This week I haven’t sensed the huge buzz that normally accompanies the SPORTS ILLUSTRATED swimsuit issue. And apparently I’m not alone.

(Perhaps trauma of this swimsuit encounter played a role in the decision)

Brian Perdue of the ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER reports that perhaps the SI swimsuit issue isn’t exciting high profile female sex symbols as much as it used to:

Lakers beat writer Janis Carr said that the Lakers turned down an offer to include Laker Girls in the spread. Still, the omission is comparable to leaving the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders out of an NFL cheerleader photo shoot.

The amazing thing about it, according to Perdue, is that it wasn’t the Lakers organization that scuttled the idea.

Perdue writes that “the decision was made by the Laker girls,” and apparently not the Buss family, who run the team.

(I think Jeanie would’ve posed, tho)

When I first saw that the Lakers had turned down the offer from SI, I immediately couldn’t believe it, considering that Jeanie Buss once posed for PLAYBOY and is the ultimate publicity hound.

But apparently the Lakers Girls aren’t so keen on the idea. Maybe it was the increasingly racy nature of the shoots?:

It’s also ironic considering the buzz at Laker games this year is that the new crop of dancers is the least attractive the team has had in years. In fact, there’s even talk around Los Angeles that the Clippers dancers are hotter than their cross-arena counterparts.