OK, at this point she's acting like she wants to have PJ's love child....
Sad, really.
And he never "flirted" with the Kings. To flirt you actually have to pay some kind of attention.
http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/story/13784950p-14626684c.html
Eventually, it will all come back to him. The cowbells that serenaded his eardrums for days afterward.
The cozy, ancient arena that allowed prying eyes into his huddles. The semi-civilized fans who became enraged at the mere sight of him, lived to torment him while, inevitably, dying right along with their Kings.
Meantime - and this is only preseason - Phil Jackson needs some prep work.
It's been awhile. It's been too long, apparently.
After a season-long sabbatical, his recall is sharp, but his zingers seem a little, well, uninspired. Or perhaps Jackson - who was aggressively wooed by Kings co-owners Joe and Gavin Maloof before returning to the Lakers - simply has lost his passion for the byplay. Consider his response when asked Friday whether Sacramentans can anticipate another round of discussions about "rednecks" and "semi-civilized" area residents that enlivened an already testy Kings-Lakers rivalry.
"You can't do anything about the people who live in your city," Jackson began slowly, his eyes alight with mischief.
"That's something you have to live with. (It's) an agricultural area ... although I hear the delta's becoming quite an up-and-coming place. Everyone is doing stories on all the building that's going on down there. It's supposed to be pretty neat."
See, his heart just isn't in it.
See, neither is the Maloofs'.
"It's going to be all sweet and huggy between us for a while," said Joe Maloof, laughing, "but I'm sure as the season goes along, we'll be right back at it."
For the record: Jackson, who flirted with the Kings and New York Knicks last spring after figuring out that he was too young to retire, reaffirmed what everyone pretty much knew all along. The Lakers were always his first choice, and Jeanie Buss his latest love.
"She had some influence," he said with a chuckle, as he strolled down the hallway.
There were a million reasons Our Friend Phil returned to the Lakers and never entered into serious negotiations with any other franchise, most of them pertaining to home and hearth and the pursuit of happiness. Jeanie, of course, remained the smart, chic companion, the owner's daughter who proved eminently capable of both reopening and closing the deal. The homefront remained a prime piece of beachfront property located a few miles north of the team's practice facility in El Segundo. The workplace remained the palatial - OK, antiseptic - Staples Center. But for peace and quiet, the place can't be beat.
So it says here, let the man coach in silence, at least until he steps back into Arco. Who cares that he blew his shot at stardom in a city where he would have wielded the public profile and political clout to arm-wrestle (and perhaps succeed) Arnold? You can't really blame him. When in love, men lose their hearts. When in love, men lose their minds.
Speak to Jackson next April, or the following April, when the Lakers continue to struggle for a postseason berth and he is left searching for his remaining body parts.
"Weird, it would have been too weird," said Kobe Bryant, frowning. "That (Jackson to the Kings) would have been like Joe Torre leaving the Yankees and going to the Red Sox. It's great to have him back. I don't know how good we're going to be, but we're starting to make progress."
Nobody loves a loser, especially in L.A. So it was good to see Friday night that, while maintaining a sense of humor, while attempting to reconnect with the old days, Jackson still carries himself with the square-shouldered arrogance of someone who thinks pretty highly of himself, who knows he can coach, and who knows everyone else knows he can coach, too. (Indeed, in the the league's annual poll of general managers that was released earlier this week on the NBA Web site, Jackson was ranked among the top four coaches - with Larry Brown, Gregg Popovich, Jerry Sloan - in virtually every critical category.) "It's great to have him back," added Joe Maloof, enthusiastically. "He belongs on the bench. He belongs in the NBA. It's good for the league, for the city of Los Angeles. We want the Lakers to be good - just not as good as us."
Sad, really.
And he never "flirted" with the Kings. To flirt you actually have to pay some kind of attention.
http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/story/13784950p-14626684c.html
Eventually, it will all come back to him. The cowbells that serenaded his eardrums for days afterward.
The cozy, ancient arena that allowed prying eyes into his huddles. The semi-civilized fans who became enraged at the mere sight of him, lived to torment him while, inevitably, dying right along with their Kings.
Meantime - and this is only preseason - Phil Jackson needs some prep work.
It's been awhile. It's been too long, apparently.
After a season-long sabbatical, his recall is sharp, but his zingers seem a little, well, uninspired. Or perhaps Jackson - who was aggressively wooed by Kings co-owners Joe and Gavin Maloof before returning to the Lakers - simply has lost his passion for the byplay. Consider his response when asked Friday whether Sacramentans can anticipate another round of discussions about "rednecks" and "semi-civilized" area residents that enlivened an already testy Kings-Lakers rivalry.
"You can't do anything about the people who live in your city," Jackson began slowly, his eyes alight with mischief.
"That's something you have to live with. (It's) an agricultural area ... although I hear the delta's becoming quite an up-and-coming place. Everyone is doing stories on all the building that's going on down there. It's supposed to be pretty neat."
See, his heart just isn't in it.
See, neither is the Maloofs'.
"It's going to be all sweet and huggy between us for a while," said Joe Maloof, laughing, "but I'm sure as the season goes along, we'll be right back at it."
For the record: Jackson, who flirted with the Kings and New York Knicks last spring after figuring out that he was too young to retire, reaffirmed what everyone pretty much knew all along. The Lakers were always his first choice, and Jeanie Buss his latest love.
"She had some influence," he said with a chuckle, as he strolled down the hallway.
There were a million reasons Our Friend Phil returned to the Lakers and never entered into serious negotiations with any other franchise, most of them pertaining to home and hearth and the pursuit of happiness. Jeanie, of course, remained the smart, chic companion, the owner's daughter who proved eminently capable of both reopening and closing the deal. The homefront remained a prime piece of beachfront property located a few miles north of the team's practice facility in El Segundo. The workplace remained the palatial - OK, antiseptic - Staples Center. But for peace and quiet, the place can't be beat.
So it says here, let the man coach in silence, at least until he steps back into Arco. Who cares that he blew his shot at stardom in a city where he would have wielded the public profile and political clout to arm-wrestle (and perhaps succeed) Arnold? You can't really blame him. When in love, men lose their hearts. When in love, men lose their minds.
Speak to Jackson next April, or the following April, when the Lakers continue to struggle for a postseason berth and he is left searching for his remaining body parts.
"Weird, it would have been too weird," said Kobe Bryant, frowning. "That (Jackson to the Kings) would have been like Joe Torre leaving the Yankees and going to the Red Sox. It's great to have him back. I don't know how good we're going to be, but we're starting to make progress."
Nobody loves a loser, especially in L.A. So it was good to see Friday night that, while maintaining a sense of humor, while attempting to reconnect with the old days, Jackson still carries himself with the square-shouldered arrogance of someone who thinks pretty highly of himself, who knows he can coach, and who knows everyone else knows he can coach, too. (Indeed, in the the league's annual poll of general managers that was released earlier this week on the NBA Web site, Jackson was ranked among the top four coaches - with Larry Brown, Gregg Popovich, Jerry Sloan - in virtually every critical category.) "It's great to have him back," added Joe Maloof, enthusiastically. "He belongs on the bench. He belongs in the NBA. It's good for the league, for the city of Los Angeles. We want the Lakers to be good - just not as good as us."
