Madmen's Ball: The Continuing Saga of Kobe, Phil, and the Los Angeles Lakers

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Triumph Books, 2008 - Sports & Recreation - 307 pages
In this revised and expanded edition, Los Angeles Times writer Mark Heisler investigates the 45-year history of the Los Angeles Lakers and unveils a pattern of pampered and/or misguided players, megalomaniacal executives, and owners whose obsessive drives for championships and attention combined to create an atmosphere of conflict for decades Throughout the entire 2003-04 season, fans and the media called the L.A. Lakers the biggest reality show in the country. But the laundry list of conflicts--the ongoing Kobe-Shaq bickering, Kobe's sexual assault trial, Phil Jackson's final season, Gary Payton's refusal to admit his physical decline, and the loss to Detroit in the championship--was just another year in the history of the Lakers. Madmen's Ball goes back to the Lakers' unceremonious arrival in Los Angeles in 1960 to show that the franchise has been embroiled in controversy, in-house battles and personality clashes for generations.

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Contents

Enter Goliath
17
At Long Last Showtime
35
The Rise and Fall of Riles
53
Copyright

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About the author (2008)

Jerry West was born in 1938 in West Virginia USA. West is widely regarded as one of the greatest basketball players and coaches of all time. His book West by West details his tough childhood in West Virginia, his remarkable college success at West Virginia University, and his 40-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers.

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