Los Lakers Drop the Ball on Noche Latina

What, no free XXXXXL white tee shirts, no halftime donkey shows, no Mariachi Band playing the "defense" song, no free admission with a ticket stub to cock fights in the IE, no "find the Virgin de Guadalupe in the pool of sweat" contest... How can the Lakers celebrate Latina Noche night and not properly honor La Raza? All we got was the Lakers wearing "Los Lakers" jerseys and a few Los Lobos songs during los timeouts (sorry too many los's). At least have the Lakers girls surgically remove their torsos... Okay maybe that was bad but where was the celebration of the Latino culture in LA without any semblance of Latino Culture? Oh wait, they did give away free tacos from El Jacko en el Boxeo after the Lakers beat Memphis 99 to 89. 

At least give us hot dogs wrapped in bacon (btw - the best/worst/worst food ever, I once bought one before a game a few years ago... 30 minutes of pleasure followed by 10 days of indigestion and most likely a tape worm, yet somehow worth it). Anyway, a few other thoughts from the game from my seats in Section 316: 

Memphis, the Mos Eisley of the NBA: On the Grizzlies are Darko Milicic, Darius Miles, Quentin Ross, Chris Mihm and Damon Stoudamire with Henry Bibby as a coach ... You'll never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy... Either their front office sees something in these guys on the cheap or the Grizz are the last stop/last chance before D-League-ville. There's nothing wrong with taking a cheap feeler on a few long shots, but 1/3 of the team is too much! BTW - couldn't you just picture that "He doesn't like you, I don't like you either" exchange between Darius Miles and Marc Gasol? 

Gasol vs. Gasol: People thought the Pau Gasol trade last year was the most one-sided trade in the millenium but we easily forget that Marc Gasol was a throw in. The guy can straight up play! He's just a rookie but he has great passing skills and is a capable rebounder. Give him a season or two to develop a low post game and Memphis has a true all star. You can see that he already commands respect from his teammates for his basketball IQ. Which makes me wonder: Luke Walton, Ronnie Turiaf and Marc Gasol... Mitch Kupchak really knows how to draft in the second round! 

Oh and Marc Gasol outplayed his brother Pau, who was clearly frustrated all night. 

First impressions on OJ Mayo: I read somewhere that Mayo has a Kobe-like work habbit and he's a star in the making. Maybe, but I didn't see it tonight. Certain players, like Kevin Durant, command attention whether being a rookie or not, yet Mayo seemed caught between facilitator and scorer. Because of the beard he does he rally looks like a 30 year old grizzled veteran. 

Moment of the night: Actually there were two of them. The first involved DJ Mbenga, who got the Lakers bench all riled up with a block on defense followed with a 12-foot jumper on the next possession (Derek Fisher was laughing so hard he fell on the floor). But the true moment of the night or La Noche was Adam Sandler kissing Jack Nicholson during the kiss me cam segment. Hilarious!

Comments

[killyurpunkass]

no halftime donkey shows.....no free admission with a ticket stub to cock fights in the IE.....no "find the Virgin de Guadalupe in the pool of sweat" contest...

This is funny you racist bastard?? Inbread country ass muthafucker!!

[jose or juan whatever you find more suitable]

oh gosh all those knee slapping stereotypes about hispanic culture! surely proves the intelligent commentary of the site!
keep it up "amigos"!

[a rational thinking person]

Come on, its obvious that this is satire. Ever see Borat? The idea is to get you to open your eyes to racism. Humor cures all wounds and mends all bridges. Ignore race.

[Rodrigo]

I'm Mexican, and I thought this was funny. Someone at the local grocery store saying "Hey, shouldn't you be selling oranges?" is much more loaded in racism than "find the Virgin de Guadalupe in the pool of sweat" contest..." in a blog full of sarcastic one liners.

[Bob White]

fucking beaners

[Ignacio Cruz]

Soy mexicano tambien

and i dont give a rat's ass about the racism

i agree with the guy that said the thing about oranges

[Graham Wellington]

Mmmm...inbread. Delicious. I'm white, and I'd like to point out white people are the only people that get offended by racism anymore, because white people loooooooooove going to court and arguing about stupid bullshit. That being said, to keep this post relevant, the Noche Latina jerseys were kinda awesome. Picked me up a Kobe one last night.

[Mr.X]

If the celebration for "Noche Latina" was as described above, then I'm disappointed in the Lakers. Yes, they have a Spanish radio broadcast on KWKW 1330, but it increasingly looks like it's all about the dólares. The fiesta continued during the Lakers simulcast on Fox, as some commercials for fast-food restaurants were in Spanish!

I guess Latinos should just be grateful that the NBA even acknowledges them. More than a true acknowledgment and celebration of Latino culture, this looks like just the tapping of another market, another stream of revenue for owners and players. Can "Asian Night" be far ahead? Yes, it's all about business, but let's try to show a little class and respect, por favor!

Paying $100 for a jersey with an added Spanish pronoun "Los" or "El" doesn't make sense... Best to go with the Knick's jersey that says: "Nueva York." For that kind of money, at least get a Spanish adjective!

This "Noche Latina" definitely left me crudo (hung-over).

[Rich]

I guess this means I can go to mexico and petition them to have a caucasion night where they put everything in English during a soccer match. Or how bout a Euro rugby match. Probably not because they actually have enough pride in their country to celebrate their own culture.

[Savvy]

Well, when you have a market that is the fastest growing in this slowing economy (4 times faster, by the way), and if you were David Stern, you would also put up a "Noche Latina" in the largest media markets in the U.S. (ironic, also, that those 10 large media markets have huge Hispanic populations). Yes, it's all about the money, and Commissioner Stern is very wise; he knows it's time to begin tapping in to the Latino Market of the US of A (a market with $1 trillion worth of purchasing power)!

[SexyPuertoRican]

I must say that I am shocked that the Lakers did not do more for a night to celebrate Latinos. I guess it really isn't about celebrating the Latina culture, but hey what do i know? As far as I can tell, this is just another gimmick to get Latinos to spend their money on something stupid. Is the NBA the only organization to figure out that if you bring our culture into the game, sales go up? Ha. Anyways, at least the NBA tried, given that they failed miserably, its only the 3rd night, so I'm willing to see "La Noche Latina" progress into something good.

[Ernie J]

Your comments in this article were not cool at all

[LaUnik]

ha? funny i don't see anyone yelling, no more immigrants!!! when its about the money, everyone just sees green. try if you can to stereotype the hispanic communiy...donkey contest? looking for the virgin? ok racist ass, dig a little more into our culture, see how diversify and rich the latin people really are. do you even know the difference between hispanic and latin?? probably not. not taking your column into consideration, I do like the idea of reaching out to us. At least they are smart and recognize we bring value to the NBA. I love basketball, and my top teams are Los Lakers and Los Spurs.

[Craig]

Excellent comments (especially Mr.X, Savvy and SexyPuertoRican)!!!!

I was just cracking a joke using the most obnoxious/humorous stereotypes. The real point is that given all the support of the NBA from Latinos (especially the Lakers), all the NBA does is offer a $100 jersey and a few Los Lobos songs? Seriously, the NBA needs to make a better effort to reach out to their Latino fans.

[The Dude Abides]

You forgot about Von Wafer, another recent Laker 2nd round pick.

[Israel Rico]

This blog has a bunch of fucking KKK lovers...typical of a fucking spintster Virgin Laker who writes his stupid racial card undertones. If the jerseys said THA Spurs or THA Lakers, this asshole who writes this blog would comment something bad about blacks. The game is global you sick F**K!! If I were an Aztec Warrior I 'd rip you F******G heart out of you and show it to your F*****G Face!!

[sam]

ok

[Przemo]

There's 2 of you? your last post is from March 4th and there's 2 of you working on this site? Really?

[ugg store]

Storms make trees take deeper roots.Your post moved me.

[Office 2010]

they are just trying to regulate.
Now Kobe needs to figure out(along with Phil Jackson) a way to bully the Thunder, I say the answer is LO, he is always the game breaker, but as lasts year Kobe has to be confident in his teammates to make shots and plays. i dont think Kobe is seeing that at the moment, for some reason, so if im in the Lakers team, im practicing my shots and if Im Gasol or bynum I want the ball more, bring in the hi-lo set in every variety

[Poker Gratis]

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