For some reason, I just can’t get all that worked up about Kobe Bryant’s MVP award. I’m even in L.A. at the moment, but the emotion just isn’t there. Maybe it has something to do with him being an a$$hole who’s undergone an 82-game image rehab session. I also wonder just how *happy* Mitch Kupchak is about his shiny, new trophy.

Meanwhile, the only possible news that could’ve dragged down Kobe’s award - and the Lakers freight-training the Jazz in the NBA playoffs - is latest Andrew Bynum injury update.

The man who could quite possibly turn the Lakers into a dynasty has been out three months with a bad knee. And according to doctors, his lack of recovery may cause him to require knee surgery. Read more…

TMZ.com has a couple recent randoms of Randy Moss bending over a hottie at the Kentucky Derby last weekend:

The freakee in question is identified by TMZ as “Miss Kentucky USA”, but of course, the website doesn’t have the time or inclination to actually find out her name - or unearth any other photos.

So we have those for you, after the jump. Read more…

Leave it to FOX NEWS to get to the bottom of a story that involves young, attractive females and sexy photos:

(“Nothing but their bras and panties”? MY EYES! MUST. FLUSH. WITH. WATER.)

After racy photos of members of the university’s cheerleading squad were spotted on a campus blog called “The Dirty,” the school cut the squad completely, MyFOXPhoenix reported. The school’s athletic director, Lisa Love, made the decision Thursday evening. The pictures on the blog feature 6 of the cheerleaders posing in nothing but their bras and panties.

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The LOS ANGELES TIMES has a profile this week on boxing ring announcer Michael Buffer. We would mention what his trademark phrase is, but of course, he’d then sue the life out of us.

(Father-daugher, how lovely! Oh, sorry, we meant man-and-wife)

LAT: Buffer said his copyrighted claim to “Let’s get ready to rumble!” and his own celebrity has generated $400 million in gross retail sales of video games, motion picture appearances, action figures and other licensing deals. He guards any infringement of his intellectual property intensely, suing violators.

Action figures? Yep, here’s one. We’d love to see the psychological profile of the person over the age of five who purchases such a product. Probably someone who spends most of his time in a dark room, cooking up diabolical schemes in front of a computer screen. Wait, Bob Costas would know all about that … we’ll ask him.

Back to Buffer. In one of the ironic twists of all time, the man who made almost half a billion off his delivery of a single, throwaway phrase recently had throat cancer. Read more…

Deadspin’s Will Leitch was en-paneled last night with Braylon Edwards (?) and author Buzz Bissinger on HBO’s “Costas Now.” The three were supposedly to examine the role sports blogs have in affecting journalism at large.

But instead of an insightful discussion, Leitch was shouted down with profanity from a bizarre behaving Bissinger throughout. From the look and sound of the celebrated author of “Friday Night Lights”, it appeared to us that he might’ve forgotten his meds before the show went to air. And we’re not trying to be funny.

Leitch writes about the experience here. Jon Weisman of BASEBALL TOASTER also has an eloquent, thorough treatment, as does MDS at AOL FANHOUSE.

As noted in all of the accounts, the credibility Bissinger might’ve had in his analysis of blogs and the MSM was hidden behind a veneer of vitriol aimed at Leitch. Normally we would find the scenario of the dinosaur media member lashing out at the internet as, well, amusing. But in Bissinger’s case, it was actually quite sad. It appears the man is troubled by serious demons that go way beyond his disdain for “Big Daddy Balls” latest rantings.

Leitch handled the strange proceedings like a champ, but we can’t say the same for ol’ Buzz. We still love his work, so based on that, our only wish is that very, very few people watched the show.

UPDATES from: Dan Shanoff, Spencer Hall, Brian Powell, Ken Tremendous.

The Miami media is a twitter today about the news that Pat Riley has called a press conference today to announce he is quitting as coach of the Miami Heat until they get good again.

By now everyone knows how he stabbed Stan Van Gundy in the back three years ago en route to stealing what will surely be his last NBA championship ring as coach. Now with the franchise in tatters, thanks to his front office stewardship, Riley is once again ready to quit on the team he systematically dismantled. Read more…

We received this photo of Jim Gray’s star on Hollywood Blvd. shortly after we posted last Friday that he’s out of work.

We’ve also heard from several, well-connected media moles that no one will now hire him (just check out the hacks roaming the sidelines during the NBA playoffs). Read more…

It’s been a swift, painful descent for broadcaster Jim Gray, whose contract with ABC and ESPN expired last year and has struggled to find work since.

So much so that as Tom Hoffarth, in his media column in the LA DAILY NEWS, reports that Gray was trolling the hallways of the Staples Center Wednesday night during the Lakers-Nuggets playoff game in what Hoffarth scathingly describes as a “vain attempt to try to stay in the TV employment loop when the fact of the matter is no one is interested in hiring the psuedo sideline reporter.” FACE!
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