Lakers owner Jerry Buss dies

[charlie and algernon]

Los Angeles Lakers owner Jerry Buss, who presided over a team that won 10 NBA titles and showcased some of the biggest names in professional basketball, died Monday. He was 80.

Buss had been suffering from an undisclosed form of cancer. He died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, where he had been in and out of the hospital for several months.

Under Buss' ownership, the Lakers won NBA titles in 1980, '82, '85, '87, '88, 2000, '01, '02, '09 and '10. Among the all-time greats who played for the Lakers during Buss' tenure were Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, James Worthy, Byron Scott, Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant.

Buss was credited with introducing "Showtime" to Los Angeles, bringing entertaining basketball to the Entertainment Capital of the World. He once said his goal was to make the Lakers synonymous with Los Angeles, which had been a Dodgers town up until the time he bought the team. Most would say he succeeded.

http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/story/_/id/8959182/jerry-buss-los-angeles-lakers-owner-dies-80

[SoapBox]

1. And just last week...

or about...the son, when it was released that he was in intensive care, said something like...Oh! He's just fine!

Ya right...and now he's dead...and if he was "just fine" we asked, why the parade of current and former Lakers at the hospital.

I'm just hoping that he will now cancel the Time Warner contract.

...an era is done and a new one starts.

[Yavin4]

2. A Great, Great Owner. Stayed in the background and let better people run his team.

Willing to spend on great talent. Created a culture of winning. A true role model for other sports owners and franchises.