#RAGE QUITTER MAYBE CROSSWORD CLUE PROFESSIONAL#

I wanted my home to be as far away from the arena as possible without having to move into the flat plain of the Valley. I have lived on the same lot in the same canyon for all of the years I have been here. I live about 15 miles directly north of this triangle, in the hills that stretch across Los Angeles. The Forum is several miles east of the airport, which is several miles south of Loyola.

Each only minutes from the others, they constitute a small, three-cornered piece of geography that is the center of the Laker team’s work life. Grooves have been worn in my routes to these three places. From now until the end of this season, I will be driving daily to Loyola, the Forum or the airport. Today was the first time we had been inside it since the end of last season. ON TOP OF a bluff overlooking the wetlands of Ballona Creek, Loyola Marymount gym is our regular practice facility during the year.

#RAGE QUITTER MAYBE CROSSWORD CLUE PROFESSIONAL#

But as the end of my professional career became a reality, I found myself wanting to capture my final season as it happened, and any memories along the way. I have never kept a diary before, and when it came to basketball, I always believed that as long as I adequately played the game, there was little left to say. The book stretches from the first practice of the year to my last regular-season game at the Forum to the Lakers’ loss to the Detroit Pistons in four games in the championship. The following are excerpts from a diary of my last season. Next year at this time, I would be in Hawaii, my version of the Caribbean, turning the corner into the ‘90s without basketball and without the company of my teammates. It was to be the last season of the ‘80s, and the last season that we would all play together-James, Byron, Coop, Earvin and me.

Not only was it my last season, it also was the end of an era for a team that had won back-to-back championships. But there I was, all lined up to go for my 20th season. I can remember, very keenly, being a rookie and wondering what guys did after playing professional ball for 10 years. All the guys who broke in with me had gone. For five years, I had been the oldest player in the league and held the scoring record. I never thought when I started out that I would end up playing basketball longer than anyone has ever played the game.Īs that final season began, I had already stretched out my records. Every summer in college, I would tell myself that I’d play four or five years, make a million and retire to the Caribbean. For 32 years, I had operated on the time clock and within the structure and order of the basketball season-for the last 14 years as a Laker. I had played organized basketball since I was 9 years old. As the fall of 1988 approached, it was hard for me to comprehend that my last season of basketball had finally arrived.

Rage quitter maybe crossword clue