It is 1988 all over again!

On this past Memorial Day, the Dodgers and Lakers were both in Denver playing against the locals. The Lakers had more at stake and unfortunately the Dodgers almost topped the Laker point total. The Nuggets tattooed the Lakers while the Dodgers were just beginning their sweep of the Rockies. After grinding out the much needed Game 3 victory to regain home court advantage, the Lake show eased into the barcalounger for Game 4 with the Laker bench being the best seat in the house. The Dodgers continued to beat up on the downtrodden while Manny’s testicles recover from the public humiliation.

It was1988 when many of the stones of Los Angeles sports legends paved the highway of Yard legacy. The Dodgers and Lakers both gnashed and churned towards remarkable championships. The Showtime Lakers became the first NBA Champion to repeat since the 1969 Celtics. The underdog Dodgers beat the heavily favored pioneers of the steroid era, the Oakland A’s. The Showtime Lakers were still playing at the Forum and it was the last championship in that building. The Dodgers were still owned by the O’Malley’s and it was the storied family’s six and final championship. For the Lakers, it was the end of era. For the Dodgers, it was an era that ended.

This legendary 1988 Laker team was lead by Magic, Kareem and Big Game James and was the most talented team in the NBA. These Hall of Famers could take over playoff games throughout their career and during this championship run. The 1988 Lakers grinded through three, seven games series towards their last championship of the Show Time era. This Magical team tortured the fans and looked miserable at times while getting slapped top side of the head by the Jazz, Mavericks and Pistons in ugly losses. And when they lost game one at home in the Finals to the youthful Isaiah Thomas, Joe Dumars, Dennis Rodman lead Pistons and all was lost in the LA media and fan base. The Bad Boys of Detroit had arrived.

With the sunscreen of Los Angeles upon them, Show Time limped into Detroit and won the first game of the last Piston series at the Pontiac Silver Dome in the city that Obama now owns. With at the very least another Buss Family pay day on the line, the Lakers lost games 4 & 5 in Detroit by 11 and 25 respectively to force two more well attended games in Los Angeles. In the first game seven since the NBA adopted the 2-3-2 format, James Worthy scored 36 points, grabbed 16 rebounds and handed off 10 assists in a triple double that will never be repeated in either it’s impact or its grandeur to win game seven.

The 1988 Dodgers had a team batting average of .248 without a single regular hitting over .300. The Mets had several potential Hall of Famers who had not yet thrown their lives down the toilet doing blow. With Darryl, Doc, Keith and Mookie they played the Dodgers twelve times in 1988 and won 11 times. The Mets won game 1 at Chavez Ravine and Game 3 at Shea 8-4. In Game 4, Doc Gooden was overpowering this JV lineup through eight with a 4-2 lead. Then with one out, Mike Scioscia hit the game tying two run home run in the 9th. Kirk Gibson homered in the 12th with his only hit of the game. Winning the National West was awesome, upsetting the A’s in the World Series incredible, coming back and beating any team from New York, priceless.

In 2009, the sun stills blesses the sea while the mountains smile on the humans cursing in their cars. This Laker team showed us who they could be last night in Denver. They also showed us another version on Memorial Day. The Dodgers are going to come back to the pack at some point and fortunately that pack is the National League West. The Dodger kids have not faced much adversity just distraction. In a 162 game season, adversity is guaranteed. Resilience is not. Just ask Cleveland Fan. Grab a beer, find a good seat, it is going to be a fun LA summer.