BY DC CUEVA
 |
| Instagram @SwaggyCTV |
Something that's been affected deeply by COVID has been of the sports world being put on hold everywhere from America to Europe to down under in Australia. A boatload of major events were nixed for the first time since World War II, and one event that was supposed to be going on right now, the Tokyo Olympics, have been postponed to next summer. And it's only now that sports is getting back to normal: UFC, NASCAR, soccer and golf started things out, and by this weekend three of the four major sports will be in action, with the fourth in the NFL to follow shortly after.
Of all that's happened at the intersection of sport and COVID, it can point to that March night in Salt Lake City where a player from the Utah Jazz was hospitalized before a game that ultimately was abandoned, sparking an unprecedented domino effect. It has been a key moment in what has been a rough season in the National Basketball Association, including the passing of a former lawyer who helped turn the league into a global powerhouse in former commissioner David Stern. And his successor, Adam Silver, has faced the tough task of restarting things, like all other sports, although he may an upper hand thanks to placing everyone inside the bubble of Walt Disney World.
But the passing of Commissioner Stern pales in comparison to what has to be one of those days that's burned in the memory bank of every sports fan the world over of that gloomy last Sunday in January, where the tragic death of one of the most iconic athletes of our time united this divided world. The untimely passing of Kobe Bryant has overshadowed everything else, other than the virus, of the NBA season... but thanks to two weeks of training camp and scrimmages at Mickey Mouse's house, things are finally set to get back in motion this week with all eyes set on crowning a champion.
And while NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo has been able to spend this lockdown watching The Challenge & other MTV Reality matters without missing a minute on the court for the Bucks, there's one other important link between the Association and the fifth major pro sport. And as hoops fans everywhere prepare for the NBA restart this Thursday night, you can thank a guy who's a basketball enthusiast through & through and his Big Brother wife to help us introduce you to one of sports' most powerful women: the Boss Lady of the Los Angeles Lakers.
For why the NBA's glamour franchise and one of the most iconic in American sport has a nickname that doesn't really fit in with the Mediterranean climate of our nation's second largest city where it's always sunny just about every day, it's all because of the team's roots. The Lakers had their start in the big city of the Land of 1000 Lakes: Minneapolis, Minnesota where George Mikan became the NBA's first superstar and who led his team to five titles in the league's first decade of existence of the late '40s and early '50s, just after the team joined the league by way of the merger of the National Basketball League and the Basketball Association of America three years into its existence.
The Lakers moved west to Los Angeles in 1960 as they unsuccessfully began their storied rivalry with the Boston Celtics, and a decade later tasted their first title on the West Coast after a dominant '71-72 season running off a 69-13 regular season record including a 33-game winning streak. When Elgin Baylor, Jerry West and Wilt Chamberlain savored in that triumph, the Lakers were owned by Jack Kent Cooke, who bought the team in the '60s, brought the NHL to SoCal with the Kings, built the Inglewood Forum for the both of them, and was also the longtime owner of the Washington NFL team during their glory days in the '80s & early '90s.
But before the turn of the decade, Cooke sold his L.A. sporting assets to Salt Lake City transplant Jerry Buss for a then-record $68 million -- which would translate in 2020 by inflation to over $240 million. That transaction happened in time for the launch of the rocket known as Earvin "Magic" Johnson, and where his arrival coincided with the Celtics drafting the man who he defeated in that year's NCAA National Championship, Larry Bird. Their encounter pitting Magic's Michigan State and Bird's Indiana State is still the highest-rated college basketball game ever on television, and them bring drafted was exactly what the NBA needed.
The Association in the late '70s was declining to a point where some games of the Finals weren't even televised live, as CBS relegated weeknight games to airing on a tape delay opposite Johnny Carson. But the Magic/Bird rivalry helped catapult the NBA to unprecedented heights - even more so when a man named Michael Jordan joined five years later along with a slew of other superstars that followed. Magic and Bird combined for all but two of the decade's ten titles, and they faced off in three Finals, with Boston winning the first & L.A. the other two. Together with Stern becoming commissioner, it formed the foundation for the league's growth that still drives it in the four decades since.
With Magic, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, James Worthy, coach Pat Riley and other key elements in place, Dr. Buss presided over a dynasty that would see the Lakers win five NBA titles in the 80's, a new kind of wide-open basketball known as Showtime, and turning Laker games at the Forum into a happening with Hollywood's finest sitting courtside. Once he sold his interest in the Kings, Buss & new owner Bruce McNall also had a hand in helping bring the NHL's biggest star, Wayne Gretzky, to L.A. and starting hockey's rise in prominence in the U.S., and paved the way for corporate sponsored-sports venues when Great Western Bank paid him eight figures to adorn its name on the Forum.
Jerry's legacy continued well into the new millennium when Shaquille O'Neal joined the Lakers in the mid-90's, then drafted Kobe Bryant, brought MJ's coach in Chicago Phil Jackson on-board, and moved the team, the Kings and the new WNBA Sparks into the brand new Staples Center in 1999. And things were alright in the world once again when the Lakers won three straight titles to begin the new millennium and two more at the end of the 2000's, along with Lisa Leslie reigning over the WNBA. And when the sport of poker began to make waves during that decade, the owner himself also became a fixture at the green table, playing in many World Series and World Poker Tour events.
Mr. Buss had quite a life in also owning L.A.-based teams in World Team Tennis and indoor soccer, as well as the renowned estate formerly owned by Mary Pickfair. A failed marriage in the 70's saw him have many young girlfriends over the rest of his life, but what was consistent was that he was the elder statesman of a family with six kids all with the same first letter of his name. Johnny, Jim, Jeanie, Janie, Joey and Jesse all grew up in the shadow of their dad, and all of them were working in the Laker organization by the time their patriarch passed away after the 2013 NBA All-Star Game, three years after being handed his tenth & last Larry O'Brien Trophy as owner.
The succession plan Jerry had in place saw his two-thirds' majority ownership being transferred to them afterwards, and Jeanie Buss would assume her dad's previous title as Lakers governor and their team representative in sitting on their council chair for the league Board meetings. The daughter had her first taste of being in charge of a pro sports team at the rightful age of 19 when she was appointed general manager of L.A.'s Team Tennis franchise while still at USC, then headed a roller hockey franchise in the 90's while also overseeing the Great Western Forum as its president, and even having a moment to pose nude in a 1995 Playboy issue.
Jeanie's role in the Lakers increased as time went on, serving as the team's alternative Governor and then became executive vice president of business operations in 1999 as they moved to downtown. By the time her brother Jim was promoted to VP of player personnel, various sports media outlets had her as one of sports' most influential women - one of those who has excelled in being just as powerful on the managerial side of sports as her male counterparts. And before the 2013-14 season after her dad's passing, Jeanie officially became Lakers president in overlooking both business and basketball.
But her ascent came during a time when the franchise had fallen on hard times despite Kobe's continued mastery, and for a fan base who expects nothing but excellence Jeanie who took matters into her own hands after several straight losing seasons and failed attempts to have a big super team. After the All-Star break in 2017, she gave longtime general manager Mitch Kupchak his walking papers in favor of sports agent Rob Pelinka, while Jim Buss handed in his resignation notice as his sister handed the reigns of president of basketball operations to Magic.
Outside the office, her engagement to her boyfriend of 15 years, former Coach Jackson, had broken off, as reports circulated of plenty of turmoil both within the Lakers organization and in the Buss family. And while Stephen Curry's Warriors ruled the NBA and the Clippers had overtaken their cross-hallway counterparts in the competitive balance, this once proud franchise found themselves in a state of rebuilding... and it would take for one internet-breaking transaction to make everyone talk Lakers again: LeBron James joining them in summer 2018 after he returned to Cleveland to snap the city's championship curse, soon followed by Anthony Davis.
At 49-14, the Lakers sit atop the Western Conference ahead of Thursday night's restart against the Clippers, as the NBA prepares for a mini-season of seeding games followed by a postseason that will have it share billing with the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs, the just-started 60-game Major League Baseball season, a full NFL season and lots of other events that will make this fall one to remember - that is if it doesn't get derailed again. And before this, last month during as BLM raged across the country Mrs. Buss put on blast a vile, racist nut for his attacks against her team.
While LeBron's move to the Lakers made news in the Southland that June 30th night two years ago as it kickstarted that unprecedented summer of basketball upheaval, on the CBS studio lot in the L.A. district of Studio City the landmark twentieth season of Big Brother was into its fourth night. That first week saw Connecticut-based stock investor Chris Williams be among the sixteen houseguests who spent 99 days in public captivity in this country's most analyzed summer house. Little did he know when he walked into that soundstage turned summer share that he would find true love in Kansas City pageant queen turned flight attendant Bayleigh Dayton.
What the man who calls himself "Swaggy C" wasn't prepared for was the kind of hate that would come his way during his short 3-week stint in the house. Those who become those own armchair analyst when BB comes on became up in arms with his self-confidence and him giving everyone a T-shirt adorning his nickname. And there was no doubt that fans were popping bottles in front of their TV's when Chris was evicted at Day 23 (July 12), but not before establishing the Swayleigh train that would choo-choo its way from being just a run-of-the-mill showmance to something even more once the summer of 2018 was up.
Upon his eviction, Chris flew out to the Midwest to get to know a Dayton family that would ultimately compete on Family Feud later that year, before he flew back to SoCal with an engagement ring to pop the question on finale night. Bay got to say yes when he got down on that one knee, and they celebrated in style some 48 hours afterwards in Vegas. Then, Swaggy & Bayleigh got married, spent their honeymoon in Thailand, returned last year to BB to host a HOH challenge, and flew to Fiji to plug the new U.S. version of Love Island. And they rolled into this year's Total Madness where they finished better than what's expected of a Challenge rookie: he finished in the middle of the pack, and she went all the way to the final but having to withdraw halfway through due to an injury.
Chris himself is a former basketball player who had a productive career in high school hoops but had very limited playing time for the St. Peters Peacocks of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference in Jersey City, NJ. He's also one of the many who have done their own Dude Perfect impersonation in making a half-court shot and capturing it for everyone to see on Instagram.
But not surprising for someone who shares the moniker of one of the most-celebrated non big-names of the NBA in 2018 champion (and co-host of last year's War of the Worlds 2 reunion) Nick "Swaggy P" Young, Chris nonetheless put his hoops talents on display in a ballyhooed one-on-one charity game in January 2019 with fellow BB20 houseguest turned Total Madness rookie finalist Feysal "Fessy" Shafaat to help out cancer treatment for BB19 houseguest Kevin Schlehuber.
The month before, Bayleigh & Swaggy were out in Los Angeles for their first taste of the Hollywood life in walking the red carpet at the premiere of WEtv's Love After Lockup and spending some time with another reality love story in Clinton Moxam & Uche Nwosu from Are You The One? Season 6. And before a trip back to where it all began for them in doing press for the Canadian version of Big Brother and its own Entertainment Tonight, they also happened to squeeze in going to a Laker game at Staples around all of that -- all made possible by the one who helped to bring this post to life who also happens to be a fan and a friend of the purple & gold.
When being interviewed prior to being cast for BB20, Chris confessed his love for hoops to a power player in reality casting circles, and Robyn Kass had something in mind when Swayleigh came back to town almost straight off of their rendezvous in Asia. Thanks to being a good friend of Jeanie's, she hooked the lovebirds up with two seats at courtside at the Lakers' Dec. 10th date with the Miami Heat, seating right behind the president and a member of the second generation of Showtime, Derek Fisher. It also happened to be Dwayne Wade's last night sharing a court with the man who joined with him in South Florida to win his first two NBA titles earlier in the decade. But in a tight battle to the end, LeBron & the Lakers emerged victorious 108-105 as he recorded a 28-point, 12-assist & 9-rebound night to Flash's 15 points, and the brothers for life embraced at night's end.
For what must've been a dream night for this basketball fanatic and having a brief moment of holding onto one of Derek's three title rings, Swaggy must've felt like a champion writing his Instagram caption: "When the superstars meet a LEGEND 😩🤩 Like nah do y’all know who this is... @jeaniebuss. President of the Lakers 💜💛 She gon’ look at me and say that she’s so excited to meet me because she’s watched me like NOOOOO Jeanie ... Do you not know who you are! You’re the ICON! I’m the fan here 🤣💭 Been watching you since 2007. Anyways, thank you Jeanie for the courtside Laker tickets. You’re amazing and I can’t wait to see you next time 🌷💫 OFFICIALLY GANG GANG 🧸 #LakerNATION #SwaggyGANG #Swayleigh"
And Bayleigh added, "Last night was a Lakers fan’s Dream. Thank you so much @kassting for bringing us as your guest to meet the sweetest woman alive @jeaniebuss! Both of you ladies are Goals. Robyn obviously kept me laughing all night. I had a blast and I’m so happy I got to see my baby @joyeforrest. You are THE Lakers girl darling! Lakers with the Win! 💛💜 ( @swaggyctv was like a kid in a candy store )"
After moving back out to Laker Land on a now-permanent basis in time for this soon-to-be-restarted 2019-20 NBA season - and before they flew out to Europe to compete on Total Madness, Swayleigh have become regulars at courtside at Staples. And they seem to love this arena so much, they've just moved to a new apartment across the street from it and the L.A. Live complex, right at the foot of the downtown area and where all the action whenever the home team is in action.
And they'll have the fortune of making only a short hop down an elevator and walking from there to catch Laker games once it is able to again host sporting events on the other side of the corona crisis and sitting next to big stars, including below with one-time MTV Lip Service host Jay Mohr. That's the pleasure you have when you get to become part of the fandom that is, by far, the most followed in the entire NBA, part of a now four-decades' long family legacy carried on now by its boss lady.
- I AM DC
#DCBLOG
Mr. Buss had quite a life in also owning L.A.-based teams in World Team Tennis and indoor soccer, as well as the renowned estate formerly owned by Mary Pickfair. A failed marriage in the 70's saw him have many young girlfriends over the rest of his life, but what was consistent was that he was the elder statesman of a family with six kids all with the same first letter of his name. Johnny, Jim, Jeanie, Janie, Joey and Jesse all grew up in the shadow of their dad, and all of them were working in the Laker organization by the time their patriarch passed away after the 2013 NBA All-Star Game, three years after being handed his tenth & last Larry O'Brien Trophy as owner.
Jeanie's role in the Lakers increased as time went on, serving as the team's alternative Governor and then became executive vice president of business operations in 1999 as they moved to downtown. By the time her brother Jim was promoted to VP of player personnel, various sports media outlets had her as one of sports' most influential women - one of those who has excelled in being just as powerful on the managerial side of sports as her male counterparts. And before the 2013-14 season after her dad's passing, Jeanie officially became Lakers president in overlooking both business and basketball.
But her ascent came during a time when the franchise had fallen on hard times despite Kobe's continued mastery, and for a fan base who expects nothing but excellence Jeanie who took matters into her own hands after several straight losing seasons and failed attempts to have a big super team. After the All-Star break in 2017, she gave longtime general manager Mitch Kupchak his walking papers in favor of sports agent Rob Pelinka, while Jim Buss handed in his resignation notice as his sister handed the reigns of president of basketball operations to Magic.
Outside the office, her engagement to her boyfriend of 15 years, former Coach Jackson, had broken off, as reports circulated of plenty of turmoil both within the Lakers organization and in the Buss family. And while Stephen Curry's Warriors ruled the NBA and the Clippers had overtaken their cross-hallway counterparts in the competitive balance, this once proud franchise found themselves in a state of rebuilding... and it would take for one internet-breaking transaction to make everyone talk Lakers again: LeBron James joining them in summer 2018 after he returned to Cleveland to snap the city's championship curse, soon followed by Anthony Davis.
At 49-14, the Lakers sit atop the Western Conference ahead of Thursday night's restart against the Clippers, as the NBA prepares for a mini-season of seeding games followed by a postseason that will have it share billing with the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs, the just-started 60-game Major League Baseball season, a full NFL season and lots of other events that will make this fall one to remember - that is if it doesn't get derailed again. And before this, last month during as BLM raged across the country Mrs. Buss put on blast a vile, racist nut for his attacks against her team.
What the man who calls himself "Swaggy C" wasn't prepared for was the kind of hate that would come his way during his short 3-week stint in the house. Those who become those own armchair analyst when BB comes on became up in arms with his self-confidence and him giving everyone a T-shirt adorning his nickname. And there was no doubt that fans were popping bottles in front of their TV's when Chris was evicted at Day 23 (July 12), but not before establishing the Swayleigh train that would choo-choo its way from being just a run-of-the-mill showmance to something even more once the summer of 2018 was up.
Upon his eviction, Chris flew out to the Midwest to get to know a Dayton family that would ultimately compete on Family Feud later that year, before he flew back to SoCal with an engagement ring to pop the question on finale night. Bay got to say yes when he got down on that one knee, and they celebrated in style some 48 hours afterwards in Vegas. Then, Swaggy & Bayleigh got married, spent their honeymoon in Thailand, returned last year to BB to host a HOH challenge, and flew to Fiji to plug the new U.S. version of Love Island. And they rolled into this year's Total Madness where they finished better than what's expected of a Challenge rookie: he finished in the middle of the pack, and she went all the way to the final but having to withdraw halfway through due to an injury.
But not surprising for someone who shares the moniker of one of the most-celebrated non big-names of the NBA in 2018 champion (and co-host of last year's War of the Worlds 2 reunion) Nick "Swaggy P" Young, Chris nonetheless put his hoops talents on display in a ballyhooed one-on-one charity game in January 2019 with fellow BB20 houseguest turned Total Madness rookie finalist Feysal "Fessy" Shafaat to help out cancer treatment for BB19 houseguest Kevin Schlehuber.
The month before, Bayleigh & Swaggy were out in Los Angeles for their first taste of the Hollywood life in walking the red carpet at the premiere of WEtv's Love After Lockup and spending some time with another reality love story in Clinton Moxam & Uche Nwosu from Are You The One? Season 6. And before a trip back to where it all began for them in doing press for the Canadian version of Big Brother and its own Entertainment Tonight, they also happened to squeeze in going to a Laker game at Staples around all of that -- all made possible by the one who helped to bring this post to life who also happens to be a fan and a friend of the purple & gold.
When being interviewed prior to being cast for BB20, Chris confessed his love for hoops to a power player in reality casting circles, and Robyn Kass had something in mind when Swayleigh came back to town almost straight off of their rendezvous in Asia. Thanks to being a good friend of Jeanie's, she hooked the lovebirds up with two seats at courtside at the Lakers' Dec. 10th date with the Miami Heat, seating right behind the president and a member of the second generation of Showtime, Derek Fisher. It also happened to be Dwayne Wade's last night sharing a court with the man who joined with him in South Florida to win his first two NBA titles earlier in the decade. But in a tight battle to the end, LeBron & the Lakers emerged victorious 108-105 as he recorded a 28-point, 12-assist & 9-rebound night to Flash's 15 points, and the brothers for life embraced at night's end.
For what must've been a dream night for this basketball fanatic and having a brief moment of holding onto one of Derek's three title rings, Swaggy must've felt like a champion writing his Instagram caption: "When the superstars meet a LEGEND 😩🤩 Like nah do y’all know who this is... @jeaniebuss. President of the Lakers 💜💛 She gon’ look at me and say that she’s so excited to meet me because she’s watched me like NOOOOO Jeanie ... Do you not know who you are! You’re the ICON! I’m the fan here 🤣💭 Been watching you since 2007. Anyways, thank you Jeanie for the courtside Laker tickets. You’re amazing and I can’t wait to see you next time 🌷💫 OFFICIALLY GANG GANG 🧸 #LakerNATION #SwaggyGANG #Swayleigh"
And Bayleigh added, "Last night was a Lakers fan’s Dream. Thank you so much @kassting for bringing us as your guest to meet the sweetest woman alive @jeaniebuss! Both of you ladies are Goals. Robyn obviously kept me laughing all night. I had a blast and I’m so happy I got to see my baby @joyeforrest. You are THE Lakers girl darling! Lakers with the Win! 💛💜 ( @swaggyctv was like a kid in a candy store )"
After moving back out to Laker Land on a now-permanent basis in time for this soon-to-be-restarted 2019-20 NBA season - and before they flew out to Europe to compete on Total Madness, Swayleigh have become regulars at courtside at Staples. And they seem to love this arena so much, they've just moved to a new apartment across the street from it and the L.A. Live complex, right at the foot of the downtown area and where all the action whenever the home team is in action.
And they'll have the fortune of making only a short hop down an elevator and walking from there to catch Laker games once it is able to again host sporting events on the other side of the corona crisis and sitting next to big stars, including below with one-time MTV Lip Service host Jay Mohr. That's the pleasure you have when you get to become part of the fandom that is, by far, the most followed in the entire NBA, part of a now four-decades' long family legacy carried on now by its boss lady.
- I AM DC
#DCBLOG
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