From the firing of Mike Brown through the courting of Phil Jackson to the hiring of Mike D'Antoni , with all the amazement and agita in between, it's fair to say that it's been a pretty eventful few days for the Los Angeles Lakers. So the great Lee Jenkins uses this lede for his piece on a whirlwind weekend in L.A.: Kobe Bryant did not speak to reporters after practice Monday because Lakers point guard Steve Blake suffered an abdominal strain and could only get an appointment with an Orange County doctor in the early afternoon, so Bryant flew him there in his helicopter to avoid any irksome traffic on the 405. ... it seems completely appropriate and par for the course — so long as, y'know, the course is kind of over-the-top and far afield from the experiences of us mere mortals. As FoxSportsWest.com's Joe McDonnell notes , this is (amazingly) not altogether uncommon — Bryant frequently makes private helicopter trips to and from Lakers practices and games "instead of traversing the often-crowded Southern California freeways [...] from his Orange County home." Nothing quite like being able to keep the cherry red $329,000 Ferrari in the garage in favor of something cooler . Our friends at the Yahoo! Sports Minute have more on the Black Mamba hustling his trusted sidekick (let's call him Caretaker, I guess) to the Mambacopter, delivering a hearty "Mamba out" to the crowd below and soaring away:
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