Biased in Boston...

So here we are, the Lakers, led by Sir Kobe, have been crowned as the NBA Champs, again. This gives them 15 titles, trailing only Boston (17 titles) as the dominant team in NBA history. This was the title that would take Kobe out of Shaq's shadow, to prove that he didn't need his dominant, mic-wielding, ass-tasting, twittering, sort-of-buffoonish, former teammate to win it all. So all I can say is, good for Kobe, just awesome, really, great. (oh yeah, FU!).

Also we have the story of one Mr. P. Jackson of Chicago, then LA, and now again with L.A. He of the 9 (now 10 NBA coaching titles) surpassing Arnold 'Red' Auerbach as the pre-eminent coach in NBA History. To Phil, I say... wait for it, wait for it... grow back the moustache, your face is creepy. Oh, were you expecting congratulations?

The argument will be, and as in most sports arguments, this one will not likely ever be settled - who is the better coach, Phil or Red? Some will say, and by 'some' I mean, I will say, that Red's mean more because he built his teams from scratch, acting as both the Coach and General Manager, maneuvering and wheeling and dealing to construct his basketball empire. Phil, on the other hand, well he just kind of showed up. He took out his binoculars and saw Michael and Scottie playing some basketball, said 'hey, i'd like me a piece of that' and went over to join them and won 3 championships. Then Michael took his ball and went home, and by 'home' I mean to play baseball, leaving Phil to his devices. Then Mr. Jordan returned, triumphantly, with Phil waiting patiently in his ergonomically correct courtside seat, and they won 3 more. Oh yeah and then he did the same thing in Los Angeles after Shaq was traded in 2000, so you see, he didn't built anything, he just coached really great players - there's a difference.

So, what does all this mean? It means that while Phil Jackson now has his 1o rings, and is undoubtedly a great coach, the fact is... he showed up when the great players arrived, as opposed to acquiring and molding them players - and that is something he will have to live with. Tee hee hee.

P.S. (KG, get that knee healed and shut up all those flaky ESPN pundits).