Monday Post Mortem

It is hard to figure who suffered the worst beat-down on Saturday night�Kobe Bryant or Richardo Mayorga. The trash-talking loudmouth, although very talented, seemed to believe a little too much in his abilities. He probably also wished he hadn�t said a lot of the things that he had in the days leading up to the epic showdown.

Mayorga probably feels the same way, too.

You have to wonder if Bryant knows who Raja Bell is right now. Does he know this kid? You can say that Bell delivered a cheap shot with his lariat in game 5, but it is hard to argue with the results. The Suns won three consecutive games after the incident, despite Bell missing game six. Kobe can try to brush off the incident, but he scored only one point in the decisive third quarter. With the Lakers trailing by 15 points, a determined Bryant came out at halftime and did not take his first shot until 4:14 had passed. Kobe only took three shots in the second half total.

And people thought the Kobe was the NBA�s MVP?

It�s hard to imagine a star more afraid to shoot the ball in a game 7 as Kobe repeatedly avoided taking any shot. Even Duke guard J.J. Manning was embarrassed by Kobe. It was like Kobe was giving up and�by not taking a shot�could put the blame on his teammates instead of taking responsibility for the Lakers loss.

Mayorga ended up looking like one of those late 80s WWF villains who would run their mouth but end up getting creamed by Hulk Hogan. And it wasn�t even that close. At least Mayorga went out swinging. The same couldn�t be said for Kobe.

• The Detroit Lions players have filed a grievance against new head coach Rod Marinelli for making them practice too hard. Lions president Matt Millen retaliated by filing a counter-grievance against the players for being too crappy.
  

• Packers quarterback Brett Favre intimated that 2006 might not be his last season. That could only mean a couple of things. Favre either wants to go through another summer charade of playing Cindy Brady�s �I�ve got a secret,� about his retirement plans or he really wants to make the all-time interception record untouchable. Favre is only 22 picks away from the all-time mark.

• The following was written after meeting up with Sulley and the HB Rugby Club at Mother�s in Sunset Beach. (If you need to see some pictures of Mother�s, open your Sublime jewel case for their self-titled CD to see it. Let�s just say it makes the Screamin� Chickin� in Devore, Calif., seem upstanding.)
  

• Quote of the week: From Raja Bell�s mother: Need a hug, Kobe? Even the dude�s mother owns the Lakers superstar. Hopefully she never meets up with him in a Colorado hotel room.
  

• The Ducks are up 2-0 over the Divealanche. Thank god somebody won that free Ducks hat at the National prior to the Big West basketball tournament. Any more room left on the bandwagon?
  

• Anybody want two tickets to Clippers home game four? Anybody? They are super cheap?
  

YOUR MOMENT OF BISH

Here is the Bish�s take on the Angels pitching staff in his "Ask Steve Bisheff segment:" I think with the addition of Jeff Weaver, this staff is now stronger than the one last year.

Oh really? Here are the stats of Weaver and the man he replaced, Jarrod Washburn.
Jarrod Washburn: 2-4, 3.61 ERA, with a WHIP of 0.97.
Jeff Weaver: 1-4, 6.43 ERA, and hitters are almost batting .300 off of him. And yes, the Bish is making six figures to come up with takes such as that.

Some more news: Give the new Hater Nation Forums a whirl. Zach can't figure it out, but maybe you will have more luck. Subscribe to The Hater Nation feed. Anybody been to the Screamin' Chickin?