RealClearSports: Cheers, Jeers - and Baskets - Follow Kobe

By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

OAKLAND, Calif. -- The people who weren't cheering him were booing him. It was a game in the arena of the Golden State Warriors, but for Kobe Bryant, it could have been in L.A.'s Staples Center.

"Yeah,'' Bryant said, "when we're up, it does feel like a home game."

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2011

SF Examiner: Lakers bring electricity to town

By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

The long ago Pacific Coast League baseball team was called the Hollywood Stars, a name both pretentious and truthful in Southern Cal. Down there, if you’re not signing autographs, you’re asking for them. It’s an L.A. way of life.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: Lakers on the Freeway to Success

By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

Ray Allen's jumper must have been stopped at security. He traveled from L.A. to Boston, but his shot wasn't allowed to board. Or knowing the airlines, maybe it was shipped to the Bahamas by mistake, with those suitcases which were supposed to go to Baltimore.

Is there a Bureau of Missing Baskets?

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2010

RealClearSports: Celtics: A History of Agony for Lakers

By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

They came from Minneapolis 50 years ago -- you think a team in southern California ever would be named "Lakers?'' -- and nobody seemed to care.

The big games played in L.A. in those days were not under a roof. As the Rivieras sang, people were out there having fun in the warm California sun. Not indoors.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2010

RealClearSports: Lakers-Suns: As Good As It Gets

By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

Remember the film from a few years back, “As Good as it Gets’’? Jack Nicholson was in that one. Nicholson, who as always, was courtside Thursday night when the Lakers and Suns played a game that was, yes, as good as it gets.

Maybe it wasn’t for Suns fans. Not when they look at the scoreboard. But if they are able to see the big picture, if they judge a sporting event for what it can offer in excitement and drama and irony, even they grudgingly might concede.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2010