Loyalty Goes Only So Far When You Get a Life

Ron Laffitte of Sherman Oaks has been a Laker fan since he was 3 years old and first saw Jerry West play. “That was it for me,” Laffitte said. “I don’t really idolize anybody, but I really admire him.”

Over the years, Laffitte’s loyalty grew to extraordinary dimensions. For the last six seasons, he has had season tickets near the Laker bench and he routinely arranged his work and vacation around the Lakers’ schedule so he could attend nearly every home game and a dozen road games a season.

But even his fanaticism was dampened by the NBA lockout. Although he was thrilled to hear of Wednesday’s tentative settlement and vowed to be “rooting like a kook” at the Lakers’ opener, his love for the NBA has soured.

“At first, I took it personally, like, ‘What are you doing to me?’ ” said Laffitte, a music industry executive. “At first, there was a feeling of, ‘What am I going to do with myself?’

“I have a full life. I work 60 to 80 hours a week, I’m married to a wonderful woman and I have a lot of friends. What the lockout has done is forced me to reprioritize my life. They provided tremendous entertainment and I’ve made wonderful friendships through going to games. But if somebody as consumed with basketball as I was has found many other things to do with his life, they’re going to have a problem.

“In the past, I would never go away to the mountains during the season. During a Laker home stand? Are you kidding? Between Christmas and New Year’s they’d play the weak part of their schedule, but I’d be there, every game. Last week I was in Tahoe snowboarding. And I’m not going to think twice if the Dallas Mavericks come to town and I have an opportunity to go snowboarding. What the lockout has done is say, ‘Our fans are secondary to our business.’ ”

Based on his experience in a fan-oriented industry--he represents artists and was general manager of a major record company--Laffitte believes that by initiating the lockout, the NBA snubbed committed fans and wasted a chance to develop new ticket buyers.

“What about kids who are 5, 6, 7, 8 years old? They’ve discovered things like Play Station or hockey or the Internet or music,” Laffitte said. “It’s been too long now and people were really forced to find other things to do.

“I’m going to come back. I want to see Kobe Bryant for the next 15 years. I think Kobe Bryant can be like Dr. J [Julius Erving]. But I’m not as willing to jeopardize my business relationships and other interests for a sport that doesn’t care about its fans. . . . I don’t mind paying $150 to sit five rows behind the Laker bench. I don’t mind paying that money to see Michael Jordan or Shaquille O’Neal. But when teams give Juwan Howard $100 million or Shawn Kemp, that’s crazy. These aren’t people who define superstardom. They’re not individuals who make me want to change every aspect of my life to get to the arena. . . .

“I’ve been offended by this whole thing. The soul of the game is being robbed by the financial competition. My philosophy as a music executive is every artist I’ve represented over the years has to establish a relationship with the audience. Look at Garth Brooks: prices for his concerts are low, he gives great performances and he has hit records. The audience continues to participate because he takes care of his end of the bargain. The NBA is not taking care of its end.”

Laffitte predicted fans will return more quickly if Jordan returns rather than retires. In either case, the shortened season will be tainted in Laffitte’s eyes.

“Half a season is better than none, but it seems like it was not handled well on both sides. It doesn’t seem like whatever gains were made were worth the losses,” he said. “This season should have an asterisk. If my beloved Lakers win the championship, they should have half a banner.”