Not a good way to start for the Lakers and Dodger talk

First up is the news that Grady Little has resigned and it looks like Joe Torre will become the next manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers. I'm definitely excited to hear about this as Torre is a proven manager who has won multiple championships and should be able to help this young ballclub. It probably won't hurt that he'll want to prove to Steinbrenner and the Yankees that he's still got it as a great manager. And who knows maybe this means Arod is coming to the Dodgers?

I was in attendance at Staples Center last night as the Lakers opened the season against the Houston Rockets. From my side of the arena I didn't think Kobe was being booed but I had friends sitting at the other side who said he definitely was. But those boos turned to cheers near the end as the Lakers almost came back from a double digit deficit in the last minute and a half. I was very pleased with the way the team played defense at times, but then there was the big lapse in the third quarter, combined with Kobe forcing his shot too much and it spelled doom for the Lakers.

As I've mentioned plenty of times, and all Lakers fans know, Kobe will get frustrated when he doesn't get calls then tries too hard to get them by forcing the action and essentially playing 1 on 5 so it's tough for the guys around him to get involved in the game. Granted Lamar Odom and Javaris Crittendon did not play but still they should have won the game if they had hit their free throws. The team shot 60% with Kobe only shooting 67%, I have never seen Kobe miss so many free throws, I guess his wrist is hurting him. On the other positive, it was great to see Derek Fisher back in purple and gold. He knows how to play with Kobe and it showed as he was the only other Laker in double digits on a very efficient 6 of 9 shooting night.

That said, I’ve stopped discussing all the Kobe rumors as they’ve just gotten out of hand and I didn’t want to deal with every little rumor that spread as we know 99% of that stuff is not true. Honestly, I can’t imagine that the Lakers would’ve green lighted the trade that ESPN is reporting today that fell through which would’ve brought Ben Wallace and Ron Artest to the Lakers. It would make no sense and it would've been a terrible move. Also making things more difficult is Kobe's insistence on Luol Deng staying a Bull if he gets moved. Someone has to budge and we'll just have to wait and see who does, Kobe or the Lakers, or for myself and all other Lakers fans sakes either the front office makes another push for Jermaine O'Neal, as long as they don't have to give up Odom AND Bynum, one or the other is fine, or this team gets it together somehow once Lamar gets back and starts winning because as they say winning cures all and it may be the only thing that can save this situation. Below are pics I took from last night.