Lakers fans on tenterhooks

Former sportswriter Val Abelgas is looking at a big hole in his sports calendar.

Now living in Los Angeles, California, with his family, Abelgas is caught in the mess around the Southland’s most storied sports franchise—the Lakers.

The team’s playoff hopes are slowing being dashed. The Lakers are unraveling despite the presence of LeBron James, the best basketeer on earth, in their lineup.

At the rate they are going, they are headed to the same abyss and in danger of falling with a thunderous thud. They could miss the playoffs again for the sixth straight season.

Mathematically, the Lakers are still in contention for a spot in the playoffs. Realistically, game analysts are proclaiming them in life support after a 113-105 loss to their co-tenant at Staples Center—the Los Angeles—on Monday night.

With 18 or so games left in the regular season, the Lakers are in a mad scramble for the seventh and eighth playoff spots with the Clippers, San Antonio Spurs and the their crosstown rivals, the Sacramento Kings.

The team’s failure will be especially painful for James, who was expected to help the team after a much trumpeted move to Hollywood from Cleveland.

If the Lakers can’t hack it, James will miss the postseason for the first time since his second year in the NBA.

Not that Abelgas is getting used to his hometown team’s absence in the postseason.

In a freeway city like LA, he is surely blocking off his Lakers blues while driving around  working as a realtor-cum-newspaper columnist for several Filipino periodicals.

It’s just that the specter of not busting his lungs rooting for the Lakers really sucks.

But Abelgas and the countless Lakers fans worldwide agree about the ugly truth.

Since James suffered a groin injury that sidelined him for 17 games in December, the Lakers have gone downhill. From 20-14 when he left, the team went to 20-25 when he returned.

A slew of other injuries, fresh or otherwise, including those suffered by Brandon Ingram and Kyle Kuzma on Monday, is sure to saddle them the rest of the way.

Michael Keon’s camp director in Baguio when he ran the Gintong Alay Project in the 1980s died on Tuesday.

Narciso Padilla Jr., a longtime newsman and public relations professional, was 87.

As the camp honcho at Teacher’s Camp, Padilla took care of the training needs of athletes who excelled in Keon’s fruitful track program, including Lydia de Vega, Elma Muros and Isidro del Prado.

Also a former Baguio alderman, Padilla relished playing Santa for all of December every year for over 42 years.

Farewell, Manong Nars.