What's with the obsession with statues?

The Lakers' Jerry Buss may have been the best sports franchise owner in America over the past 30-plus years.

Now that he's passed away, there's talk of building a statue of him in front of the Lakers' arena.

Why do people always want to build statues, especially of sports heroes?

I always go back to Firefly's Mal Reynolds: "It's my estimation that every man ever got a statue made of him was one kind of sommbitch or another."

There are plenty of ways sports heroes are honored. Halls of Fame. Record books. Incredible wealth.

And we know most of these people are, well, one kind of sommbitch or another.

I think the level of idolatry in which one becomes "immortal" via a statue is kind of creepy.

I just don't get it.