Top Ten Lakers Fans...............
1: Jack Nicholson
Really now, was there any doubt? No fan — celebrity or average Joe — is more closely associated with any team than the three-time Academy Award winner is with the Lakers.
2: Dyan Cannon
As a Lakers fan, Dyan Cannon is only second to one. Known as much as for her Laker fandom — she's the curly blond bouncing on the baseline — as her acting career, Cannon has been a die-hard regular at Lakers games since the early '70s.
3: Flea/Anthony Kiedis
Flea and Kiedis, the two founding members of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, wrote not one but two songs about the Lakers on their 1989 album
Mother's Milk: a demo called "Salute To Kareem" and the "Magic Johnson" which features these lyrics:
Lakers are the team that I watch on the telly
Cause they got more moves
Than a bowl full of jelly
4: Ice Cube
While our No. 5 sits in the fourth row, our No. 4 All-Time Celebrity Lakers fan watches the team he's rooted for since he was a zygote from his own private suite.
5: Andy Garcia
Garcia grew up loving the Lakers even though he was a continent away in Florida. "The Lakers were one of the teams I followed when I was a kid in Florida because of Jerry West and Wilt Chamberlain and Elgin Baylor," Garcia said. "We didn't have a team in Florida. And my first exposure was watching the games on television. We wouldn't have games on TV every night, but when the Lakers were in the playoffs you'd get much more exposure to them."
6: Denzel Washington
Want to know why Denzel's No. 6? Just look at the video below. We'll wait. Yes, that's super-Knicks fan Spike Lee taunting the man he's directed in four films. Why? Because Denzel was pulling for Kobe and Co. And while the Mt. Vernon, New York, native has drawn stares for wearing Yankees caps to STAPLES, we're not talking about a Dodgers list, we're talking a Lakers list
7: Penny Marshall
How much of a Lakers/hoops fan is director Penny Marshall? Allow
American Idol judge Randy Jackson to explain Marshall's fandom. "I'll give you the top two, top three: Jack, Dyan and Penny Marshall," Jackson said. "Those three, those three are always here without fail.
Penny's asked me to fly to Arizona on a private plane to see games. They're hardcore."
8: Leonardo DiCaprio
A native Los Angelino and a hoops junkie, who actually starred in a movie about a junkie who played hoops,
The Basketball Diaries, Leonardo DiCaprio has been a fixture at STAPLES Center since the late '90s.
9: Arsenio Hall
For a while in the late '80s and early '90s, Arsenio Hall had the hottest, most-talked-about late night talk show. (You may remember then-Arkansas governor Bill Clinton donning shades, toting a sax and playing "Heartbreak Hotel" on Arsenio's show in June of 1992.)
10: Doris Day
Yes, Doris Day. Surprised? We knew you would be. For years, celebrities flocked to watch the
Hollywood Stars of the Pacific Coast League, and later the Los Angeles Dodgers. On Sundays in the fall, celebs would head to the L.A. Coliseum to watch the Rams. But as Jerry West would attest, the Lakers' arrival in L.A. barely made a ripple in the sports pages and with Hollywood.