This was the Lakers sixteenth championship in team history. They moved one championship closer to the NBA record. The record is held by none other than the Boston Celtics, who have won seventeen titles.

(SOUND)

DOUG JOHNSON: This week’s listener question comes from Jorge Shinozaki in Japan. While the World Cup is being played in South Africa, our listener wants to know more about the famous American soccer player Cobi Jones.

Cobi Jones was one of the most successful soccer players in America. He won championships at the college and professional level. And he was named United States Soccer Player of the Year. But he was not always a star.

Cobi Jones was born in nineteen seventy. When he was seven years old his coach told him he was not a good player. He thought the boy should give up the sport. Instead, Cobi tried even harder.

In nineteen eighty-eight Cobi Jones went to the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. At first, he was not seen as a great soccer player. But he became a star. He helped his team win the nineteen ninety college championship. The following year, Jones set a school record with eighteen assists. He was named an All-American. The governing body for college sports gives All-American honors to the best players in every sport.

After college, Cobi Jones played professionally in England and Brazil. Then in nineteen ninety-six, he came back to America to play for the newly formed Major League Soccer. It did not take long for Jones to make his mark on his new team, the Los Angeles Galaxy.