Warm Up the Buss! Warm Up the Buss!

(An epitaphany shared with Monty)

Or

Buss-ted

Jerry Buss, who made the Hall of Fame by signing the paychecks of some of the best players in NBA history, has died of cancer at the age of 80 as even he couldn’t bear to watch the 2012-13 Los Angeles Lakers any more. Since buying the Lakers in 1979, Buss, a real estate magnate and holder of a doctorate in physical chemistry, built the team into one of the NBA’s flagships, ranked as the second-most valuable franchise by Forbes at $1 billion. Of course, the New York Knicks are the most valuable, so apparently stockpiling talent and winning championships has nothing to do with franchise value. With Magic Johnson scoring a $25 million, 25-year contract after his second year in the league, the Lakers thrilled fans with their Showtime offense, while the Laker Girls, led by Paula Abdul and Tina Yothers, kept fans distracted on off nights. Lakers games became must-see events, with celebrity fans like Jack Nicholson and Dian Cannon holding courtside seats. Buss also owned The Forum, later The Great Western Forum, the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings, the Los Angeles Strings of World TeamTennis, the Los Angeles Sparks of the WNBA and the Los Angeles Lazers of the Major Indoor Soccer League.