Memo to Shallow Laker Honks

By T.J. Simers

Laker honks, you’re gonna love HBO’s season 2 about your heroes, of course missing the point about how shallow it makes you all appear.

I watched the first episode of season 2 of Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty, but have no idea how shallow you must have been to adopt these bum steers as your idols.,

The HBO show, based on “Showtime,” by Jeff Pearlman, makes everyone appear devoid of any redeeming qualities beyond shooting a ball, and yet the people of Los Angeles adore them.

Jerry Buss comes across as the worst father imaginable on an episode dedicated to fatherhood, his sons—dopes and his daughter winning favor because she sucks up to daddy by telling him she’s just like him.

Paul Westhead and Pat Riley have been assigned the roles of resident buffoons and Jerry cussing West would never become the NBA logo if this is how the league regarded him. West ought to be suing the makers of this show, his reputation trashed.

Magic Johnson comes across as a sex fiend, his knee brace ruining his time in bed with one young lady and then listening to his knee talk to him. Amazing the access Pearlman must have had.

Magic is portrayed as an egotistical me and me only player, who is the last guy I would want my son accepting as a role model. And you people were buying his jersey.

The father of the girl that Magic knocks up early on with the Lakers, says, “I want (Magic) to step up and be a father and not a coward,” as a financial payoff is discussed.

“Until this is all worked out,” Magic tells his parents, “I got to be thinking about me.”

Magic. Magic. Magic.

Magic is later seen holding his baby and asking the birth mother what his name is. Very heartwarming.

Magic’s father tells a money-grubbing lawyer that Magic’s family has worked everything out with the girl’s family. No idea if the Lakers were part of that deal.

When the episode shifts to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, he comes across as a brooding isolationist, and well, maybe they nailed that.

The Lakers do well in Westhead’s system until Magic returns from his knee injury, the Lakers beating Boston until he shows up to watch the game and the crowd starts chanting his name.

That’s shallow Laker fans for you, Magic turning to the camera and badmouthing the guy playing Larry Bird, everyone watching in Lakerland probably yelling, “Yeah!”

The episode goes deep into Buss’ relationship with his kids, the abusive father belittling his sons and then leaving in a huff to pull out the scrapbook he’s kept of all the women he dated over the years. I’m not sure that’s what my wife means when she says she’s going to do some scrapbooking.

Jerry’ has just belittles his sons, but for the moment he’s not any of the beauties in the scrapbook believe in him. Jeanie overhears and tells her dad she’s always believed in him. The closest Pearlman comes to chills, and I wonder where he was sitting when Jeanie told that to her dad.

A short time later we see Magic’s wife, “Cookie,” telling Magic’s mother that Magic will soon be on the prowl for another woman. I presume that’s where Chick Hearn got the saying: “The game’s in the refrigerator, the door’s closed, the light’s out, the eggs are cooling, the butter’s getting hard and the Jello’s jiggling.”

Magic’s mother explains to Cookie that Magic’s father had another family, so she takes comfort in that.

As soap operas go, Pearlman has given the show’s writers a wonderful framework built on angst, an illegitimate child, bungling brothers, a daughter who is a climber a womanizing father and heroes on the basketball court adored by millions who are really troubled human beings.

Perfect for Lakers’ fans who want to relive the glory days.

Times breaks news about Miami

By T.J. Simers

Dear Patrick Soon-Shiong,

So, your newspaper buries Game 1 of the NBA Finals inside the sports section, letting everyone know how important Denver and Miami are to the people of Los Angeles. And then….

Your newspaper runs one of the longest stories to ever appear in the sports section, beginning on the front page of sports re: Game 2 promoting the guy who runs the nightclub in the basement of the Miami arena. Complete with pictures you paid for.

Miami. The nightclub is in Miami. What a stunner they have a Forum Club inside their basketball arena. Wow.

By now you have probably guessed, Patrick, or have already seen his expense account and know this is the handiwork of Times’ Culture Critic, Tyler R. Tynes.

So far your Culture Critics has been clueless when it comes to culture in the Los Angeles area. He wrote about Philadelphia fans, a losing fighter from Victorville and almost no one cares about boxing anymore, and Brittney Griner without getting an interview with her.

Now add everything you might want to know about a guy who works in a Miami nightclub. Consider it breaking news.

You know who I am talking about, the guy Editor Kevin Merida recommended and sports editor Iliana Limon Romero hired to keep Merida happy. The guy who has written four bloated stories to date, one so long they couldn’t even get it into the newspaper.

They never allow for comments below any of Tyler R. Tynes’ stories like they do columnists Bill Plaschke and Dylan Hernandez. I wonder why?

There’s a picture on the front sports page of the guy who runs the nightclub, and on the two pages of more writing about the club—yes two pages and God knows how many killed trees—-there’s a picture of bar patrons and female bartenders missing part of their uniforms. The cutline reads: “Courtside Club bustles with activity beginning hours before Miami Heat games and continuing hours after.”

This revelation that Miami has a Forum Club must have really excited Lakers’ fans, although I might have a suggested using the space to write about a week spent with Austin Reaves and his growing acclaim.

There’s another picture of young lovelies, all of them with arms raised above their heads to celebrate their good fortune of being featured in the LA Times. You paid for that picture, Patrick.

The Times sports editor had already declared no interest in the basketball game between Denver and Miami, but this solved a problem.

Our Culture Critic had been working on this story since being hired last October and that’s a lot of time to spend in a bar without getting much in return.

He hasn’t written much so this would show he can write, well, wax poetic about nothing we care about.

What good fortune Miami made it to the Finals, or it might have been a really rough start for Tyler R. Tynes and Merida and Romero.

.

Lakers deserve credit, one crazed guy says

By T.J. Simers

Do you think Plaschke is pulling everyone’s leg and just playing the role of the big dummy?

After Game 1, he pummeled LeBron James.

After Game 2, he annihilated Anthony Davis.

After Game 3, he gave up on the Lakers and turned to his favorite subject, USC.

After Game 4, he suggested everyone hold hands and sing the praises of the Lakers after they had had been swept.

“No shame in this sweep,” shouted the headline above his column and shouldn’t every professional team that has been swept be ashamed of itself?

Plaschke wrote that it was a sweep, but it wasn’t ugly. He wrote it was sweep but it wasn’t embarrassing. It was a sweep, he wrote, but there should be no shame.

It was a shame then that Plaschke wrote it was a sweep three times in a row to make the point it wasn’t ugly, embarrassing and there should be no shame.

I’m confused. He writes now what a great year it was for the Lakers, and yeah, this is just the beginning of great things ahead with no mention whether LeBron James will retire as James hinted.

What a load of crap. Was this written to put a nice bow on the Lakers’ season to make amends for all the criticism he threw the Lakers’ way? He’s been trying to run LeBron out of town and now he tells us this “is the postseason where James officially became a Laker.”

Does he still get credit for winning a championship when the Lakers won in the bubble?

So, he only gets credit for being a full-fledge Laker when the team gets swept out of the playoffs?

Come on, he’s got to be pulling our legs

Quitting on the Lakers

By T.J. Simers

Dear Patrick Soon-Shiong,

I am a day late with this, but then the Lakers didn’t even show up, so why quibble.

I know you’re probably down, what with being part owner of the disappointing Lakers and the disappointing LA Times.

I’m sure you’re still interested in the Lakers but obviously not so much the Times or you would say something.

How did you not say something about that inane three-point Lakers’ celebration story in your newspaper? I read it because I thought the organization was planning a mega-party when LeBron finally hit a three.

From what I gather the story was about the four-year-old kid of one of the Lakers like I care about the four-year-old kid of any Laker unless he can perform in the fourth quarter better than his dad.

He was doing “the Freeze,” which is some kind of pose the losing fathers do when they hit a three, maybe the problem why they are so cold the stupid nickname of their celebration.

I started the playoffs with the Nuggets reading Plaschke who said LeBron had cost the Lakers with lousy play in the fourth quarter. Sometimes with Plaschke you can’t be sure if he’s saying LeBron was bad in the fourth quarter or his whole life, but not really his whole life but that’s how he wants it to sound so somebody will read it.

After Game 2 LeBron played just as awful in fourth quarter as Game 1, almost mirroring the game-costing mistakes but reading Plaschke it was now Anthony Davis’ fault. Barely a mention of LeBron.

So, I was really curious to see who your sports columnist was going to blame after Game 3.

He didn’t even write about the game, giving up on the Lakers as they came home to win a game they had to win. The first identified Laker quitter.

He wrote about USC.

How does the top sports columnist at your newspaper, Patrick, ignore the Lakers in their biggest time of need? There was nothing to advance in the USC story on this particular Sunday other than Plaschke beating his chest to say he was really mad because the USC athletic director quit before the Times could nail him.

So, I guess we’ll never know which Laker escaped a brutal Plaschke beating for blowing Game 3.

I hope I can get over it.

Secret Meeting Dooms Times

By T.J. Simers

Patrick, Patrick, Patrick!

Your newspaper hasn’t told all reporters yet, but it plans to commit suicide.

The editors were informed Thursday that the newspapers’ deadline to submit stories for publication will be 6 p.m. in the future when they have to shift to new presses. They got rid of their own.

When I wrote for the Times, my deadline was 10:45, Plaschke could take that to 11 for a playoff game or USC contest.

The editors were also told to condition readers to the change, thereby removing Major League box scores from the newspaper beginning around this season’s All-Star break.

They attempted to do that once before more than a decade ago but an outcry from readers forced them to reconsider.

On the bright side, Patrick, I don’t think that will happen because there just aren’t that many subscribers.

Back in the days when the newspaper had more heft in size and community impact the circulations on Sundays exceeded 1.5 million and the rest of the week it would often be close to one million.

Tough to get to 200,000 now and watch those numbers dip when the deadline is 6 p.m. and the quality of news slips reporting because there just won’t be any way to get stuff in the newspaper.

That means last night’s Lakers playoff game wouldn’t make the newspaper in any form until two days later.

Why buy it? Exactly.

The Times sports department will also transfer David Warton, Steve Henson and one of the copyeditors out of sports to a new breaking news desk. I presume breaking news no longer has anything to do with the newspaper after 6 p.m.

If the newspaper is successful in getting rid of the box scores, there isn’t anything that will be considered untouchable.

As it is now, the sports columnists have been writing for a newspaper that comes out 24 hours after the day’s next report on the Lakers and Kings.

In the final analysis it’s tough to say whether readers who don’t care about columns running so late have allowed the 6 p.m. deadlines or the newspaper is just hellbent in getting rid of the printed product.

This will be the end of the Times’ sports section, as Los Angeles had come to know it over a lifetime.

Promote Shaikin, or hire Pugmire to fill void

By T.J. Simers

Dear Patrick Soon-Shiong,

Got an idea for you.

Went to lunch with former LA Times sports editor Bill Dwyre, and once I got his bib on and his walker off to the side, Dwyre spoke. And I listened because he’s still the best sports editor on this side of the country.

He wanted to know why your newspaper doesn’t have an Internet/TV column in the sports section given how much TV rules the sports world. His way of saying, “where is Larry Stewart when you need him?”

That’s when I cleaned the drool off his face, worried that he had really misspoke, or meant to say where is “Jon Stewart when you need him.”

He’s so right, the Times lacks an important ingredient which could be easily remedied, just moving one of the many staffers who doesn’t work all that much and putting them on the Internet/TV beat. Or taking some of your top hands and making them a columnist.

Many of the so-called experts in sports have never been closer to LeBron than the crush of 20 reporters standing around him. In so many more cases you have people employed, like Lake writer Dan Woike, who are totally enamored with the people they are covering, negating serious coverage.

You need more folks capable holding athletes accountable.

While you are working all day to discover the cure for cancer, the talking heads have taken over sports, every one of them convinced they have insight in what drives your favorite team, the Lakers.

The talking heads are sports scholars like Pablo Torres, Monica McNutt, Israel Gutierrez, Bomani Jones, Courtney Cronin, anyone talking about the NFL Draft, Stephen A. Smith and Max Kellerman. They each have an opinion on everything in sports with no accountability.

Stephen A. likes to address athletes as his brother; wouldn’t you like to know if that’s his way of reminding athletes he’s black like them and unlike the others who aren’t? Does that give him an edge, or has he earned his standing in sports.

How good is CBS’s Jim Hill? How do you explain his staying power? Who replaced Roggin and is he or she any good? Explain Jim Nantz’s stature in sports. Who is now the voice of the Dodgers? Did the Angels ever have anyone? I can’t stay up late enough to catch Rob Fukuzaki’s act; is he still there?

How did Tony Reali become a household name, and what does that say about you if that’s true?

“There were big home runs hit over the weekend and we’re going to dive into that next,” said Harold Reynolds Monday, and right now you are asking yourself how you ever got though the weekend not knowing that.

There is so much unchecked on TV every day, and Patrick, that’s where a newspaper was so important. A newspaper had ears and would not allow a lot of the hype delivered on air today.

There are so many .com sites to be monitored, and I’m told your daughter has had a positive impact on the paper, so she would know the value of doing a better job on social media while merging it with the newspaper.

Right now you have one columnist who never writes (Tyler R. Tynes), one who can’t remember what position he took yesterday (Bill Plaschke), one who is better than all the others (Dylan Hernandez) and one who is Helene Elliott and who nobody reads.

Your sports section needs an upgrade—what better than introducing an Internet/TV columnist who works the social platforms?

Bill Shaikin wrote a first-rate story on the Boston Parking Lot Attendant Monday. For one good day the newspaper looks good, alive and professional. Shaikin might not be interested but I would start there and see if he would like to sink his pugnacious attention into social media.

Or how about Lance Pugmire, and what does this say about your sports section? The former Times’ sports writer won on Monday the Fleisher Award, the top journalism award in boxing. And right now he’s a real estate salesman.

I’d offer more, but Dwyre is nodding off.

Trade Plaschke; Not LeBron

By T.J. Simers

You are going to read another “Isn’t LeBron James just the greatest” columns from Bill Plaschke in the LA Times tomorrow morning. He wrote it last night, but the newspaper was in no rush to get it to its readers. But it’s online now.

And it makes me laugh, one day Plaschke wanting the guy to clean out his locker and the next genuflecting before him.

The headline atop Plaschke’s column online now reads: “Beating Grizzlies with his grit, LeBron James claims full ownership of the Lakers.” It’s not true, but it relays Plaschke’s sentiments.

The headline atop his column last year read: “The Lakers Must Trade LeBron.”

“Right now, for their own survival, the Lakers pretty much need him to leave,” wrote Plaschke. Maybe he meant, for the Grizzlies survival, LeBron needs to leave.

A little later after his LeBron must go column,, while doing an interview on Doug Gottlieb’s show, Plaschke said Phil Jackson would like to see LeBron traded, a pretty significant endorsement to Plaschke’s column.

That is, if Jackson said it. When Gottlieb asked Plaschke on air about Jackson’s pronouncement, Plaschke said, “I’ve just heard that, but I’ve got nothing to back that up.”

Not a good thing if you are a newspaperman

It didn’t matter, though, because it was Plaschke, instant credibility you know without checking the facts. The Internet picked up Plaschke’s comment and reported that a LA columnist said that he’s heard Phil Jackson wants LeBron traded. I’m sure it was probably great fodder for Around the Horn.

Later, Plaschke reported that LBron had hinted that he wanted to be traded.

“His message is clear,” wrote Plaschke, even though he supposedly only hinted. “Get me help or get me out of here. The response from Laker management should be just as clear: See ya.”

All that sounds like someone’s concerted effort to railroad the guy out of town—odd when there are a number of basketball experts who say the guy is really good.

Or, as Shaquille O’Neal put it, “If you trade LeBron, you’ll never win again.”

There has been the suggestion in the LA Times that LeBron has made no connection to the city of Los Angeles or the Lakers’ fan base, which is the city of Los Angeles. It didn’t sound like that Monday night, but the newspaper would know better.

I’ve never been a really big fan of LeBron’s because I got to know and watch Kobe Bryant at work. His personality, charisma and in-your-face competitive drive was overwhelming. LeBron was more athletically gifted, and I don’t think Kobe would have disagreed, but LeBron has never been as showy as Kobe.

And I was gone by the time LeBron arrived to win another title for the Lakers.

But I watched Monday night and when he scored to send the Lakers’ playoff game into overtime, he just rolled like a tank to the right side and scored a layup. Kobe would have dribbled through his legs, gone left, and then right and then leaped to the rafters before scoring and splashing to the floor.

Whatever your pleasure, LeBron’s team went on to win.

I can’t think of a single thing LeBron has done wrong since coming to LA, although maybe Plaschke could advise differently. Most parents only ask for an athletic role model who is perfect, the world in short supply, but LeBron comes pretty close.

I know he’s got a Jim Gray in his background, a powerful agent and a son being shoved down our throats, but he stands pretty tall as the ideal representative for the Los Angeles Lakers.

I know he’s 38, and by the standard of some he’s old. I’m 72 and don’t consider myself old; I was willing to go back to work for the declining Times and meet deadlines.

I also know he didn’t look old when I watched him put No. 2 Memphis on the verge of elimination. I’ve always thought Memphis should be eliminated.

I do worry now that Plaschke might be getting old, willing to scrap a once-in-a-generation superstar for the best that Rob Pelinka could find. If not old, was he just writing a cheap column to get attention?

I know something about that, but when I referred to the Dodgers as the Choking Dogs, they were.

Maybe Plaschke has changed his mind now, thinking the Lakers could never have gotten this far without the splendid work of LeBron. Maybe.

He changes his mind a lot, you know, while taking firm stands.

Attention book publishers and book buyers

By T.J. Simers

I wrote a book, beginning with one of my lawyers who made poisoned hamburgers to silence a watch dog so her husband could take some guy out to the desert, cut his manhood off and pour bleach on him.

It was pretty funny when one of the Times’ lawyers tried to bully her.

One of my other lawyers was like the best attorney on the planet, and I know that because that’s what he said about himself in his bio. He had 11 kids, so there were some who believed whatever he said

One of my appeals judges was identified by Erika Jayne from Real Housewives as her husband, Tom Girardi’s mistress. Erika Jayne said Girardi gave my judge $300,000 in misused funds for a beach condo. And my appels judge voted to give me nothing.

The reason I mention all this, I was wondering if any of you could suggest a book publisher. Maybe you have a friend, a former college roommate or some kind of contact in that world. I tried one here in the L.A. area and he said he wasn’t interested in the legal stuff in the book. He wanted a book just on the sports folks I got to know on Page 2.

They are all in the book, of course, a book about Kobe, Phil Jackson, Pete Carroll, John Elway, Junior Seau and Plaschke. I even mentioned F.P. Santangelo, although he hardly figures as a sports figure.

I also wrote about my love affair with the Los Aneles Times, telling a judge, jury and lawyers, “I love the LA Times. Still do.” And while it isn’t much now, it’s still the Los Angeles Times.

But I sued the L.A. Times because the Times hired a managing editor and editor who tried to get rid of me. I won in court three times, and I wrote about that as well as testimony from Tom Lasorda, Joe Torre and Garret Anderson. I had Kobe’s name on a list to testify and our judge said he wasn’t interested in hearing from people who were going to just gush about me. Kobe would have laughed at that.

My judge wasn’t the best, and I write about that. He seemed to have no faith in juries, and how is that for a selling point to get people to serve?

A book agent said he detected no interest in the East Coast about a book featuring notables from the West Coast and a newspaper writer they never read. Ouch! I’d like to see them get close enough to Salma Hayek to be kissed.

My East Coast book agent disappeared faster than Gary Matthews Jr.

Some folks have suggested I go the vanity press route, and I got a feeling that’s a commentary on my ego and coming from my children.

I’m told if a book publisher takes on the book, I would get about 10-14% of what the book costs in royalties, while keeping in mind only 1% to 2% of all the manuscripts submitted to publishers result in a book.

If I self-publish, supposedly I could get 70% of what I sell, but then it would be up to me to find folks to buy the book. If only I had the names of alumni who have cheated when it comes to USC sports, I could print them in the book and it would become a best seller.

They say the average book these days sells only 350 copies; I don’t have that many family members. Probably never had that many readers. Maybe I should just blog the book.

I guess I could start a list of who wants to buy a book, assuring someone like Rob Pelinka anonymity, and convince a publisher there is an audience. But I don’t know how much more disappointment I could take. One more day of reading about the Angels might end me over the edge,

If I were Patrick Soon-Shiong, the owner of the Times, I would buy 350 copies and then burn them.

Maybe I should rewrite the book. and make it more flashy. I don’t know if I could get anyone to read about the lawyer the Times hired who wore a little bell around her ankle so whenever she had to go to the bathroom we would hear her tinkle.

But it’s a thought.

I can’t make this stuff up!

By T.J. Simers

Dear Patrick Soon-Shiong,

OK, Patrick, if I am going to rip your newspaper as I have been doing, I thought I should take a look at it today and write about all the good things your newspaper is doing.

But before I could do that, I got an email about your sports section. And it was both ugly and disturbing.

Your new sports columnist, you know the one who has written but once in the six months that you have been paying him—producing a story about Eagles’ fans a week after the Super Bowl, is scheduled to write Tuesday for the second time. Three days after the fight he’s covering!

I’m told he spent a week with a L.A.-based fighter who is fighting tonight in Las Vegas. I did that twice with Oscar de la Hoya, writing every day that week leading up to his fights and then covering the fight.

You sports editor, Iliana, is apparently trying to keep it a secret that your new columnist will be writing again. There isn’t a single mention of tonight’s fight in your newspaper, no information for your readers, and who better to do that than the guy who has been with one of the fighters for a week?

Online they are calling it the “fight of the year,” but I’ve never heard of these guys. It doesn’t help that the Times doesn’t even mention they are fighting tonight, but I wouldn’t care anyways. But maybe some of your readers do.

I don’t know if your new columnist has spent the week with the fighter in Las Vegas on your dime, Patrick, but you might want to inquire.

Strange the newspaper would hire a columnist and not have him write, stranger yet hiring a guy with deadline issues.

This used to be the almighty Los Angeles Times, Patrick, and I’m trying my best not to be so negative, but I just opened the Saturday newspaper and there is Bill Plaschke’s Thursday column on the Clippers.

I read it online Friday, but there it is again in Saturday’s newspaper, two days after the game.

I know most everyone doesn’t care about the Clippers, but come on, it’s Los Angeles’ morning newspaper, and getting your No. 1 columnist two days later isn’t exactly “breaking news.”

What is going on here, Patrick. I read your main hockey story, and I can make sacrifices like that, but the writer never got to the final score before the story jumped to B9.

Your hockey writer is too long-winded, beginning her story by telling us, “it has become something of an inside joke among Kings’ fans,” and I couldn’t read any further. Two more paragraphs and still no final score and the game went into overtime and all that matters is who won?

I liked the fact, though, your Angels’ writer wasn’t suffering from jetlag after going all the way to New York with the team and writing about a Yankees’ cook. Grueling or grilling.

She gave us a story on Ohtani on Saturday, and I guess I’m a little surprised why your newspaper isn’t leading the charge to keep Ohtani here.

If the plan is to let him go sign with the Dodgers, fine. But your newspaper treats Anaheim like a desert outpost, and the best player in the game is playing there. You have a Japanese-speaking columnist in Dylan Hernandez on your staff— why not have Hernandez shadow Ohtani and give us coverage no one else can provide?

To show you hard I am trying to be positive, I read a Dan Woike story. I’ll let that sink in.

Woike gave us coverage of the LeBron James new conference, which was covered by all the media in L.A. No harm, no foul, so you can see I can be positive when I hold my nose.

Who cares what LeBron says to LA media wimps

By T.J. Simers

Saw a clip of LeBron James chastising the Los Angeles media for not asking him about the Jerry Jones’ picture.

Then I saw Stephen A Screamer on TV supporting James and blasting the LA Media.

First of all, why doesn’t James pick on someone his own size. The LA Media is small, uninspired and totally overwhelmed while lacking confidence. There is no one who can stand up and represent the LA Media as a giant in the business.

Plaschke is home listening for ambulances and Hernandez is just home.

Can you name another writer in the LA market? You want to raise your hand and say, “Helene Elliott,” and have everyone laugh at you?

If you haven’t heard about the Jerry Jones’ photo, you really aren’t missing much. The Washington Post unearthed a picture of Jones taken when he was a sophomore in high school standing in the back of a group of White kids blocking the entrance to several Black students.

You probably weren’t born yet when the photo was taken. I was seven. I didn’t care then that he was photographed and I don’t care now. Had I been in the Lakers’ media room Wednesday night I would have responded to LeBron: “I don’t care what you have to say about a photo taken 65 years ago.”

LeBron’s point, though, was he is always asked about controversial things when they involve a Black person not faring well, singling out Kyrie Irving as a prime example.

Kyrie Irving was criticized for apparent anti-Semite sentiments. And he’s an NBA player.

Jerry Jones’ picture was only current while taken 65 years ago because the Post was doing a story on Jones’ legacy. And he’s an NFL owner.

Listening to the TV guys paid to argue, they said Jones hasn’t hired a Black head coach, didn’t react to Colin Kaepernick’s banishment from football, and he comments on everything else. He should denounce racism, the critics of Jones concluded.

Dak Prescott is biracial and is Jones’ quarterback, but I don’t know if that counts as having a Black quarterback for the guys on TV paid to argue. Assistant head coach Rob Davis is Black but is obviously not the head coach. The running backs, wide receivers and tight end coaches are all Black, but they are not the team’s head coach. Five of the team’s nine defensive coaches are Black.

Hasn’t Jones already denounced racism? I know, I’m White, and of course I would write that and I just did.

Kaepernick wasn’t that good of a quarterback, and everyone who wanted him to be signed and keep playing has no idea what they are talking about. The fact that Jones did not come to his immediate defense is a bogus argument. Jones knelt with his players, although one guy paid to argue on TV said he did so after some delay.

Jones commented on the Post picture, but it wasn’t to the satisfaction of the TV critics. Jones said he was a high school student moved by curiosity and caught gawking in the wrong place and time. I find that believable, but then I am White, and I would.

I see no reason why Jones has to denounce racism. If he does so, those asking for such a proclamation won’t believe him. The search for a reason to be outraged or remain outraqed is pretty strong.

Jones might be guilty of being an “old boy,” but not necessarily an old racist.

Maybe he was when he was 14 because he was from the south and we all know the stereotype. He talks like a Southerner, who might be living on a plantation. We have one still photo to make the case, and the mention of Kaepernick and not hiring a Black head coach as grounds for outrage today. I know, I couldn’t understand. And I don’t.

I don’t call White athletes “my brothers,” as Stephen A. Screamer does Black athletes, but it works for him.

As for the LA Media, it is already a collection of lightweights and picking on them is unfair. And especially after a night game when deadlines limit the number of reporters who have the time to listen to James wax poetic.

The LA Times ran a story from the Associated Press online about James’ challenging the media, although the Times had a reporter there covering the game. Who knows if the newspaper had someone at the post-game press conference especially knowing how streamlined the LA Times operation has become to save money.

The Associated Press has the task now of covering up the Times’ omissions, mistakes or attempts to save money.

Now I don’t know these days about reporters’ accessibility to someone like James at practice or before a game, but from my previous experience, I know big-name players like LeBron spend much of their time hiding from the media until after they have taken a shower following a game. That’s too late for someone working on deadline.

Had someone challenged LeBron or told him no one really cared what he had to say about Jones’ picture 65 years ago, the reporter might’ve gotten in trouble. Some of that sits with the audience, most sports fans very upset if a reporter challenges, and God forbid, irritates a sports star.

The athlete has the microphone and the podium, making it very difficult for reporters to muster the courage to challenge a superstar and maybe generate a rebuke by way of response. Had that happened Wednesday night it would have been shown everywhere on TV.

So, most reporters avoid potential contentious meetings today with athletes or lightweight reporters, preferring to stay home and sound tough on their computers. Like I am doing right now.

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