Phil Had His Fill

     Boy, when the Lakers disappoint, they really hammer it home. Their last series with the Dallas Mavericks ended with a 4-0 score, placing the Mavericks solidly into the NBA Western Finals, and sending the Los Angeles Lakers weakly limping to an early vacation, and their coach possibly regretting staying on for this last season.

Millions of fans across L.A. were left with long faces, including its Mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa.

“It seemed like a sure thing – my deputies figured Phil Jackson would leave the coaching ranks in a victory parade from City Hall to the Staples Center and provide me with more photo ops than the SEALS had with Osama bin Laden” the mayor said.

Instead, Phil Jackson took a defeatist’s final march from the basketball court to the locker room, sure that this would be the last time as the Lakers’ head coach.

Backlash towards the Lakers’ poor performance and poorer sportsmanship literally twittered across cyberspace after their spectacular loss, but sympathy towards Phil Jackson was more prevalent than not.

Blogging on North Hollywood’s Patch.com site, writer Patrick Hasson berated, “Shame on you, Lakers,” but showed compassion to Jackson stating, “You deserved better.”

The Lakers struggled in their first match up of the NBA tournament against the New Orleans Hornets, playing inconsistently and barely making it through the first round.

By the time the Mavericks came around, it seemed like the Lakers were playing to disappoint.

Usually even keeled Jackson displayed his frustrations in a well-replayed video of him roughly poking center Pau Gasol in the chest while passionately speaking with him on the court.

Desperately scampering to win just one game, the Lakers lost them all.

“This team just had an ability to get in a funk and not be able to resurge,” Jackson said in his exit press conference.

Asked whether he was relieved that the season was over, he replied, “I’m always relieved.”

Coaching for 20 years and at 65 years old, maybe it is time for Jackson to step down and take some well-deserved time off.

At a recent press conference in Westwood, journalist and Valley Village resident Larry Gerber confessed to be a fan of the Lakers.

When asked about whether he thought Jackson would ever go back to coaching, Gerber commiserated with the embattled coach: “I’m his age. I think he’s 64. If he doesn’t come back to work, I don’t blame him, because I don’t feel like it either.”

With an extensive career that sent him across the globe and working for various publications and organizations, including Emmy magazine, the Associated Press, and the Institute for War and Peace reporting, Gerber worked hard to be a solid reporter and editor.

But like Jackson, working long and hard for 20 years was enough to throw in the towel—at least for now.