REFLECTIONS AND DEFLECTIONS

A few articles back I touched upon
losing some friends that we have
made through out the years and wondering
how our fans and teams will be handling
these losses too. Well, it does give
mind to our own mortality when we realize
a person was right here yesterday and
taken from our sight the next day.
To err is human and we all are guilty
of errors in our mortal lives but we
ought to make a conscious effort to not forget
those that have gone on before us. They
then have passed the tests and now are
in another phase of life/death.
Today we note a person we heard a lot
about during the Watts Riots.
Rodney King was found at the bottom
of his swimming pool and suffered
some incident that took his life.
Only 47 years old, he did suffer
several times with alcohol abuse and
other misdeamers, he still was abused
himself by L.A. police, all those years
ago and his statement made the news "Can't
we all just get along?" King said.
That is the question..whether it is
during a huge department store sale,
a parade that is long and tedious,
watching a ball game and perhaps even
in another town and not your own turf.
We should make a solemn effort to try
really hard to all get along. Life
does take its' toll on us all and
during our time on life's stage, would
it ever be great if more of us could
adopt this philosophy. There is a movie
out right now called "The best exotic
Marigold Hotel" and its' main claim
to fame takes place in crowded, impoverished
India about aging folks and their desire
to be part of a community with other aging
people leaning toward attempts at living
out their remaining days well, but not
necessarily in wealth and splendor.
The book is fabulous if you have not
yet picked it up. The movie stars Great-
Brit actress Judi Dench. She played in
the sit com for years called "As Time
Goes by" and in James Bond shows and
as the Grandmother in film "Chocolate".
She now has macular degeneration so it
is most trying for her to be able to
read her scripts easily but she is a
trooper and a wonderfully talented actress.
Each character in this Marigold Hotel movie
is bringing with him/her self, some baggage
and each is offering friendship, but is
doing so very carefully too and each one
finds a kinship with the other tenants.
To come to terms with age, it takes a
whole lot of courage and grit and along
with this, a bottomless sense of humor.
We live long enough, we shall age. We
are not privy to any other alternative.
And so it would seem to me to be such
a terrific idea if indeed, we could all
just try a bit harder each and every
single day we are still here, to get
along with "others", offering a smile too!
Babs Wells

UPDATES:

The co-owned horse Siempre Mo,
that Lakers Kobe Bryant and Pau
Gasol purchased, is set to run
in Sunday's first race at Betfair
Hollywood Park. Siempre Mo is
trained by Doug O'Neil, who guided
"I'll Have Another" that had
recent victories in the Kentucky
Derby and Preakness.
Siempre Mo will be taking on 5
other older horses at 6 furlongs
in the $12,500 claiming race.
The rider for this horse is
Joy Scott. The horse is a gelding
and is 4 years old. He won his most
recent start by 21/4 lengths on
March 31st. at Santa Anita.
Last April is when Bryant and
Gasol bought into the gelding
during a Lakers Charity fundraiser
back in April.
Also, a former Laker, Derek Fisher,
was in the news. He has won 5
Championships during his career
and played basketball for 15 years
with only 3 of his first years
not being with the Lakers. Of the
players to win at least 6 Championships,
nine-including all-time leaders
Bill Russell (11) and Sam Jones
(10) - played with the Celtics
during their dynasty in the 1950's
and 1960's. The others are former
Lakers teammates, Robert Horry (7),
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (6) and Scottie
Pippen (6). This then, is Fisher's
8th. NBA Finals in 16 years.
Sunday (Fathers' Day) in Miami,
we will very likely be watching
the two teams play..Miami Heat
against Derek's chosen team,
OKC Thunder..so far, they have
each won one game so this 3rd.
game is a fairly big one to see.
Good luck now "Fish"!
Babs Wells

A WIN !!!

Well sports fans, a win for sure and something
for L.A. to cheer over. When many of the Kings
hockey players folks were in school or maybe their
grandparents, the Kings won a championship.
But last night was the first time in 44-45 years
that they won again and win they certainly did!
The faces on these young men would tell the
whole story. Goaltender Quick is named MVP as
the Kings claimed their Stanley Cup. Time to
party and party I am sure they must have done!
Jonathan Quick, goalie, smiled like no one has
maybe ever smiled and it touched the hearts
of all there and in our respective homes as well.
Congratulations kids and we are very proud of you!
Lakers center, Pau Gasol also had reason for a
celebration of sorts. His pal from Spain won
his seventh French Open title Monday.
The King of Clay overwhelmed the #1 ranked
Djokovic for the 50 minutes and nine games they
played on Monday. A victory that allowed Nadal
to earn French Open trophy number 7, breaking
a tie with Bjorn Borg.
And tonight is the NBA Championship game with
Miami Heat and OKC Thunder on the court in OKC.
The game starts at 6:00 in CA and will be the
start of the winning game in the finals.
Its been fun and being in the Finals it is two
players that are going to be hard to guard.
The All-Star talent that will be playing tonight
will give the rest of us reason to be sitting
with nail biting suspense.It is going to be a
great show!
Babs Wells

LAKER NEWS

One of the things I do enjoy about
writing up these articles is that
it keeps me observant on what all
is taking place with not only the
Lakers team, but also on what is
happening around the Lakers camp.
It was announced yesterday that
the Lakers have signed radio-
announcers John Ireland and
Mychal Thompson to multi-year
contract extensions.
Ireland just completed his first
season as play-by-play announcer
and Thompson his ninth as color
analyst. The Charlotte Bobcats
interviewed Lakers assistant
Quin Snyder for their vacant
head-coaching position.
This was first reported by
the Associated Press.
Another bit of news is that the
Lakers have now picked up
Bynum's option so it appears
Drew continues to be on the team.
The contract was for $16,1 million
for this All-Star center.
Mitch Kupchak, General Manager,
confirmed last month that the
Lakers would exercise this option.
Drew was the NBA's third-leading
re bounder and 20th leading
scorer while also ranking 6th
in the league with 1.93 blocked
shots per game. Hopefully he can
endure with no injuries such as
those that caused him anguish
during his 7-year career since
the Lakers made this New Jersey
high school-er the youngest player
ever drafted, back in 2005.
Yes, he did miss some games (4) due
to suspension, so out of 66 games
he played in 60 games with our Lakers.
But it is to be remembered that Drew
is still learning what he eventually
will be and in his words, he stated
"I must have a presence, an aura
that demands my teammates' respect
if I am going to have that super-
star-type of a career".
So out of the mouth of babes, comes
this very mature statement and
we, the spectators certainly will
be watching it to hopefully play
out this way, won't we though?
Babs Wells

NEWSWORTHY

A former Lakers who in 1988 played
on the team with Magic Johnson,
has died at only age 52. His name was
Orlando Woolridge. He was 6'9"
and he expired with a heart
condition in Mansfield, La.
He had participated in one
of the greatest slam dunk
contests of all time in 1985
competing against Michael
Jordan, Dominique Wilkins
and Julius Erving, among
others, as he averaged 22.9
points per game. A good
offensive player, athletic,
'run and score' plus being
a fun-loving athletic guy.
Losing LeRoy Ellis, dying
of prostate cancer at age 72
confirms to us that no matter
the ages, even our athletes
will go and leave us wondering.
He was drafted into the Lakers
in 1962 and appeared in 1,048
NBA games over 14 seasons with
the Lakers and other teams too.
He was a member of the 1972
Lakers' Championship team.
Although not one of our NBA
players, a player none the less,
we now realize we have lost.
Richard Dawson, a host for Family
Feud show, and played in Hogans'
Hero's also won the Daytime Emmy
Award in 1978 as best game-
show host. Born in Great Britain
in 1932, Richard had us laughing
for decades. He was 79 when he
died of esophageal cancer at
Ronald Reagan Memorial hospital.
in Westwood. Yes, these men are
missed, certainly, and we bid them
a restful peace, they have earned it.
Babs Wells

CHANGES AND NEWS

Jack Twyman, age 78, former NBA
star, has just died. Back in the
1950's he was named a player in
the Basketball Hall of Fame. He
died of a blood disorder but he
earlier had become a guardian to
a paralyzed teammate, Maurice
Stokes. Maurice suffered a head
injury that left him paralyzed.
They both had played 11 seasons
in the NBA. Twyman later worked
as a T.V. analyst on NBA games.
In fact, he was an announcer on
the 7th. game for 1970 NBA finals
between the N.Y. Knicks and the
L.A. Lakers. And, another Laker
note. This is in a regard to a
Lakers promotion. Glenn Carrero
is to be assistant-general manager. 
Carrero had been Lakers director of
basket-ball administration and also as
general manager of their develop-
mental league team, the D-Fenders.
Carrero, who has been in the Lakers
front office since 2000, replaced
Ronnie Lester. Lesters'
contract was not renewed last
summer. Carrero was the D-Fenders
assistant general manager from 2006-10.
In his first season as GM, they won
a D-League-leading 38 of 50 games.
General Manager, Mitch Kupchak said
that Glenn has done an excellent
job in every position he has held
in the organization and has become
a most valuable part of the staff.
Kudo's Glenn. We are happy for you.
Babs Wells