Thanks Phil.....

Everybody knows how important a good teacher is and you don't have to like basketball to appreciate that the Los Angeles Lakers had the best teacher in the history of professional sports.

In fact, basketball takes a very deep back seat when it comes to the talents of Philip Douglas Jackson from Deer Lodge, Montana.

Professor Phil's ability to handle the ridiculously innate questions from sports reporters constantly reassured me that higher forms of intelligence could be present in the world of professional athletics.

Of course many reporters and fans regard him as sarcastic and aloof.....and to those people I simply say......wake up!

The simple gesture of giving books to players every year probably explains Phil better than anything. He taught his players how to think....on and off the court. And having 11 championship rings proves that his methods were correct. He retires (maybe) with the knowledge that he is the most successful coach in the history of professional basketball.

John Wooden holds that distinction at the collegiate level but I think everyone would agree that coaching grown men, who are making millions of dollars, could represent problems that Dr. Wooden never had to face.

Phil's nickname is "The Zen Master" and that alone puts him in an entirely different category than any coach who ever lived. I imagine in the future we will have more and more coaches using his methods and becoming "mini zen masters" but the truth is.....Phil is the original.

I simply want to say thank you Phil for bringing an intelligence and sophistication to the city of Los Angeles. I'm not sure that you won't get the urge to coach again and if you do I think the city that gets your special energy will be forever grateful....except of course for the stupid reporters who don't have the slightest idea on how to ask the right questions.

I also think your sessions with Bill Macdonald before the Laker games were wonderful and you two might want to collaborate on a question and answer book summarizing your Laker years.

Thanks again Phil.....you are the best and the brightest of all the lights in professional sports.

Michael Timothy McAlevey