Very nice, Ralph. Small but important spelling fix: Ervin —> Earvin
There was no shortage of such street characters in Westwood eleven years ago, when my older daughter and I lived in an apartment there while waiting for her heart transplant at UCLA, while my husband stayed in San Diego to keep the health insurance going and to single-parent our younger daughter. I exchanged daily greetings and shared occasional meals with a Black woman who was alternately Michael Jackson and Jesus.
Joe, the Lakers are a the National Basketball Association team in Los Angeles. (They were originally the Minnesota Lakers, the state of Minnesota being nicknamed the Land of 10,000 Lakes.) You've probably seen a Californian tourist wearing a purple and gold baseball cap with a Lakers logo at some point, without recognizing it.
The two most famous former Lakers are Earvin "Magic" Johnson, who came out of retirement to co-captain of the Dream Team that gold-medaled at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics (the first year that professional basketball players were allowed to play), and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, whom you've probably also never heard of.
|