Editor's Note: Lakers & Dodgers Face Rodney Dangerfield Dilemma

The Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Dodgers find themselves trying to fight something Rodney Dangerfield never could: They can't get respect. Whether it's from Scott Boras scoffing at the only offers his client Manny Ramirez has received, or from Boston Celtics fans making up excuses to pardon their Christmas Day massacre and their most recent loss. Neither team is getting their due respect. First, the Dodgers. Manny Ramirez came to a city that welcomed him with open arms, and now he'll only return if he gets a Brinks Truck to deliver his salary. Ramirez has no where else to go: The Yankees maxed out their budget, the Mets' owners were scammed out of nearly half a billion by Bernie Madhoff, Washington is looking for a face for their franchise and Manny's too old for it, and San Francisco will only sign him if he lowers his price. Even Albert Pujols admits that signing Manny requires a discount for any team. But as Manny and Boras drag this out, it just makes both sides look bad: the Dodgers look cheap and Boras looks like a miser. Every rejection and lie that other teams are interested just disrespects the Dodgers and everything they did to save Manny's reputation. Now the Lakers. LA went into Boston without Andrew Bynum. No one thought they could win, not even the Laker fans. It took an extra 5 minutes on top of regulation, but they pulled it off. Well, if you're a Laker fan they did. For the Bostonians, the win should not count due to bad officiating. It's bad enough for the Lakers that the Celtics scoffed at their Christmas Day win, chalking it up to a standard road loss (ignoring their 27-2 record at that point). But now they refuse to give the Lakers any form of respect, claiming that Derek Fisher fouled Ray Allen in the last seconds of OT. The Lakers and Dodgers don't need wins or records. All they want is respect. But I guess that's too much to ask for.