Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s

by Jeff Pearlman

Overview

The New York Times bestselling author of Sweetness and Gunslinger delivers the first all-encompassing account of the 1980s Los Angeles Lakers, one of professional sports’ most-revered—and dominant—dynasties.
 
The Los Angeles Lakers of the 1980s personified the flamboyance and excess of the decade over which they reigned. Beginning with the arrival of Earvin “Magic” Johnson as the number-one overall pick of the 1979 draft, the Lakers played basketball with gusto and pizzazz, unleashing coach Jack McKinney’s “Showtime” run-and-gun style on a league unprepared for their speed and ferocity—and became the most captivating show in sports and, arguably, in all-around American entertainment. The Lakers’ roster overflowed with exciting all-star-caliber players, including center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and they were led by the incomparable Pat Riley, known for his slicked-back hair, his Armani suits, and his arrogant strut. Hollywood’s biggest celebrities lined the court and gorgeous women flocked to the arena. Best of all, the team was a winner. Between 1980 and 1991, the Lakers played in an unmatched nine NBA championship series, capturing five of them.

Bestselling sportswriter Jeff Pearlman draws from almost three hundred interviews to take the first full measure of the Lakers’ epic Showtime era. A dazzling account of one of America’s greatest sports sagas, Showtime is packed with indelible characters, vicious rivalries, and jaw-dropping, behind-the-scenes stories of the players’ decadent Hollywood lifestyles.  From the Showtime era’s remarkable rise to its tragic end—marked by Magic Johnson’s 1991 announcement that he had contracted HIV—Showtime is a gripping narrative of sports, celebrity, and 1980s-style excess.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781592408870
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	10/07/2014
Pages:	496
Sales rank:	11,116
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.90(h) x 1.10(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Jeff Pearlman is a New York Times bestselling author and sports writer. He has worked as a columnist for SI.com and ESPN.com, a senior writer for Sports Illustrated, a features writer for Newsday, and a contributor to The Wall Street Journal and CNN.com. He lives in New York.

Read an Excerpt

“Spencer Haywood?”
(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "Showtime"
by .
Copyright © 2014 Jeff Pearlman.
Excerpted by permission of Penguin Publishing Group.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Prologue ix

Part 1 Development of a Dream

Chapter 1 Jack Kent Kook 3

Chapter 2 Of Sand Dabs and the Marlboro Man 11

Chapter 3 The Unlikely Head Coach 26

Chapter 4 Center of Complications 50

Chapter 5 Crash 73

Chapter 6 West Fall 102

Chapter 7 Picture Imperfect 123

Part 2 Dominance

Chapter 8 Riled Up 149

Chapter 9 Clark Kent 171

Chapter 10 Clubbing 194

Chapter 11 The Departed 217

Chapter 12 Earl 243

Chapter 13 Virginal 266

Chapter 14 Worthy of Superstardom 284

Chapter 15 Bring It 306

Chapter 16 Shattered Glass 316

Chapter 17 Motown 333

Chapter 18 Good-bye, Cap 346

Part 3 Demise of a Dynasty

Chapter 19 Undone 365

Chapter 20 Bates 373

Chapter 21 Refreshment 390

Chapter 22 Shock 411

Afterword 419

Acknowledgments 425

Notes 429

Bibliography 467

Index 471

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Praise for Showtime

“The Showtime Lakers are the dynasty that forever changed the NBA, transforming a game into an entertainment spectacle. Through his relentless reporting and buoyant writing, Jeff Pearlman has delivered the story in full, from rare insight into Kareem and Magic to what (ital) really (ital) went on after-hours in the Forum Club. Once you start "Showtime," you won't be able to put it down.”
—Adrian Wojnarowski, Yahoo Sports NBA columnist and author of the The Miracle of St. Anthony 

“An era that redefined the game has found a storyteller more than up to the task. By any measure, Showtime is magic.”
—Mark Frost, author of The Greatest Game Every Played

“Showtime proves to be prime-time literary entertainment. A rocking, roller-coast of a ride it reads like the Lakers of Magic and Riley played – an artistic fast-break of revealing, sometimes shocking tales tinged with sex, drugs and, most of all humanity. You want to know the real story behind a beautifully dysfunctional basketball dynasty? Read this book.”
—Armen Keteyian, 60 Minutes Sports

“The names (Magic, Kareem, Worthy, Riley, Buss) and the games (four championships) have long been studied by basketball's anthropologists. But so much of the story of the Showtime Lakers, THE Team of the 80s, took place behind closed doors. Jeff Pearlman, as is his wont, pries them open and finds … a whole lot of L.A. living.”
—Jack McCallum, author of New York Times best-seller Dream Team

"Pearlman is an indefatigable reporter, and here he provides an all-access pass to one of the game's greatest dynasties, with tales of Kareem, Magic, Riley and Jerry Buss in their heyday. It's a book any NBA fan - any sports fan - will devour, likely in one or two sittings."
—Chris Ballard, Senior Writer, Sports Illustrated

Jeff Pearlman, typically, delivers the goods, celebrating them for their achievements, pulling no punches on the subject of their shortcomings. This is a vivid portrait of a great team, in full.”
—Jeremy Schaap, ESPN commentator, New York Times best-selling author of Cinderella Man and Triumph  

"Once again, Jeff Pearlman has produced an exhaustively researched, elegantly written book that recreates one of the most colorful and memorable teams of the modern era. Showtime is a great show indeed, full of colorful (and complicated) characters as well as a trove of details that even the most passionate fans will be amazed to learn. No basketball fan's bookshelf will be complete without it."
—Seth Davis, author of Wooden: A Coach's Life

Praise for Sweetness

"Mr. Halberstam would have been the first to insist that we not confuse fiction with nonfiction, and that we not mistake biography — the telling of a life — for hagiography — the burnishing of a legend. Which was football's big trouble last week, it turns out, as lots of folks who should know better took exception to a new biography of Walter Payton."
—ESPN.com, "The Sporting Life"

Editorial Reviews

Praise for Showtime

“The Showtime Lakers are the dynasty that forever changed the NBA, transforming a game into an entertainment spectacle. Through his relentless reporting and buoyant writing, Jeff Pearlman has delivered the story in full, from rare insight into Kareem and Magic to what (ital) really (ital) went on after-hours in the Forum Club. Once you start "Showtime," you won't be able to put it down.”
—Adrian Wojnarowski, Yahoo Sports NBA columnist and author of the The Miracle of St. Anthony 

“An era that redefined the game has found a storyteller more than up to the task. By any measure, Showtime is magic.”
—Mark Frost, author of The Greatest Game Every Played

“Showtime proves to be prime-time literary entertainment. A rocking, roller-coast of a ride it reads like the Lakers of Magic and Riley played – an artistic fast-break of revealing, sometimes shocking tales tinged with sex, drugs and, most of all humanity. You want to know the real story behind a beautifully dysfunctional basketball dynasty? Read this book.”
—Armen Keteyian, 60 Minutes Sports

“The names (Magic, Kareem, Worthy, Riley, Buss) and the games (four championships) have long been studied by basketball's anthropologists. But so much of the story of the Showtime Lakers, THE Team of the 80s, took place behind closed doors. Jeff Pearlman, as is his wont, pries them open and finds … a whole lot of L.A. living.”
—Jack McCallum, author of New York Times best-seller Dream Team

"Pearlman is an indefatigable reporter, and here he provides an all-access pass to one of the game's greatest dynasties, with tales of Kareem, Magic, Riley and Jerry Buss in their heyday. It's a book any NBA fan - any sports fan - will devour, likely in one or two sittings."
—Chris Ballard, Senior Writer, Sports Illustrated

Jeff Pearlman, typically, delivers the goods, celebrating them for their achievements, pulling no punches on the subject of their shortcomings. This is a vivid portrait of a great team, in full.”
—Jeremy Schaap, ESPN commentator, New York Times best-selling author of Cinderella Man and Triumph  

"Once again, Jeff Pearlman has produced an exhaustively researched, elegantly written book that recreates one of the most colorful and memorable teams of the modern era. Showtime is a great show indeed, full of colorful (and complicated) characters as well as a trove of details that even the most passionate fans will be amazed to learn. No basketball fan's bookshelf will be complete without it."
—Seth Davis, author of Wooden: A Coach's Life

Praise for Sweetness

"Mr. Halberstam would have been the first to insist that we not confuse fiction with nonfiction, and that we not mistake biography — the telling of a life — for hagiography — the burnishing of a legend. Which was football's big trouble last week, it turns out, as lots of folks who should know better took exception to a new biography of Walter Payton."
—ESPN.com, "The Sporting Life"

"I found the Walter of your book to be more of a hero than the one people refer to."
—Rick Hogan, WGN Sunday Papers

"I have read the book and I can tell you your appreciation of Walter will be heightened if you read the whole book and not just the excerpt." — Rick Kogan

"Jeff Pearlman has written Sweetness: The Enigmatic Life of Walter Payton, which depicts Mr. Payton as perhaps the greatest all-around football player ever, a generous teammate and a loving father."
—Scott Simon, NPR Weekend Edition

"Over the weekend I read an advance copy of Sweetness and found it to be an incredible, thoughtful, deep and profound read. It’s exceptional work.  I wouldn’t let an out-of-context excerpt and some enraged condemnations get in the way of a fascinating read about a fascinating man."
—Dan Wetzel, Yahoo! Sports

"READ THE BOOK...But if you like texture, if you want to get the sense of a real life lived by a real person with real beauty within and real warts, start reading and do so with an open mind."
—The Indianapolis Star

"Pearlman did not set out to expose Payton but to understand him, to identify and define the qualities that made him so appealing. He was a football-playing hero to millions, true, but he was also a human being of considerable complexity. There’s a story in how those two sides intersected, and a skilled biographer gets to that story ... If Walter Payton, magnificent football player and Chicago treasure, is enough for you, ignore the book and cherish your memories. If Walter Payton, flawed but fascinating human being, intrigues you, read it. You might come away with a greater appreciation."
—The New York Times

"If Walter Payton, magnificent football player and Chicago treasure, is enough for you, ignore the book and cherish your memories. If Walter Payton, flawed but fascinating human being, intrigues you, read it. You might come away with a greater appreciation." -New York Times

From the Publisher

03/10/2014
Pearlman (Sweetness: The Enigmatic Life of Walter Payton) returns to his niche: Chronicling the exploits of pro sports' bad boy—the 1986 New York Mets, the Dallas Cowboys of the 1990s and now the Los Angeles Lakers of the 1980s, who won five NBA championships between 1980 and 1988 with an All-Star roster that personified the decade's egotism and excess. Beginning with the drafting of 19-year-old Earvin "Magic" Johnson as the NBA's first overall pick in 1979 (punctuated by an awkward first lunch Johnson shared with the Lakers' playboy owner Jerry Buss), Pearlman spins a wild and wildly entertaining tale that leaves dirt on practically every man central to the Lakers dynasty, and even some who weren't. Enigmatic and aloof Kareem Abdul-Jabbar stood seven-foot-two but possessed a short emotional fuse; Spencer Haywood was dismissed from the team for excessive cocaine use but wasn't the only Laker snorting; and Johnson dictated personnel moves and hosted extravagant, "orgasmic" sex parties. The nickname "Showtime" described the Lakers' relentless and unparalleled freewheeling run-and-gun offense, as well as the entire era itself; the book it inspired is just as enticing—full of fast breaks, dramatic intensity, and celebrity sightings. Color photos. Agent: David Black, David Black Agency. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

2013-11-26
The sports-journalist author of Sweetness: The Enigmatic Life of Walter Payton (2011) returns with a tough-love look at the NBA team that won five championships in the 1980s. The author begins with an awkward interview with former Lakers' coach Jack McKinney--whom Pearlman and others credit for the Lakers' fast-breaking, showtime style--a man whose 1979 bicycle injury caused serious cognitive and memory problems that led to his dismissal. (Pearlman returns 70 pages later for a fuller treatment.) The author then moves forward chronologically, pausing continually to sketch both the darkness and lightness in the biography of the person under his lens at the moment. We learn details about owner Jerry Buss; general manager (and former star) Jerry West; players Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Earvin "Magic" Johnson, Michael Cooper, Kurt Rambis, James Worthy, Byron Scott and others; coaches Paul Westhead, Pat Riley and Mike Dunleavy. Although Pearlman recognizes the obvious athletic supremacy of these players and the domination of the team, he delivers a number of blows to the throats of some of his principals--noting, especially, the voracious sexual appetites of Buss and Magic Johnson and others. He tells us that Abdul-Jabbar hated white people and complains that he continued playing far too long. He slams both Westhead and Riley for considering themselves unassailable coaching geniuses. We see how Johnson made personnel--and even coaching--decisions, on and off the court, and we view the bitterness and jealousy of some of the players. Readers will be unsurprised when Pearlman focuses now and then on the Larry Bird–Magic Johnson relationship and the on-court enmity of the Lakers and Celtics. Some significant games receive sumptuous detail, and the author ends with Johnson's announcement in 1991 that he was HIV-positive. Pearlman ably demonstrates how deeply flawed human beings can nonetheless create a near-flawless beauty on the court.

Kirkus Reviews