This was anything but the usual HuffPost Live Google+ hangout. Ahead of tonight’s retiring of Shaquille O’Neal‘s Lakers jersey at Staples Center, host Marc Lamont Hill welcomed Shaq, Phil Jackson, Jeanie Buss and (a little later into the conversation) Kurt Rambis. Before O’Neal, Rambis also famously earned the nickname “Superman” from Chick Hearn.

There’s no better way to get in the mood for tonight’s induction ceremony (or follow it up later) than by watching this half-hour conversation. You know it’s a good HuffPost Live segment when one of the network’s other hosts, Jacob Soboroff, chimes into the chat room with, “One of the great HPL interviews. Well done.”

A favorite part for us was when Buss reacted to Shaq’s first set of comments, explaining that she had never heard the story of what Jerry West told #34 when The Big Newcomer first joined the purple and gold. The story magically ties into what is scheduled to transpire at Staples tonight.

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There are a couple of quirky wrinkles to the 64th Annual Los Angeles Area Emmy Award nominations, announced this morning by the TV Academy.

Two categories (Children/Youth Programming, Sports Special) generated zero nominees, while another bracket pair (Live Special Events-News, Outstanding News Editor) featured just a single candidate who was anointed as the de factor winner ahead of the August 11 ceremony. So… congratulations to, respectively, KTLA for its British royal wedding coverage and CBS 2/KCAL 9 special projects editor Gustavo Sampaio (pictured). Sampaio also does work for entertainment news magazine The Insider.

As for the remaining 38 categories, NBC Southern California gets bragging rights with a market-leading total of 20 nominations. Including one nod in the always fun category of LA Local Color:

Non-Stop Foodies from Porto’s (NBC4);
20th Anniversary of KTLA Morning News (KTLA);
Behind the Scenes at Cirque du Soleil (KABC);
Master Chef: Thomas Keller Uncorked (KCET);
Special Olympics Southern California: Above and Beyond (KTLA).

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Former Dodger lefty Sandy Koufax was the runaway winner in the Los Angeles Times‘ countdown of the 20 greatest local sports figures.

The three-time Cy Young Award winner received 57 more first-place votes than No. 3 Vin Scully, and 90 more than No. 2 Magic Johnson.

Steve Dilbeck explains why Koufax winning shouldn’t be a surprise to readers:

“He won three Cy Youngs, all unanimously. He pitched four no-hitters, one a perfect game. Was part of three World Series champions.

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Los Angeles Dodgers play-by-play announcer Vin Scully was selected as the 2011 recipient of the Westcoast Sports Associates Roy Firestone Award.

The award is named after the former KCBS-TV sports anchor, who will emcee the Nov. 16 event and interview Scully, according to Steve Dilbeck of the LAT.

Past honorees of the award include John Wooden, Wayne Gretzky, Jerry West and Pete Carroll.

For hardcore Dodger fans that need their offseason fix of Scully, the event is open to the public for $300 a ticket.

The NBA season might be in limbo, but Tuesday marks the start of the 2011-12 campaign for video gamers as NBA 2K12 hits stores everywhere.

Hundreds of fans lined up outside Best Buy in West Los Angeles Monday night for the opportunity to have their video game cover signed by Earvin “Magic” Johnson. The Hall of Fame point guard is featured on this year’s cover along with longtime rivals Larry Bird and Michael Jordan.

“The technology is crazy. I’m happy about how I look and how I played in the game,” Johnson told FishbowlLA. “It’s amazing how far technology has come and I think the fans are going to be blown away as well, especially where you can play the old school against the new school. My Lakers can play Kobe’s Lakers or my Lakers can play LeBron’s Miami Heat.”

Jerry West, Michael Cooper, general manager Mitch Kupchak and new Lakers head coach Mike Brown joined Johnson on the NBA 2K12 red carpet.

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