Lakers' Team Outing to Watch 'Lincoln' Tests Bounds of Players' History Knowledge, Ability to Stay Awake

Lakers’ Team Outing to Watch ‘Lincoln’ Tests Bounds of Players’ History Knowledge, Ability to Stay Awake

by NESN Staff on Sat, Dec 8, 2012 at 9:00AM

Hopefully Metta World Peace didn’t take this one too hard.

The Lakers went on a team outing to a movie theater Thursday, watching Lincoln together before Friday night’s big showdown with the Oklahoma City Thunder.

This evening, the entire team, we're going to watch a movie at theater! I'll tell you about it later! #teambonding
—
Pau Gasol (@paugasol) December 06, 2012

But, while Abraham Lincoln may be one of America’s most well-known presidents, there’s good reason to think that maybe some of the Lakers’ players should have been given a primer before the team settled in to watch. This is the team that includes World Peace, after all — the very player who was quite disappointed when he tried to bring history and hockey together and learned that George Washington had nothing to do with the Stanley Cup.

That fear seemed to be proven correct after Kobe Bryant was asked Friday how his teammates responded to the film.

Kobe on the team's viewing of "Lincoln": "I don't know if the guys knew who he was ... It came as a big shock to them when he was killed"
—
Dave McMenamin (@mcten) December 07, 2012

Bryant was apparently joking, however.

For those not adept in the art of sarcasm, Kobe was joking about his teammates not knowing who Lincoln is
—
Dave McMenamin (@mcten) December 07, 2012

That doesn’t mean that the Lakers were giving Lincoln his due, however — apparently, the Canadian citizen among the bunch used the team field trip to catch up on some sleep.

Dwight on "Lincoln": "It was long ... Steve (Nash) fell asleep at one point. He was snoring"
—
Dave McMenamin (@mcten) December 07, 2012

One can guess that the reason the Lakers saw Lincoln was because of the deeper lessons the past president provides on bridging gaps and bringing disparate sides together for a common goal. But, then again, that’s a pretty deep lesson if guys don’t know who Lincoln is to start with.

Photo of the Day

Wow — this guy appears to be excited to be on the Cubs.

Quote of the Day

“When I hit that fan, I definitely enjoyed it — until that fine came down. That $3 million I lost killed me. It brought me back to reality because I could have lost my job. It was wild because it had never been done before. And it will never happen again so, yeah, adrenaline was flowing. How many people can say that they’ve punched a fan?”
– Stephen Jackson, on the Malice in the Palace incident between the Pacers and Pistons from November 2004