LOS ANGELES – Jim Hill wouldn’t want me to write this column, but this is one of the few times I must ignore the advice of a man I have looked up to for as long as I can remember watching sports in Los Angeles.
On Sunday, the Los Angeles Lakers unveiled a statue of Pat Riley, the head coach of the Showtime Lakers, in a ceremony attended by Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, James Worthy, Byron Scott, Michael Douglas and Michael McDonald, among others. Lionel Richie even took his courtside seat before the Lakers played the Boston Celtics, as John Tesh’s “Roundball Rock” blared through the arena. If the party had leaned any further into the 1980s, it might have been drenched in neon and simulcast on MTV.
The ceremony took me back to my childhood, watching Jim cover the Showtime Lakers for KCBS 2 and KABC 7. This month, Jim is celebrating his 50th year covering sports in Los Angeles. Next month, I’ll turn 46. Nearly every memory I have of sports in this city — from the Lakers’ 11 NBA championships to the Dodgers’ ifve World Series titles since 1980 — is connected to Jim talking to players in the locker room after the game…