When Luke Walton wins an NBA championship, you know it hasn’t been a good year in sports.

Ages ago, a fashion star named Rick Fox played for the LA Lakers. Like Walton, he was extremely self-important, and kind of good, yet an absolute hack at the same time. When Rick Fox retired, we thought it was the end of a kind-of-good-but-yet-an-arrogant-hack era for LA Lakers role players, but Luke Walton dashed that dream for all of us.

That’s why the Onion has saluted Kobe Bryant — Kobe is the only NBA player in history to win a championship with Luke Walton on his team! Never thought I’d say this, but congrats Kobe!

Joining “Riding the Pine” triggered some memories of a few glorious days of yore and, as sort of an [early] homage to this site, I thought I’d share them:

I’m talking about those days of ‘squeaking it out’ at tryouts amidst that nostalgic smell of sweat, bleacher varnish, and stale Pepsi.

Of sharing the court with the drill team at AM practice and the thrill of “going skins” and showing them just how much a 125-lb frame can stir the soul.

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