An Aside on #37 For the Los Angeles Lakers:

[disclaimer: i basically just copy-pasted this from my blog that noone reads - I don't know if that is cool under the SS&R etiquette, but I was pretty happy with what I wrote and wanted to share it with some laker fans]

By the time Ron Artest signed with the Lakers this summer, his label as an "enigmatic" or, less kindly "unstable" personality had already crystallized into cliche thanks to many well publicized incidents (exhibits A, B, C, et. al.).  And, it must be said, Ron didn't exactly try to play down his eccentricities - the whole Michael Jackson Saga*, culminating with Ron choosing his jersey number (37) to pay tribute to the number of weeks (37... duh) Jackson's "Thriller" spent at the top of the charts, was only one example held up by the national sports media (i.e., espn.com, foxsports.com and other such pundits) of why the Lakers had erred in "trading" Trevor Ariza for Ron Artest.  Marc Stein, of the Espn.com "Power Rankings" repeatedly asserted the "Artest as distraction" meme, claiming Ron-Ron's volatile way would disrupt the delicate chemistry of the Lakers.

*Ahem.  Note:  Ron says ni*** like 60 times in this one, but it's clearly a term of affection.  Still, probably NSFW.  Though you really shouldn't be watching or listening to Ron Artest on YouTube at work anyways, regardless of his word choice.

[I had embedded the Ron-Ron Michael Jackson tribute song here, but you've all seen/heard that I assume.  If not - LINK]

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