Yesterday Wasn't The Best Day For The Good Doctor

If you think you had a bad day yesterday, at least your problems weren't broadcast around the globe. Imagine how Lakers owner Dr. Jerry Buss feels today.

First his star player, Kobe Bryant, drops some verbal bombs regarding his lack of desire to return to the team in 2008, and in the process spills the beans on what took place back when Shaq was shipped off to Miami.

From the Inquirer:

Just weeks after saying something needed to be done to improve the Lakers' roster, days after reiterating that point, and hours after suggesting that West's return to the organization might be the solution, Bryant went on an all-out assault after reading that a "team source" intimated in yesterday's Los Angeles Times that he was the reason Shaquille O'Neal was traded.

"He met with me at the Four Seasons Hotel here across from Fashion Island, which is now the Island Hotel," Bryant said. "I went up to his penthouse suite. [Buss] looks me dead in the face and says: 'Kobe, I am not going to re-sign Shaq. I am not about to pay him $30 million a year or $80 million over three years. No way in hell. I feel like he's getting older. His body is breaking down, and I don't want to pay that money to him when I can get value for him right now rather than wait. This is my decision. It's independent of you. My mind is made up. It doesn't matter to me what you do in free agency because I do not want to pay [Shaq], period.' "

"Dr. Buss said that," Bryant said. "And I haven't said anything for years because I've always felt like folks were just looking to create controversy. Now I know. I realize what extent [the Lakers] will go to, to cover themselves."

Ouch. Do you hear that? It's the sound of a bridge being torched. To top off what must have been a great day, Dr. Jerry, who is known the world over for his efforts to advance the cause of women in sports, had a few too many and got busted driving down the street by John Law. At least he had some company to console him during his trip to the hoosegow.

From the AP:

The 74-year-old Buss was taken into custody shortly before 1 a.m. after he drove his gold Mercedes-Benz station wagon the wrong way on a street in an unincorporated section of Carlsbad that has double yellow lines, California Highway Patrol officer Tom Kerns said.

A 23-year-old woman in the vehicle with Buss wasn't arrested, Kerns said.

Then again, as bad a day as Jerry had, he is still owner of the Lakers and at 74 he can still pull 23-year-olds, so I guess what I said about his day being worse than yours might not have been entirely accurate.