also known as "the clubhouse."
Hugh Hefner once turned it over to Shaquille O'Neal for a private party for several thousand close friends before the 2004 All-Star game, one-upping them for all time.
Hefner is not only close to Lakers owner Jerry Buss, the Lakers are the only team with a top executive who posed for a pictorial in the magazine.
Happily for them, the Internet is a recent phenomenon. Who knows whether the Showtime teams could have won five les under such scrutiny in the '80s, when their whirlpool was used for more than rehab?
The reality is as much a surprise as Bynum has been.
He's actually hardworking, levelheaded and coachable, which accounts for his stunning rise from a chunky prep who was supposed to be a project at UConn, skipped to the NBA instead, and came on so fast he wound up turning around outward-bound Kobe Bryant and saving the Lakers' franchise.
If Bynum is getting around more, he's still getting better by leaps and bounds, although the process isn't smooth.
When he started slowly this season, Mychal Thompson and I had another of our long-running exchanges of opinion about him.
"It's your fault for building him up," Thompson said.
"At least, I didn't want to trade him for Jason Kidd, the way you did," I said.
Nor did Jackson's jibe after Bynum's three-on-three game that DJ Mbenga "ate him up" mean anything, although talk shows were stressing about it within hours.
Said DJ, who didn't remember dominating Bynum: "Sometimes, Phil is more funny." Yes, there are things the Lakers have to do, like, waking up.
As for Bynum and la vida loca, don't cry for him, Lakerdom.
good read
Was there a point to this article? Some moral? A connecting theme, at least?
Just like there was no point for Bynum to be there, this article is pointless too.
What, just random thoughts thrown here and there.
No point. Worthless article.
GTFO here...He's a young kid hanging out at the playboy mansion (on a day the Lakers were off, no less)...any one of us would kill to do that--unless you're a got. The point of the article is two-fold: 1) he is fitting in right along w/ the Lakers high-profile celebrity status tradition, and 2) that waffles like yourself get your panties in a bunch when you see pictures like that--thinking that he's neglecting his responsibilities. You people need to remove the stick from your collective ass. Like the article referenced, this is nothing compared to what Showtime Lakers used to pull.
Who cares about the Lakers except for bandwagon fans? Just GTFO already.
Nice defense...keep back-pedaling. You apparently cared enough to respond to a Laker-related thread. And you do care about the Lakers because once again that's who's gonna bounce your boys from the playoffs. Second-largest media market, 14 les, 29 appearances, and only 2 non-playoff seasons since 1975...trust me, you care, even if it's just on a subconscious level. You're wired to care about the Lakeshow, just like all baseball fans have an opinion about the Yankees. W/o us, it just wouldn't be that fun
My thoughts exactly.
Maybe talk radio has been buzzing about this in LA but that doesn't make sense.
, the best player in franchise history and my favorite of all-time has his career cut short because of AIDS.
The owner is one of the biggest playboys in the planet.
The coach is banging the boss' daughter.
The star now has been accused of rape.
The cheerleaders are one of the marque sex symbols in sports.
Another one of their greats clams to have slept with so many women, even in death he should be the Viagra poster child.
I love the Lakers but I don't use them for my moral compass. What Bynum did doesn't even rank as a blip on the radar.
Everyone is acting like it's bad Bynum went there. Wouldn't you then?
I actually laughed when i saw the line "he is a franchise player in training"
I can't stop laughing at this image of Bynum:
I can't stop laughing at this image of Bynum:
Damn I thought D228 came back. you for bumping this thread lkrfan.
Damn I thought D228 came back. you for bumping this thread lkrfan.
Yeah according to some of her profile messages that's why she bolted.
The TOSB jim 4 > 3 Kobe era would be over soon
Can't forget Bynum after spring Bible Kemp I see. Laughing is better than crying.I can't stop laughing at this image of Bynum:
management gave her one of those spurstalk top posters of the year medals. some guys got super butthurt that she got an internet award and ed about it, driving her off iirc. pretty dumb, like crying about not having a flag under their name or the sort.
i heard she was easy on the eyes
I heard LJ and Kori setup a 3-way and she backed out at the last moment, sending a tranny hooker in her place. But they snuffed it out, then secretly banned her for the transgression.
Any proofs? I always thought she was just an old lady tbh.
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