Jun

21

Mr. Pitts fine and erudite post pointing out the importance of the outlet pass to Varusechek who has the best free throw shooting percentage brings to mind Sondheims' song from company . " its the little things you do together that make life a joy " . less hateful and humorous is the real proverb,that little strokes fell great oaks or Wiswell's make quiet moves, or take care of the draws and the wins will take care of themselves.

Marion Dreyfus comments:

Can any of the more psychologically astute listers explain why the win of the Lakers the other night occasioned vast destruction of the city, cars and streets?

Why did the police permit this lawlessness?

Why should we accept this hooliganism?

Stefan Jovanovich responds:

 Marion: your question presumes that there is a "we" in Los Angeles. That is a fallacy; there are only tribes. The tribe that inhabits downtown LA after dark are the homeless, and it was not their property that was vandalized. "Law and order" in LA is entirely up to the local inhabitants. During the Rodney King riots Koreatown was an island of tranquillity even though it was among the neighborhoods closest to South Central because the local tribe immediately displayed their arsenal of (mostly illegal) weaponry. Then, as now, the police were - as they have been for years -well-paid spectators whose concern was their own safety (for all the talk about the danger of the public saftey life, the emergency services in LA now have lower mortality rates than parking lot attendants). As paramilitary SWAT teams have grown in size and budgets, actual control of public events has declined. Some of us cynics think there might be a correlation.

Marion Dreyfus writes:

Thanks for clearing up the mystery.

It is dismaying in the extreme, however.

No-go zones in our country?!Just like the illegals n Arizona, who have entirely taken over parts of the state where no americans can set foot. 

 

Alan Corwin comments:

I don't think no-go zones are anything new in our country. There were a lot of no-go zones after dark in Boston in the 1950's for example, and I believe that was typical of big East Coast cities. The scariest place I have ever been was when I decided to check out Wilt Chamberlin's High School in Philadelphia during the late 60s. I thought I had wandered into a war zone. That may indicate how sheltered my life has been, but it was scary.

The thing that always amazes me about these riots is that they are almost never in the losing city. Things got pretty ugly in Boston the last time they won a championship, but all was quiet on the Eastern Front when they lost this year.

 

Gibbons Burke comments:

Witness the 1992 riots in Chicago after the Bulls won the NBA championship:

Bulls' NBA Victory Sparks Chicago Riots By Michael Abramowitz Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, June 16, 1992; Page A01

CHICAGO, JUNE 15 – As Michael Jordan and the newly crowned professional basketball champion Bulls partied with 18,000 delirious fans inside Chicago Stadium Sunday evening, an ugly orgy of violence and looting unfolded in neighborhoods scattered around this city, authorities said today.

Police reported more than 1,000 arrests on charges of burglary, theft, mob action, disorderly conduct and damage to property, all in the hours following the Bulls' dramatic come-from-behind victory against the Portland Trail Blazers in Game 6 of the National Basketball Association Finals for their second consecutive championship.

There were scores of injuries, nearly all of them minor. No one was killed. Among those injured were 95 police officers, two of whom received minor gunshot wounds. Three civilians were shot, two by storekeepers and one by the police, according to a police spokesman. The owner of a South Side liquor store and an employee received second-degree burns when looters attacked their establishment.

Although drunken revelry is still the most common mass response to sports championships, violence of the type that occurred here late Sunday and early today is becoming more common. Last year, after the Bulls' first NBA championship, the looting was less widespread, there were 100 arrests and no serious injuries or deaths.

[…]


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