Magic Johnson Talks About The Death of Jerry Buss on ESPN

The thing that struck me the most about Magic Johnson's comments on the death of Los Angeles Lakers owner Jerry Buss, was not just the love Earvin had for Mr. Buss ( and vice versa), but the fact he was a businessman, who was not really a business man.

Buss came from academia, where you are exposed to different people and different thoughts.

Many team owners today, comes from a place where most people think like them, talk like them and look like them and diversity of thought means ROI and laptops than  sit down Italian dinners and partying like Buss did with Johnson over the years.

Teams are so expensive nowadays that, its hard to find regular, fun loving owners anymore who are more people conscious than money conscious.  

Jerry Buss was  relateable to the players, but  he did not get in their way.

He allowed then GM Jerry West to do his job by not micromanage him, but was savvy enough to target Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant for the next phase of post showtime Lakers championships.

That's what great leaders do.

You put people in the right place, let them do their job and be there for them in the good times and bad.

Sadly we probably will never see an owner like Jerry Buss again (unless his daughter Jeanie Buss can take the team away from her brother Jimmy), but at least Magic Johnson has learned enough from Dr. Buss  to continues his legacy with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

R.I.P Dr. Busss Also read: LA Times: Jerry Buss dies at 80; Lakers owner brought 'Showtime' success to L.A.

What'choo talkin' 'bout, Willis No More: Gary Coleman Dead At 42

(Los Angeles Times)

Gary Coleman, who soared to fame in the late 1970s as the child star of the hit sitcom "Diff'rent Strokes" and whose post-TV-series life included a stint as a shopping mall security guard and an unlikely run for California governor, died Friday. He was 42.

The diminutive Coleman, whose adult height was 4 feet 8 inches, died at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center in Provo after suffering an intracranial hemorrhage earlier this week, according to a statement from hospital spokeswoman Janet Frank.

A resident of Santaquin, Utah, Coleman had been hospitalized Wednesday and lost consciousness the next day. He was taken off life support Friday afternoon with his family at his side, the hospital said.

Born with failed kidneys, Coleman had undergone two transplants by age 14 and his growth was permanently stunted by the side effects of dialysis medications.

He was a precocious, chubby-cheeked elementary school student living in Zion, Ill., when a scout for TV producer Norman Lear spotted him in a Chicago bank commercial.

The exceptionally bright, talented and self-confident Coleman was 10 when "Diff'rent Strokes" debuted on NBC in 1978.

As the lovably outspoken 8-year-old Arnold Jackson, he was the comedic centerpiece of the series about two Harlem sons of a black housekeeper whose white boss, a wealthy widower, takes them into his Park Avenue penthouse after her death and later adopts them.

The cast of the sitcom, which ended its eight-season run in 1986 after switching to ABC, included Conrad Bain as the wealthy Philip Drummond; Todd Bridges as Arnold's older brother, Willis; Dana Plato as Drummond's daughter, Kimberly; and Charlotte Rae as Mrs. Garrett, Drummond's new housekeeper.

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