Zensational Day

At the risk of being pummeled by Phil Jackson’s bodyguard--he doesn’t already have a bodyguard, does he?--I am intercepting one of the many bouquets being tossed to the new Laker coach.

And I’m handing it to you.

The Laker fan.

The push behind the shove.

Jackson is here for many reasons, involving many things, from basketball to money to the simple karma of right places and right times.

But more than anything, he is here because of you.

You shouted. They cringed.

You threatened. They fretted.

You talked until you were purple and gold in the face.

And, by gosh, somebody listened.

You demanded that the Lakers at least make an effort to reward your lifelong faith by hiring the best coach available.

You said it so loudly, and for so long, that you embarrassed Jerry Buss and wore down Jerry West and made them stop and think.

And when they did, they remembered the things that once made this franchise so great.

One of those things was putting winning first. Another was putting their customers first.

They realized that by hiring Phil Jackson, they would do both.

You asked for it.

You got it.

Your victory should be savored as one of this town’s greatest--if not most dramatic--in the last decade.

What Kirk Gibson did to a slider, you did to the Laker front office.

Knocked one of their silly ideas right into the history books.

Or are you forgetting that as recently as three weeks ago, the new permanent coach of the Lakers was Kurt Rambis.

It was all but a done deal.

They were going to rehire the interim boss and probably give him a multiyear deal so the players would have to respect him.

They were going to ignore his inexperience at the expense of a cheap contract and cover up his postseason problems with a thick coat of Laker loyalty.

They figured you wouldn’t mind, that you would never turn on one of your own, that you would be too busy blaming the players to worry about the coach.

Whether intentional or not, they let this idea slip. Our newspaper picked it up. The Lakers sat back to see what would happen.

Oh, but you showed them.

You threw on a full-court press that would make, well, Phil Jackson proud.

You hit them with e-mail, with letters, with phone calls. You found them on the streets, in the clubs, on the golf courses. You spoke through the radio, through TV, through The Times’ Saturday letters pages that burned.

Judging from what you told me, you initially begged the team to change its mind.

When that didn’t work, you threatened it.

Raise your hand right now if you contacted the Lakers, either officially or unofficially, and told them you were either canceling your tickets or turning off your TV and throwing out this team that had been in your family for years.

Now, use that hand to pat yourself on the back.

Because it worked.

Something had to happen between the time they talked about hiring Kurt Rambis until this week. And none of that involved Phil Jackson.

As I wrote in this space shortly after the Rambis trial balloon lifted off, Jackson was always willing to come here without record-breaking money or complete control.

It was always a matter of whether the Lakers wanted him.

You told them that they did.

Buss, of course, deserves credit for listening.

Four months before the season, and the owner has already locked up comeback player of the year.

The Dennis Rodman incident told us Buss was more concerned with his social life than his basketball team.

The meddling with Jerry West told us that Buss had lost the edge that once made this team so great.

The Jackson hiring tells us that Jerry Buss is back, maintaining this public trust with courage and care again, an owner that we are lucky to call our own.

In the debate of corporate versus family ownership in professional sports, a striking argument emerges.

Would Fox have suddenly agreed to change its mind on an important Dodger hiring because it was being embarrassed down at the club?

Widening this issue to include out-of-town ownership, is there anything anybody around here can do to pressure that rich Denver ghost who runs the Kings?

But Jerry Buss lives here and socializes here. He cares what his friends and neighbors think, much as Peter O’Malley once cared.

With local family ownership, fans are still heard.

The Laker fans made sure of it.

As always, there is my photo at the beginning of this column, and an e-mail address at the end.

Today, I wish it were different.

All of you Laker fans, I wish it was your picture on the top, and your e-mail address on the bottom.

So I could write each of you a note.

And say thanks.

Bill Plaschke can be reached at his e-mail address: bill.plaschke@latimes.com.