Angelinos are celebrating their newfound liberation from Frank McCourt with an unalloyed joy seldom seen since the end of World War II. When the excitement dies down, many will begin to question a deal that sends over two billion dollars to McCourt and his many creditors and still leaves him with an interest in the land beneath Dodger Stadium.
Some will likely question if the ever-smiling Magic Johnson might have committed too much of his investors’ money too quickly. They will wonder if the west’s favorite gunslinger was outsmarted by the wily Bostonian. They will be making the mistake of their lives.
When this showdown is finally resolved in a flood of new television and media money, don’t be surprised if we find it was the other guy who blinked.
Here’s a quick reminder of some salient points about the public face of the new Dodgers’ ownership, a man who has never been able to lose a gunfight.
1. In 1979, Johnson led the Michigan State Spartans to the National Championship over Larry Bird’s Indiana State team in the biggest college showdown up to that time. It was a game that would help establish March Madness as a national passion. Having outdueled the best the NCAA had to offer, Johnson skipped his last two years of college and moved on to the wilder courts of the NBA.
2. One year later, Johnson found himself in the NBA finals in his rookie season with the Lakers. The Lakers’ center, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was declared too injured to play in the deciding Game Six against the Philadelphia 76ers and the legendary Julius “Dr. J” Erving. Magic Johnson suited up at center. Determined to take the championship home that night, the rookie scored 42 points against a veteran 76ers team to lead the Lakers to their first championship of the 1980s.
3. Doubtful about the Lakers’ ability to win another championship with a half-court strategy that favored Abdul-Jabbar’s style, Johnson helped facilitate the firing of Paul Westhead, the Lakers Head Coach. With Pat Riley as head coach, the “Showtime” Lakers, created in the image and style of Magic Johnson, would go on to become the dominant NBA franchise of the 1980s.
4. At a time when HIV/AIDS was largely looked upon as a death sentance, Magic very publicly stared down his most deadly foe. For two decades, he continued to stare the disease in the face, accomplishing more in that time than he had throughout his entire basketball career.
Johnson never backed down from a showdown. More important, Johnson never gave us the opportunity to see if he could be gracious in defeat. He would not allow himself to be defeated with any kind of consistency.
Two years ago, I spent an hour and a half alone with Dr. Jerry Buss, shooting the breeze in his suite at Staples Center. We had just finished a meeting and were awaiting the start of that evening’s game. As we chatted about nineteenth century novels, USC and Hawaii, the conversation drifted to Magic Johnson. Dr. Buss leaned close to me and said in a somewhat conspiratorial voice, “One day, that man is going to make me look like a pauper.”
When Johnson retired from basketball, he became a businessman. Business was simply another competitive world for this supremely competitive man. For Magic, business has been about winning and not losing, about planning for and moving on to the next triumph.
One of the few remembered morals of my misspent youth watching television came from a long forgotten western. In that show, someone said that you should never take your eyes off a smiler with a gun. He’s the most dangerous man in the room. Behind that smile lurks a heart more cold-blooded, calculating and ruthless than the heart of a black mamba.
You see, a smiler with a gun relies on you seeing the smile, not seeing the killer behind the smile. He is a one step ahead of you before you even think of drawing. But, you don’t see it. Because, all you see is the smile.
Never, ever underestimate a smiler with a gun.
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