The Lakers and the Yellow A-frame

7428 Studio - I read today in Houston Mitchell’s LA Times article that this years Lakers had now won 11 straight road games, one short of what the 1973 Lakers had done and third in line behind my favorite Laker team of all time the NBA Champion 1972 team.  Before I talk about the ’72 team, I’d like to make note of a couple items.

First, I want to state how much I enjoy reading Houston Mitchell, he is on point and very funny.  Second, I want to express how exciting it is to have the glory of the Lakers return, this years team, with their commitment to defense, is exhilarating to watch.  The choice of the new coach, Frank Vogel, must be acknowledged.  The last time Vogel had this much success he was performing a stupid human trick on the David Letterman Show.  The roster is as good as it could be considering the situation at hand, so it is time, as Laker fans, to forgive Rob Lowe, er..uh, General Manager Rob Pelinka, for whatever he did to hurt Magic Johnson’s feelings.  Look, I named my dog “Buck Magic Lennon”, so I am a Magic guy, but apparently he needed to walk off once he brought over LeBron.

Now, back to the ’72 squad.  I was seven years old and loved basketball.  I practiced as much as possible in my own backyard, was “all in” with Coach Wooden and UCLA’s run of titles, and wanted nothing more than for the Lakers to finally get a championship in LA after so many years of coming up short against the Celtics.  

As it turned out, my godfather, Dick Gass, was friends with the then Laker Coach, Bill Sharman.  Sharman, the nicest man ever, let us come and watch the Lakers practices when they used the gym at Loyola Marymount University.  You might want to read that last sentence again, given it remains among the greatest things I have ever done.  When Jerry West, Gail Goodrich and Wilt Chamberlain would get a water break, I would run out and shoot on the court, hoping that one of them would pass me the ball.  Those future Hall of Fame inductees just looked at a dorky seven that was in the way, but Flynn Robinson came through for me!  He threw me a few passes and gave me a couple tips. Later in life, I got to play one on one with Flynn at the Westchester YMCA and told him how cool he was to a little kid decades previous.

That 1971-72 team, now officially my Lakers, between November 5th and January 9th won 33 straight games.  That is craziness!  The record of course still stands, it set the Lakers on a path to a 69-13 regular season mark, then an NBA record, and an NBA championship with a 4-1 series triumph over the New York Nickerbockers.  Yes, I referred to the New York team by their given name, they should not have named theirselves after questionable mens clothing if they didn’t want to be made fun of.  

Anyhow, almost as important as the NBA title was that 33 consecutive game win streak.  In fact, it was so important, that the preeminent eating establishment in my world commemorated the achievement with a team photo.  Big time props to Der Wienerschnitzel for doing what needed to be done!  Founded in 1961 by John Galardi, a guy who worked for Taco Bell, Galardi was savvy enough to realize that Americans had forgot about their anti-German feelings, especially if you could get one of those tasty dogs from a building with an A-framed yellow roof.  

I grew up in Venice, CA, near Lincoln and Venice Blvd’s and it was a big deal that a McDonald’s was nearby.  But, I also very much liked Der Wee Wee, as we affectionally called it.  And that Yellow A-frame roof with those mustard dogs I loved so much was right across the street from the Golden Arches.  The Lakers commemorative team photo sealed the deal for me.  I now officially preferred Der Wee Wee to McD’s.  My Lakers had won 33 straight and an NBA championship, I now had clear vision on where I preferred to eat, and today I have a picture that brings it all back to me.

Go Lakers!