Travel troubles (cont'd)
Blue Bruin raises a couple of good questions in response to my post on the travel problems experienced by the Lakers' beat writers, who were snowed-in here in New York.
First of all, the Lakers travel by chartered aircraft from city to city. In the case of Saturday, their plane was waiting for them on the tarmac at Newark Airport. After beating the Nets, showering and speaking to reporters, they hopped aboard a bus and made the drive through the snow to the airport. After some serious de-icing, they flew to Detroit to face the Pistons. After the Detroit game, they showered, spoke to reporters and flew back to LAX.
Lakers beat writers never fly with the team. We fly commercial on the day after the game. We watch the games, interview the players and write and file our stories, update our blogs shortly after the final buzzer and head back to the hotel. Next day, we fly to the next city. Our flights are sometimes delayed or canceled and it makes life difficult. But, as I said in the earlier post, I've been at this a while but have never missed a game until Sunday.
On that note, I'm curious who flies on the charter. I would guess:
* players
* coaches (including trainer and equipment folks)
* other Laker execs
* broadcasters (Dedes, Thompson, Myers, Lantz, statistician, etc)
Anyone else?
I was a Physician on the medical staff for one year and had the opportunity to fly on the charter and ride the team bus. All of the groups of people you mentioned were on the charter, but no more. No agents, bodyguards, nor family members either.