Thread: NBA Playoffs The Lakers will have no part of AZ immig politi

NBA Playoffs Suns Lakers Game 1: The Lakers will have no part of Arizona immigration politics

Sun May 16,2010 10:08 AM ET By Matt Moore
Those Lakers, always the marketing machine.

The Suns last month made a public stand against the Arizona immigration law that has pretty much everyone up in arms one way or another. Following up their public statements of protest, the Suns wore their "Los Suns" jerseys against the Spurs for Game 3 of their playoff series. There were multiple reports that the Spurs had planned on joining the Suns by wearing their "Los Spurs" jerseys, but could not get the jerseys transported to Phoenix in time.

So with the Los Angeles City Council announcing a boycott for the city with Arizona in protest, and considering the very large percentage of Los Angeles residents who are Mexican or Latino, it's probably reasonable to wonder if they will be making a similar stand for those in their fanbase who feel it's unfair.

Guess again.

Time Magazine reports that the Lakers will not be involved in any political discussion, with a spokesman saying, simply, "We're in the business of playing basketball and we're not in the business of getting into a political debate one way or another. "

I believe the phrase he was looking for was "Americans who wont' get pulled over for looking suspiciously immigrant buy Laker tickets too." That's what Jordan would have said.

Not only will the Lakers make no public statement on the issue, none of their players are electing to comment, either, one way or another.

And that's fine. Just as it's well within a sports organization's rights to elect to be involved on behalf of members of their fanbase, it's well within their rights to sit out of the discussion. No one is looking to the Lakers for leadership on political issues. And it's not like those that make up the Staples crowd are going to be directly affected by any such legislation in California, Arizona while visiting, or elsewhere. The odds of a white, high priced movie producer who can afford Lakers lower-bowl tickets getting pulled over in Arizona are unlikely, right? Not like Jack Nicholson's got a lot of worries about getting asked for his papers under this new law. And I'm sure those Mexicans and Latinos that can afford tickets to LA's playoff games have their papers in order and on them at all times, or wouldn't prompt the "reasonable suspicion" the law calls for in order to be stopped if they were to visit Arizona.

It should be noted that the Lakers are highly active in their community, and both Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher have spoken out publicly in the past in regards to the genocide being committed in Darfur. And to be fair, it's not like California is enacting these controversial policies. It's the Suns' problem, and even then a great many Arizona residents support the bill, as I'm sure many Californians do and would like to see the same in the Golden State.

It's the safe move for the Lakers. And those that say that sports entities and personalities have no business in getting involved in politics make a strong argument. Just because something's easy doesn't mean that it's wrong. So if you're a fan of teams not getting involved in political messes, even if a large portion of their fanbase happen to be affected by that mess, you should give the Lakers a hand today. They stood up for not standing up and knowing their place in society.

And hey, "Laguneros" is really long and doesn't look as cool.

http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/ ... litics.php

I have been a Laker fan for 30 years, and they are a CLASS orginazation.

.Maybe the LA city council can learn some real leadership from them.

Originally Posted by ShockedinCalifornia

Time Magazine reports that the Lakers will not be involved in any political discussion, with a spokesman saying, simply, "We're in the business of playing basketball and we're not in the business of getting into a political debate one way or another. "

That is a pretty good stance for ANY business to take in these tough economical times. It's awfully for people to keep their money in their pockets and a few businesses who choose to use politics as a marketing tool will find that out the hard way.

Thank you Lakers. That is certainly the appropriate position to take.

Time Magazine reports that the Lakers will not be involved in any political discussion, with a spokesman saying, simply, "We're in the business of playing basketball and we're not in the business of getting into a political debate one way or another. "

Now that's class and impressive.

Protesters target Lakers playoff game following Jackson remarks

By Gene Johnson • City News Service • May 16, 2010
Comments(20)

Immigration activists plan to picket the NBA Western Division title game at Staples Center Monday evening, because Lakers coach Phil Jackson said he has no problem with Arizona's controversial new illegal immigration law.

Jackson criticized the Phoenix Suns players for unanimously voting to wear jerseys that said ``Los Suns'' to indicate their opposition to the Arizona law, ESPN.com basketball columnist J.A. Adande wrote earlier this month.

When Adande told Jackson that some feel the Arizona Legislature had usurped federal law, Jackson countered Arizona is ``not usurping, it's just copying it is what they said they did, and then they give it some teeth to be able to enforce it.''

Those comments have prompted the Mexican-American Political Association and Southern California Immigration Coalition to plan to picket Monday's Lakers game. ``We are not happy with the position that Phil Jackson took,'' said the group's leader, Nativo Lopez.

``We want to call on Jackson and the Lakers to put on their 'Los Lakers' jerseys, especially considering the tremendous support that the Lakers have enjoyed from the communities specifically targeted by the misguided and racist Arizona law,'' Lopez said.

``We want to welcome `Los Suns' of Arizona and thank them for the symbolic support,'' he said.

John Black, the Lakers vice president of public relations, said the team had no response to Jackson's comments or the contretemps.

Under an NBA marketing effort called ``Noche Latina,'' the Lakers and the Suns have donned the Spanish-language jerseys on special nights that included Latin music. The Suns players voted unanimously last month to bring them back on court to show the team members' unhappiness with the new Arizona law.

The local Latino groups plan informational picketing at 5 p.m. outside the ESPN Zone restaurant and TV studios during pregame telecasts on the sports network at the LA Live complex. They plan to then march to protest in front of Staples Center.

Jackson's team will take on the Phoenix Suns in a best-of-seven game series that begins at 6 p.m. Monday to determine which team will represent the Western Conference during the NBA Finals.

In his interview with the ESPN.com writer, Jackson posed the question ``Am I crazy, or am I the only one that heard [the Arizona Legislature] say `We just took the United States immigration law an adapted it to our state.''

Jackson also criticized the Suns players for taking the issue from the political arena into sports arena by wearing the ``Los Suns'' jerseys. ``Where we stand as basketball teams, we should let that kind of play out and let the political end of that go where it's going to go.''

Lopez said understands those who want to avoid politicizing the Lakers championship series. ``My whole family is fanatical sports fans and say `don't touch my team with anything that smacks of politics','' he said. ``But we're more worried about the people that are being victimized in Arizona.''

The Los Angeles City Council has voted to cease doing business or sending employees on city business to Arizona, a move criticized as ``grandstanding politicians'' in the sports columns of the Arizona Republic newspaper in Phoenix.

Ironically, the turn of events has large numbers of Suns fans writing to the Phoenix newspaper to profess new support for the Lakers over the ``Los Suns'' shirts and Jackson comments.

Jackson has been notorious for using controversial interview comments to play off-court games with opponents and their fans during playoff series.

www.mydesert.com

One fact here.

When the lakers won the championship last year, the city of LA wanted to charge them for their parade security.

Then greasy Tony wanted to ride on their float, and was not accepted well.

Kobe did not want to ride on that float, as well as Phil Jackson.