ESPN Magazine

Everywhere I go, there's Jimmy Goldstein. You must know the mug
next to Jack and Magic, he's the Forum's most familiar face-the elfish character with the frizzy, shoulder-length gray hair, Gaultier leopard suit, zebra-print shirt and anaconda-skin boots sitting behind the visitors bench. Beneath the L.A.-freaky look is the hoops-obsessed heart of your average Joe-who happens to be independently wealthy and on a first-name basis with half the NBA, including David Stern. His business card lists three (pre) occupations: fashion, architecture, basketball. He's been to more playoff games than any team, not to mention morning shoot-arounds, press conferences and postgame locker rooms. He'll be at the predraft camp in Chicago and the Phoenix Desert Classic, too. Spurs director of scouting R.C. Buford sees me and come over to say hello, but stops to talk to Jimmy first. Same with Doc Rivers. A hard-core fan since he tallied stats as a teenager for Milwaukee Hawks radio back in '54, Jimmy went to Stanford, slid down to L.A. in '62, and struck it rich through "investments," he says cagily. He's been front-row ever since, making the scene. You might catch him on Oprah. She's featuring his Benedict Canyon home because it's so cool: all glass, wood, concrete and stainless steel. Guess the players know him for a reason I do: He's just always been there.