Khloé & Lamar is the third spin-off of the show Keeping Up with the Kardashians. The show is scheduled to return for its second season on February 19, 2012. - E! Entertainment Television - (photo)

Sports Notes - Part 2 - CELEBRITY vs. SPORTS CONFLICTS - DAVID BECKHAM & LAMAR ODOM

James Loving - National Radio Text Service

When they say you can't mix oil and water to some sports purists that could mean that an athlete should focus on the sport he is being paid for and not spread their-selves too thin by being involved in the entertainment business. Some athletes intentionally or not get caught up in being a celebrity through association or marriage. David Beckham and the now former Los Angeles Lakers forward Lamar Odom qualify - Sports Trivia - Did You Know? - Former NBA star Walt Hazzard gone but not forgotten

Friday December 16, 2011

LAMAR ODOM'S NBA SHUFFLE

The NBA is going through its own period of adjustment of who loves ya baby as now former Los Angeles Lakers star Lamar Odom has been traded to last seasons NBA champion Dallas Mavericks. Odom was displeased that he was included in a failed trade deal for the New Orleans Hornets Chris Paul.

New Orleans General Manager Del Demps came close to making a three-team deal last Thursday that would have sent Paul to the Lakers. The Lakers would have sent Lamar Odom to the Hornets and Pau Gasol to Houston, while the Rockets would have sent Luis Scola, Kevin Martin and Goran Dragic, and a first-round draft choice to New Orleans. Odom's feelings were hurt and he requested a trade which the Lakers arranged is dealing him to the Mavericks.

The word is that there was some opposition to Odom's now celebrity lifestyle since his marriage to Khloe Kardashian. That put him in the public limelight of being a part of a reality TV show family i.e. shades of Beckham.

The NBA's sixth man of the year Award winner last season didn't receive a boot in the face i.e. Beckham but did obtain a boot out the door. Lakers star Kobe Bryant was not happy about the trade citing that it was sad to see someone go that he has been through so much with including winning two NBA titles 2009 and 2010. Bryant noted the concern about Odom's being involved in celebrity and dismissed it as nonsense.

The twist to this is that in the past Bryant was believed to be a major influence in who the Lakers traded away and for. This Odom move does not qualify for the Shaquille O'Neal Who Loves You Baby Award.

His marriage to Kardashian on Sunday, September 27, 2009 was hyped as their wedding was featured on the E! reality-based series Keeping Up with the Kardashians, on which Khloé is a regular, with Odom appearing in a handful of episodes.

On December 29, 2010, E! announced that it was planning another spin-off from the series featuring Lamar, Khloé and his two children from his previous relationship. The new series debuted on April 10, 2011. Odom has a history of being involved in several entertainment ventures including appearing in a Taco Bell commercial with Charles Barkley during Super Bowl XLIV. Additionally, Odom made a cameo on the second season of the hit HBO show Entourage. Odom and Khloe were guests at the wedding of basketball player Carmelo Anthony and entertainer La La Vazquez on July 10, 2010 at Cipriani's in New York City.

The Lakers trade may have something to do with an efforts to avoid controversy with a player that went too Hollyweird. On October 28, 2010 Olympic champion gymnast Dominique Dawes working for Yahoo Weekend News investigated Power Balance Bracelets for their claim that they improve balance, flexibility and strength. Odom endorses Power Balance bracelets and states on camera that "if it gives you an advantage, that's the advantage you want". Dawes asked "are you superstitious knowing you won...wearing power balance?" Odom's answer: "100%". After a scientific double blinded test done by IIG's LA office and Dawes the end result was no improvement when wearing the Power Balance bracelet.

A class-action lawsuit was filed January 21, 2011 against Power Balance, Shaquille O'Neal and Lamar Odom for endorsing the bracelet. The Power Balance company in Australia was forced by a court to admit that the $30 bracelet works no better than a placebo. The lawsuit by Brian Casserly and 100 others claims that Odom and O'Neal "wear the product in front of millions of impressionable fans watching on national TV. The bottom line is… WHO LOVES YA BABY?

REMEMBERING WALT HAZZARD

November was not a good month for Philadelphia's athletes. First Joe Frazier passed away at 67 then former NBA player Walt Hazzard died Friday November 18th at the age of 69 and I just heard about it via a friend December 2nd. The news came as a shock but given Hazzard having had a stroke and was wheelchair bound the news was understandable.

Hazzard was a guy that I knew having played against him while he was at Overbrook High School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA which at the time was a powerhouse team. Our Temple University Prep team had a mid season scrimmage against Brook as they were referred to in slang. We defeated them by four points.

It was a day of the changing of the guard. Hazzard's Overbrook teammate and best friend Wally (Wali) Jones played the first half with Brook. The second half he played with our team. Jones graduated from high school at mid season. After that game and graduation he joined our squad. Both were very close friends and both went on to have successful NBA careers.

After an NBA game I saw Hazzard in our press area and we talked about our experience and his friend Jones who also had a solid NBA career as a member of the 1967 Philadelphia 76ers NBA title team. FULL STORY

TRIVIA ANSWER:

GERMANY has won the title three times 1972, 1980 and 1996

Part 1 - CELEBRITY vs. SPORTS CONFLICT - DAVID BECKHAM

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