The Curse of the Panini: One of the Many Reasons the Lakers Have Faltered This Season

Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash - Frequent visitors to the X-Ray lab

After entering the Staples Center on Tuesday January 15^th to watch the purple and gold take on the Lebron-less Miami Heat, I was handed a sheet of Lakers player stickers by a Staples Center employee. This is one of the many giveaways that the Lakers have imparted on their fans during home games this season.

The giveaways themselves have been a precursor of doom for the 2014-1015 campaign. Searching the data banks of my clouded memory, I could not recall a season in recent years where the Lakers had given away so many promotional items. In fact, they’ve created a page on their website to advertise these rare goodies to their win-starved fan base. Obviously this has been a nice surprise, but it's not a common practice for the organization, at least not on this scale.

When the Lakers were winning and had a reserved spot in the upper levels of the playoffs, these giveaways were typically reserved for playoff games. Upon entering the arena, you’d have your ticket scanned, and then you followed the throng of crowds to your seat to gawk at everything in Lakersland.

Now that the Lakers are headed for possibly their worst record in franchise history, often you can expect to be greeted with a free something or other before you begin the ascent to your seat (in my case the seats are up near the Hubble Telescope).

But I digress….back to the sticker sheet. The sheet was made by PaniniAmerica, a maker of sports cards and related products. I was grateful for the item, as I am with all of the giveaways, but I didn’t pay much attention to it until recently. There are six Lakers players featured on the sheet: Kobe Bryant, Carlos Boozer, Jeremy Lin, Steve Nash, Nick Young and Julius Randle.

PaniniAmerica Sticker sheet issued to fans on January 15th, 2015

It’s a safe bet to say that Panini created this product before the season began. The players they chose were a combination of the current stat-sheet fillers, an aging veteran, a couple of new guys, and the potentially promising rookie. They are all draped in their traditional home gold jerseys. It’s a nice set.

Depending on how you look at it, or which way your superstitious nature lies, the PaniniAmerica company feature three players that, more than likely, will not suit up for another game this season: Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash and Julius Randle.

Have you heard of the Sports Illustrated Cover Curse?

February 2012 edition of Sport Illustrated

 Or the Madden NFL curse? 

Popular Madden NFL Video Game

 

Could we have a new jinx in the making called the "Panini Sticker Curse?" Look at the TMZish facts:

*Nash tweaks his ever-failing back in preseason game 1, and he’s out for the season.

*Randle leaps awkwardly in his very first professional game, breaks a leg bone, and is out for the season.

*After a brilliant move on a scrub, Kobe goes up for a dunk, and comes down with a torn rotator cuff, and is potentially, and most likely, out for the season.

Coincidence? Who knows? Like my father used to paraphrase: "only the shadows knows!"

At the hopes of marketing the term Panini Sticker Curse, I'm using this post to promote it so I can cash-in big on the name. You know like Pat Riley did with the whole Three-peat thing? Donations can be made to the “Destroy All Panini Lakers Stickers Fund.” Just inbox me so I can show you how to deposit the funds into my account. :-)

All kidding aside, whether the curse is just a coincidence or just a figment of my warped sense of humor, it is somewhat creepy. I was going to hang the sticker sheet up at work next to some Lakers placards, but I’ve decided to leave well enough alone. 

And although I am entirely grateful to the Lakers organization for placating me with free stuff whilst they rebuild the team, I’d rather have playoff runs and banners as opposed to the free handouts.

On a quick side note, congratulations to Pau Gasol for being nominated to the 2014-2015 Eastern Conference All Star Squad! I sure wish it could have been with the Western Conference squad instead. 

Till the muse tackles me again in the hallway….later gators!

The Idea of A Kobe-less Lakers: The Good, the Bad and the Fugly

"[Monday] showed that he’s [Kobe] one of the top-five point guards in the league," said Lakers guard Nick Young. We needed him.” (sic)

"We're all so used to him being there in the last couple minutes of the game." 

Stop the presses! Nick Young is starting to realize what many already know: the Lakers still need Kobe Bean Bryant.  He’s still relevant to Lakers fans worldwide and to the NBA in general. But would this particular team benefit if Kobe was no longer sporting the purple and gold? 

Is Kobe the savior that can prevent this team from bottoming out in the standings, or is he a burden for the team to carry over the next two seasons? Let’s break it down and see if we can’t figure this out shall we?

The Good:

“We need him.”

A few weeks ago, Swaggy was asking Kobe for the rock. 

Nick hit one game winner, and some in Lakerdom were ready to hoist his jersey up in to the rafters with all the other greats like Magic, Mr. Clutch, and Wilt the Stilt to name a few. If Swaggy is ever to attain this honor, and I don’t think he will, he’ll have to hit a lot more game winners. He’d have to put up Kobe-like numbers (25+ game winners, an MVP trophy, numerous All-Star appearances and a few rings for starters) before they considered placing number 0 into the heavens.

So after a few games of not being able to perform in the clutch (with the team, not with Iggy), Nick realized the inevitable: Kobe is still the man: slightly withered, somewhat aged, and not quite as bouncy as he used to be…but still the man. Kobe is the guy you want shooting the ball as the clock winds down. Nick is a good 2^nd choice, but until Kobe is dragging one broken leg behind him, I’m passing him the ball for the winning shot (well…not really me…the Lakers never returned my call to join the squad; a minor oversight on their part I’m sure).

The Bad:

If Kobe is double or tripled-teamed, he’s still taking shots. The last five or six games notwithstanding, Kobe was not trusting anybody with the rock but himself. With his voice and stoic stares, he has shown his disgust with his teammate’s shortcomings. We’ve all seen “Angry Kobe”. But recently, I think Bryon Scott may have broken through the Kobe-Shield. He’s convinced Bryant to trust in his teammates, and now #24 is feeding them the ball. So we now have “Passing Kobe”. But is it a temporary fling? If his teammates don’t live up to his superstar expectations, will Kobe start firing 35 shots a game again? That, without a doubt, would be bad.

The Fugly:

The Lakers aren’t the worst team in the league, but if they don’t all get on the same page, they could bottom out. As previously mentioned, I like what Kobe has been doing the past few weeks. He involving everyone with his passing, and encouraging them to shoot. We all realize that this particular squad is not adding any hardware to the trophy case. But if they are close at the end of games, and they steal a few victories, that should satiate most of us (for this season anyway). If the tide turns, and Kobe becomes “Angry Non-passing Kobe”, we could be in for some real ugly games. I’ll take a losing, but hard fought, season over a split locker room any day.

So can we please dispense with the “Lakers would be better off without Kobe” chatter? He’s still our best chance of being competitive night in, and night out…period. The man has proven he can play with others (6000+ career assists, nearly 5 assists per game average over 19 years, oh, and five rings if that’s not proof enough), so let’s not get crazy with the predictions of how this squad would do sans Mr. Bryant. He may be older, but who else on this team is going fill those shoes?

And what exactly do people pay to see anyway? Jordan Hill throwing up a jump hook? Nick Young’s hair, or his girlfriend texting during the game? Robert Sacre’s latest tattoo? Steve Nash showing up to sit with his teammates on the bench? I think not. Everyone still wants to see the magic of Kobe Bean Bryant. Just look at the road games. The Lakers fans in the crowd are all wearing Kobe jerseys!

Kobe is still the face of this franchise. At least until his jersey is hoisted up there in the rafters with the other greats.

Till next time…