...When All is Said and Dunn

My dad raised me to be two things. First, a die-hard Dodger and Lakers fan. Something I am and am passing along to my kids. Second, never to be a vandal and a punk. Any such foray into the latter arena meant W.O.R., the Wrath Of Ron. Never wanting to go down that road, it was always one I attempted to avoid.

So on Monday night as the Lakers battled the Pacers I would not miss it for anything. I had a prior commitment that kept me from my television set, so I listened to Chick on my Walkman and caught as many glimpses of the game as possible on a nearby Fathers Day gift, a 3” portable TV. Thank you Mr. Dearth.

As I attempted to do my little job at the Little League Field and listen to the game at the same time, all the while passing along the score to all that asked, I was elated at their victory. I was a little surprised to hear a couple of people actually rooting for the Pacers, claiming that my Lakers didn't deserve it. In my opinion, if they win the title they deserve it. If you live in Los Angeles County, follow basketball, and were not rooting for the Lakers, your sports viewing privileges should be revoked.

After my job was done and the game was over, I headed home to catch the post-game celebration and revelry on TV. At first it looked like the players and the crowd were all having a great time. It had been twelve long years since this area had a championship team and Los Angeles has had very little to celebrate lately. The police scandal, gang violence, road rage, the list of negatives goes on and on. So the ray of sunshine that the Lakers victory gave us was much needed and should be embraced and cherished.

Then it started. Despite a police presence, the evil little punks in the crowd outside the Staples Center began to use the celebration as an excuse to become destructive. Not since the last Little League Board of Directors' meeting have I heard of such a small group of people ruin and frighten so many trying to have a good time.

These punks, and I am using the word punk because this is a family paper, started rocking cars and burning newspapers. Obviously they were cold because they started looking for more fuel for their fires. Luckily for them there were some T-shirt vendors and wooden barricades around that would burn nicely, so on they went and the fires not only grew in size but in numbers. You see, there were approximately 60 LAPD officers standing about 100 yards away and they didn't seem to mind that they were burning and breaking things that weren't theirs. So, it must be ok, right? Wrong! If the police had stepped in right then it would have never escalated into the nightmare it became.

And a nightmare it was. Soon fires on the ground were not sufficient, after all this was a big night for Los Angeles, they needed some really big fires. They spotted an empty SUV and a news van nearby and this swarm of locusts swept down on them and went to work. The inconsiderate owners of these vehicles had locked up their cars before they left and forgot to leave the keys. So they grabbed a nearby pole to help them get into the cars. I guess the door windows weren't large enough to get through so they felt compelled to knock out the windshields.

Having used up all of the fuel that could be found on the ground, they had to forage for more. Thank God the people at the Staples Center had the foresight to plant some trees. Without the benefit of a saw, these twisted lumberjacks ripped apart the trees with their bare hands, what a bunch of studs. They quickly shoved the branches into the cars and up in flames they went, nice work. Did I mention that there were about 60 LAPD officers about 100 yards away watching this happen?

Again not satisfied with these new blazes, they looked for something else and they found it in the form of an abandoned police cruiser. Their sister group on the other side of Staples had similar luck. Like two beasts with one mind they again went to work. But for some reason, the 60 LAPD officers that were standing about 100 yards away, did I mention them, took exception to somebody torching their property and decided to take action.

I have only been focusing on the fire brigade but there were other groups that had interests other than fire. There was the “let's break glass battalion” and the “let's terrorize the passing motorist army”. Both having a great effect. They all were sucking the life out of the festivities and ruining it for the majority of celebrants who didn't feel the need for destruction.

The next morning after the dust had settled, Mayor Riordan and Police Chief Parks stood steadfastly by the LAPD saying that they did exactly what they were supposed to. I assume that was to wait until any city property was threatened before moving in. If that was the case, well done.

Then Wednesday came and the sun was shining bright on LA. Once again we had a chance to show the world what we were made of, and we did it in glowing fashion. 250,000 cheering fans turned out to show the Lakers how much we appreciated all their hard work. It was great and it was perfect until the very end, when obviously the same group of punks who got away and sobered up or made bail were back in force terrorizing motorists and wreaking havoc.

This time the LAPD had a new set of instructions, bust these punks and drag their sorry asses off to jail. I really like their new posture. It sounds a lot more like what I thought the police were supposed to be doing, arrest people that do bad things. Am I wrong here?

Shaq has offered to pay for one of the police cars and the Lakers organization has offered to pay for the other. Well that is very generous, but I think that that money should go the businesses that were looted and had their storefronts destroyed. They were the true victims here, not the LAPD. If the Lakers are going to pay for the destruction to the police cars, then the LAPD should pay for all the damage to everything else due to their lack of action.

And to those “fans” that seem to confuse celebration with destruction, I think that all future celebrations should be held at your house.