1. I will say that Dick Goddard is nearly as good as Dr. George Fishbeck and that's saying something. (Not as good, mind you.)  2. Am I the only one who sees how fricken pathological this obsession with LeBron James is?  3. For the last several months I've had to open my club with this orange-haired frankenstein of an Akronian who just rips into Kobe, calling him a rapist on a daily basis while extolling LeBron James as the best player of all time and saying no one can beat the Cavs. It was beyond obnoxious.  After the Cavs were eliminated, he came in and I said to him with a thin smile, "Do I really have to say anything?"  He shrugged, looking down and said into his chest, "I really wasn't that big of a basketball fan, anyhow."  4. I struggle to communicate how deeply this community wants a savior. They want someone to save them so badly because they are responsible for this community sucking so bad and they cannot help themselves.  I am constantly reminded of Peter Lorre's soliloquy in "M" when thinking of this city.  It's a weird cycle of hope and disappointment and resistance to change. "If I just do it more, it'll work better!"  My grandfather was from Slovakia and there's a Slovak joke, "Slovak problem solving method: If something's broke, hit it with a hammer. If that doesn't work, get a bigger hammer."  Well, there's a lot of Slovaks out here and it kind of summarizes the problem solving method.  And they know it. Deep down, they know it.  And no one from the outside is going to be able to tell them how to do it otherwise....  But then there's LeBron James: Akronian. One of their own.  He's an exception. He could change everything. HE could be the ONE. THE SAVIOR!  The problem is that he IS one of them. He's an Akronian and he is subject to the same disease as everyone else. It's sad.  There's a phenomenon of "graduating from Ohio" where people who are more competitive or creative ultimately leave. Many of them then head to the West Coast where they talk about how shallow Westerners are and how people are more real in the Midwest. Untrue.  It's weird, but it's part of the culture and a constant concern out here. The brain drain. "Idiocracy" in action.  There's a reason the movie "Gummo" takes place in Ohio.  But people don't want to really be like this. They know something's wrong, but they don't know how to change. They feel like they need someone to save them and they've found that figure in LeBron James, to whom a nearly slavish devotion has developed.  The problem is that LeBron James ain't that guy.  If LeBron James had the character of, say, Derek Fisher, he could be that guy, but he's not. He's the guy who wants to get out of Ohio... because that, too, is part of the culture here.  In any case, some sportswriter should write a book on this whole process because it is utterly fascinating (at least from my perspective).  In short, I don't think he's going to stay and most Northern Ohioans don't think he's going to stay either.  My gut tells me that LeBron is going to leave, the community is going to panic, the Cavs will leave Cleveland within three years, and Michael Holmgren will lead the Browns to some level of past glory and the entire community will unite around that success with extreme furor.  Despite everything, despite all the failure, despite all the disappointment, one thing I can say about this community is that hope springs eternal. The upside of their stubborness and their desperate bullheadedness is that after every failure, they pick themselves up again, and go out and get themselves a bigger hammer and start pounding away at that rock.  In the end, this place has always been a football and baseball town. It's never really been a basketball town until LeBron showed up. When he leaves, it'll return to what it has always been... a football and baseball town, as those two sports better reflect that temperment of the community than basketball.  And, sooner or later, the Browns will turn around, Holmgren giving them their best opportunity since Art Modell left under the cover of darkness. And when they do, maybe there will be some change in the thinking and expecations here in Ohio.  But don't expect miracles. Cultures change with the rapidity of aircraft carriers making 180 degree turns.  In the end, Ohio will always be Ohio and, in some strange ways, that can be a good thing.  What do we play for? RINGS!!!  Lakers Today... Lakers Tomorrow... Lakers Forever.
Lakers links --The Times' Mike Bresnahan highlights Phil Jackson's zing on Phoenix guard Steve Nash. --The Times' Chris Erskine attempts to get inside Kobe Bryant's head. --The Orange County Register's Kevin Ding argues the Lakers bench could learn several things from the Suns' reserves. He also highlights Ron Artest's contention that he won't be bored with the Phoenix series. --ESPN Los Angeles' Brian Kamenetzky has a detailed practice report. --The Riverside Press Enterprise's David Lassen focuses on Derek Fisher's matchup with Nash. --Fox Sports analyst Marques Johnson in the video below argues the Lakers have gotten back their swagger. --ESPN...