They haven't seen their team in the NBA Playoffs for six years, their franchise has lost a legend as team president and couldn't land a seemingly perfect fit as a new head coach in the last two months, and their city's biggest star thinks his own employer is dysfunctional.
So the Los Angeles Lakers fan base did what any reasonable fan base wanting to make a true statement would do -- gathered maybe a dozen people to chant outside Staples Center on a Friday afternoon.
Protesters talked up the gathering this week, with a University of Arizona graduate headlining the downtown publicity stunt and throwing around words like "nepotism" to describe the Lakers' current state of affairs. And a handful of people did turn up at the intersection of South Figueroa and West 11th streets on Friday, shouting things like "Sell the team!" and "Fire Rambis!" -- a call for the job of Lakers senior adviser Kurt Rambis. Others apparently demanded the team land another "star" after whiffing on a deal to unite Anthony Davis with LeBron James.
But to say the crowd was sparse is probably an understatement.
Lakers fans may truly want change, but only a small contingent of them appeared to show up outside Staples Center to let the team know about it.
Sounds a little symbolic of the whole Lakers organization as a whole, does it not?
