Does Oscar De La Hoya Deserve A Statue In Front Of The Staples Center?

Every major movie event nowadays comes with one of the actors getting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Seriously, Vince Vaughn? So why should boxing be any different? Before Oscar De La Hoya set off for Vegas to finish up preparations for his fight this weekend against Manny Pacquiao, the Golden Boy received an honor only bestowed to Magic Johnson and Wayne Gretzky—and no, it isn’t a blowgenie from Dyan Cannon in the back of The Forum. He was awarded a statue in front of the Staples Center—a building that was built after his career had already been established, sure, but considering he’s still a viable fighter, we don’t understand why he needed to be immortalized in front of. Sure Oscar’s worthy, but why don’t we let his career end before giving him honors like this? We could think of a few other people who might be more deserving this statue right now, and sorry Kings and Avengers fans, they’re all basketball related.

• Dr. Jerry Buss: Did you know he got his M.S. and Ph.D. in physical chemistry by age 24? If that’s not enough to get you a statue, how about buying the Lakers, Kings and The Forum in 1979 and selling off the Kings to keep the juicier pieces of the pie? The man created Showtime basketball, which in L.A. gives you enough pull to have a stadium created for you. Sure, the Clippers, Kings and Avengers (hah!) share the stadium, but there’s a reason why you’ll find more of the Lakers’ colors painted throughout the stadium, and that’s Dr. Jerry Buss.
• Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: Ok, besides the fact he starred in Airplane, this is the man who gave the world the sky-hook, fancy googles, and in his later years, fringes on his jacket. Oh, and he also won as many championships as Magic and was his number two guy. They would go perfectly together, as they did all throughout the 80s… [/swoon]
• Lisa Leslie: If we’re going to use players still playing, how about Leslie? She’s one of the original superstars of the WNBA, was the first woman to dunk in a game, had a kid while still under contract and threw down with Rick Mahorn. That’s some statuin’ cred if we’ve ever seen it.
• Chick Hearn: The only voice that’s ever mattered in Los Angeles, save Fordham alum Vin Scully. He broacast 3,338 consecutive Lakers games, and was only stopped by a freaking heart attack in 2001. A a portion of West 11th Street between Figueroa Street and Georgia Street in LA were renamed to Chick Hearn Court, and was the voice in the radio on Gilligan’s Island.
• Larry Brown: He coached L.A.’s other team, the Clippers, to two consecutive playoff appearances in the early 90s. That’s like turning water into wine for some people.
• Jack Nicholson: The non playing face of the Lakers for the past 30-odd years has been Jack, whose courtside antics have gotten the dander up of many a coach (hello Rick Adelman). The guy is a Lakers freak, so much so that during filming on The Departed had him forbidding all Celtics gear from the set. For those who haven’t seen it, the movie’s based in Boston. And as a sidenote, the man he’s always sitting with who looks like Donald Sutherland is actually Robert Towne, who wrote Chinatown. How perfectly L.A.

Oscar De La Hoya gets a statue of limitations [LA Times]
Image [LA Times]