It’s a Banner Season for Lakers on the Road

Call it the year of the flags. Laker flags, that is, one golden, the other purple, fluttering madly atop thousands of cars and trucks everywhere you look.

And by the time the Lakers take the court for the NBA finals Wednesday, that number will have grown to hundreds of thousands. This, in the land of laid-back and aloof L.A., where most everything is taken in studious stride.

But these Lakers are the exception, perhaps because they are playing at a level seldom seen. Shaq and Kobe were made for L.A., pouring on the flash and panache. And Phil Jackson’s Zen-like coaching, which at times didn’t seem like coaching at all, now looks inspired.

So maybe that’s why the flags are selling like crazy at Staples Center. Street vendors are hawking them all over Los Angeles, from inner-city sidewalks to freeway exit ramps. And in a small town in South Carolina, workers at a textile plant are putting in around-the-clock shifts to meet the demand.

“It’s insane,” said Rich Hornstein, whose Pacific Sports Marketing in Huntington Beach is the flags’ Southern California sales representative. It’s all he can do to keep up with the orders. Adds Alan Fey, the director of merchandising at Staples: “We can’t keep them in stock. We sold out over the weekend.”

Such is the stuff of Laker fever as fans show their support for a team that hasn’t lost a game since April 1. Sometimes there are four or more flags attached to a car’s windows, which translates to a $50 bill in boosterism. The flags go for $14 at the Staples Center souvenir shop, which is more or less the going rate around town. To be sure, there were Laker flags last year, but as Hornstein put it, “That was just priming the pump.”

Hornstein said 90,000 flags already have been sold, with another 120,000 on rush order. And that doesn’t even count another 80,000 that will quickly be delivered if the Lakers win the finals for the second time in a row. Given how the Lakers are playing now, that seems like a foregone conclusion.

Not that everyone likes the banners. KROQ sports commentator Matt Smith, a.k.a. “Money,” spent some air time last week urging fans not to buy them. “Those things can really get to flapping and be obnoxious,” said Smith. “When they’re flapping, you can’t read them, and when cars are stopped you can’t read them, either.”

So where did these flags come from? Wayne Bower, national sales and marketing manager for Rico Industries/Tag Express, the Chicago-based flag manufacturer, said the team pennants first became faddish among Southeastern college fans a decade ago.

“That’s where they were really popular,” he said. “Then it started to progress into the professional arenas.”

Hot markets have included Detroit after the Red Wings won the Stanley Cup in 1997 and Baltimore after the Ravens won the Super Bowl in January. But both of those pale when compared with the numbers Los Angeles is putting up.

Jim Umbaugh, who oversees the company’s operations, said the demand is such that his employees at the manufacturing plant in Lancaster, S.C., are working around the clock to meet the demand. And, as an emergency measure, thousands of flags are being shipped to another plant in Chicago for the finish work.

“We’ve got no choice but to run 24 hours a day,” said Umbaugh. “We could probably run 36 hours a day. It’s just unbelievable.”

Hornstein said he decided last year to introduce the flags to L.A. as the Lakers were marching toward the playoffs. And even then, he had his doubts because “this is the land of BMWs and Lexuses.”

Still, “I thought if I ever got a hot market, I had to go for it,” he said. “But I also knew I had to get the fire lit.”

To that end, he started giving the flags away. After a slow start, the flags began to catch on, particularly in hoops-crazy South-Central and Carson. “But this year we’ve got orders that are 10 times what they were last year,” he said. “It’s gotten absolutely ridiculous.”

So what about the cops? Do they have a problem with all these flags flying along the freeways? Bill Preciado, a spokesman for the California Highway Patrol, said they’re not a problem so long as they don’t get in the way.

“As long as it doesn’t obstruct the view of the driver, they’re legal,” he said. “As long as they don’t obstruct the view of other drivers, it’s legal.”

On a recent afternoon, the Team LA store at Staples Center was filled with souvenir shoppers. And, of course, one of the hot items was the Laker flag. Krissette San Diego, a physical therapist, was standing in line holding a purple flag, the only color left, and not her first choice. “It’s for my brother,” she said of the flag. “I don’t know why he wanted a yellow one. Maybe to match his car.”

Also, there was Frank Holguin, a human resources specialist who parked his SUV in a five-minute zone while he raced in to buy another flag. His first flag had gone flying when a friend had unthinkingly rolled down the car window.

“I’m just representing my team,” he said. “We’ve got to represent L.A.”