Time Warner Sportsnet – Fansmanship https://www.fansmanship.com For the fans by the fans Fri, 12 Mar 2021 03:58:36 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.7.29 For the fans by the fans Time Warner Sportsnet – Fansmanship fansmanship.com For the fans by the fans Time Warner Sportsnet – Fansmanship http://www.fansmanship.com/wp-content/uploads/powerpress/Favicon1400x1400-1.jpg https://www.fansmanship.com San Luis Obispo, CA Weekly-ish Signs of Things to Come for the Purple and Gold? Owen’s Lakers Preview https://www.fansmanship.com/signs-of-things-to-come-for-the-purple-and-gold-owens-lakers-preview/ https://www.fansmanship.com/signs-of-things-to-come-for-the-purple-and-gold-owens-lakers-preview/#respond Tue, 30 Oct 2012 03:22:14 +0000 http://www.fansmanship.com/?p=6922 The only way the Lakers preseason could have been worse is if one of their stars had sustained a long-term injury. Aside from that, here are the ways in which the Lakers’ preseason was just about the worst thing for them and their fans.

Third year Grizzlies player Pau Gasol jumps center against the 2003-04 Lakers. Teamed up with Shaq and Kobe, Gary Payton and Karl Malone still could not get over the championship hump. By Rob from Galapagar (Madrid), Spain (Lakers vs Grizzlies #2003 Uploaded by JoeJohnson2) [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

I didn’t see the games.

Thousands, perhaps millions of Lakers fans hoping to get pumped about the upcoming season were left out in the cold when the new Time Warner SportsNet was not available to lots of Lakers fans during the preseason. This meant that, for all the work the Lakers had done to enhance their star-power and keep themselves relevant, their fans could do little to get excited. I have yet to see Steve Nash or Dwight Howard play in a Lakers uniform and the season starts Tuesday. For anticipation’s sake, this is not a good thing.

The purple and gold didn’t win a single preseason game.

You’ll hear a lot about how the Lakers’ 0-8 record in the preseason was meaningless. Stephen A. Smith and Chis Broussard will tell you that nobody on the Lakers really cares about that and that Kobe’s team will be fine. But you would think that a team ready to make a championship run would win at least one game. One would posit that a team with championship depth would have some of their substitutes able to will them to at least a single victory. An 0-8 preseason is not a good thing and it does matter, despite what people say.

The Lakers are old — and brittle.

In his 17th season, Kobe Bryant has racked up 1,161 regular season games and 220 playoff games, not to mention any Olympic teams he has been on. He seems to have a nagging injury during every recent year and this year doesn’t promise to be any different. That being said, he may be the most dependable of the Lakers’ “Big-4” when it comes to health. He wills himself through his nagging injuries better than any player ever has. He has lost a step and, while he’ll probably miss 5-10 games this season due to injury, Kobe will be there when it counts, doing what he does.

Let’s look at the other three guys for a moment. Pau Gasol is not getting any younger, or more physical. Losing Phil Jackson as a mentor really hurt Pau last year, when he never quite figured out his role. While that may get a little better this season with Nash at his side, he still isn’t a great fit in Mike Brown’s system. He will play a lot of games, but he’s not nearly as effective as he was 3 years ago.

Dwight Howard is exciting, but his back has not been right for over a year. A player who relies on his athleticism needs to have a strong back. Lakers fans are hoping Howard will play over 75 games this year, but I would put the over/under at about 50.

Steve Nash is amazing. He is 4 years older than Kobe Bryant and has been playing in the league just as long. Nash does not have the tenacity of playing through injuries as Kobe does, but he takes care of his body very well. Lakers fans should expect Nash to play 70 or so games and to have limited minutes in games. His time on the floor will be effective, but fans have to wonder whether Steve Blake can give good point-guard minutes off the bench and hold down the fort until Nash returns.

So, if we add that up, that is quite a few games that I’m expecting those players to miss. People say that all you have to do is get in the playoffs, but without a full team for much of the year, I expect the Lakers to be trying to find themselves all season, which will cause them to be found wanting once the playoffs come around. For a “championship or bust” team, it could be a very loud bust.

The Bench

Who did the Lakers pick up to come off the bench? Well, you can find guys like Antawn Jamison — who can still score a little but plays no defense. Jodie Meeks can also provide some offense. If the reserves were going to be a solid group though, it seems like the team would have won a game in the preseason.

Ghosts of 2003-04

In 2003-04, the Lakers still had the nucleus of their three-peat championship roster intact. In a move that preceded the Celtics “Big 3” coming together, Mitch Kupchak added Hall-of-Famers Karl Malone and Gary Payton. Living in Florida at the time, it was the only year I’ve ever invested in NBA League Pass. The Lakers were compelling and should have won the title that year but injuries to Shaq and Malone, combined with poor chemistry, foiled the “Big 4’s” title hopes.

This year, the Lakers added Nash and Howard and I’m reminded of 2003-04. This team is compelling, intriguing, and makes me want to watch. If I had cable or satellite, I would probably think about getting League Pass again this year.

Oh, and the preseason record of that 2003-04 team that went to the finals: (6-2).

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Health will be the story for the Lakers. The odds of their key players staying healthy all year and the team gelling to win a title in their first year together are long. The Lakers will end up competitive and compelling, but probably won’t be championship material. Unless they stay healthy and end up winning the championship, which is possible. After all, I am a Lakers fan.

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The Lakers Are Being Held Hostage https://www.fansmanship.com/the-lakers-are-being-held-hostage/ https://www.fansmanship.com/the-lakers-are-being-held-hostage/#respond Fri, 05 Oct 2012 01:46:13 +0000 http://www.fansmanship.com/?p=6452

If you want to see Mr. World Peace this year, you might have a hard time — depending on your cable provider. Photo by Bridget Samuels (Flickr: P1010031.jpg) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

The Los Angeles Lakers are being held in a prison cell and the brand-spanking new Time Warner Sportsnet holds the key to their freedom.

On the first of this month, Time Warner Cable Sportsnet rolled out the red carpet for their two infant sports cable networks. Both will carry the same content, one in English and one in Spanish.

In a glitzy and glamorous presentation only reserved for the likes of Tinseltown, big names like Kobe Bryant, David Beckham, Dwight Howard, Magic Johnson, James Worthy, Pau Gasol and Landon Donovan were all present for the epic kick-off.

But what were they celebrating? These new networks claim to be able to take both the Lakers and the Los Angeles Galaxy MLS soccer franchise to the next level – but at the network’s outset, they seem creating a bottleneck for several fans.

Time Warner has paid a sum of 3 billion dollars over the next 20 years to carry the Lakers and the Galaxy. That’s all fine and dandy, but the problem is Time Warner Sportsnet is only currently offered to Time Warner Cable subscribers.

Just 35% (1.7 million of 4.8 million) of television customers in the greater Los Angeles area are Time Warner Cable subscribers. And even that minority percentage drops significantly when you factor in surrounding areas (like San Luis Obispo County) that don’t even have a Time Warner option. This is a striking punch in the gut to a region that could tune into Fox Sports West or KCAL9 before the takeover, and catch every single one of the Lakers’ non-nationally televised games. Herein lies a major problem between Time Warner and everyone else.

Direct TV, Dish Network, Charter Communications and Cox Cable are all currently at the bargaining table. Time Warner obviously holds all the cards in the market. The Lakers are the equivalent of gold bullion in the Southern California region.

Anything and everything as far as programming in the Southern California region stems and moves through the Lakers broadcast. Go ask KCAL9. Their newscasts prior to and following Lakers road broadcasts were essential in making them Los Angeles’ news leader. And now that the Lakers are gone, their ratings won’t even be in the same ballpark as before.

So what does this chaos and disarray mean to Lakerfans like you and I? Let’s start at $3.95 more a month on top of your current provider subscription. This is what Time Warner is currently proposing to all the other outlets. That would make Time Warner Sportsnet the second most expensive regional sports network in the nation behind Comcast SportsNet Washington, which charges $4.02 more than the base charge, per subscriber, per month.

Directv said in a statement that it is “very engaged” in talks to carry the channels, but said it has a responsibility to its customers to “avoid any extraordinary increases” in their monthly bills. Ugh. Sounds like a stalemate and we are all already tired of lockouts, aren’t we?

And the worst part? This Laker team is the story this upcoming NBA season. The overall talent the Lakers have acquired in the off-season is arguably the best collection on paper that has been assembled in Lakerland since The Showtime Era of Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, James Worthy, Byron Scott and Michael Cooper. Only being able to watch this team when they are on national television will be beyond a frustrating process for Lakerfans to say the least.

So what does the dilemma all come down to? Money, of course, just like it always does. I just hope Time Warner understands that yes, there is a lot of money to be made, but if you don’t settle on a reasonable deal soon, there is also a lot of money to be lost. And as of right now, if things stand as they are once the regular season kicks off, there is no answer for non-Time Warner Lakerfans to turn to.

If you think the couch burning after championships was bad, imagine what will start to burn if the majority of Southland fans can’t see their Lakers? I’m already starting to stock up on lighter fluid like Mayan Calendar 2012 conspiracy theorists are hoarding canned goods.

Make me put down my lighter, Time Warner.

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