Dan Steinberg at DC SPORTS BOG has the latest on Tony Kornheiser’s seemingly cratered D.C. media career, transcribing comments from Commander Combover during a D.C. radio appearance this week.

(Took this on Venice Beach this week … vaguely applicable? OK, maybe not.)

Apparently Kornheiser, who was recently let go by the WaPo and nudged out of the Monday Night Football broadcast booth by Mike Tirico ESPN management, is finding it tough to supplement his PTI appearances with a free-money local-yokel radio show:

“A lot of business people want me to do syndicated national radio,” he said. “I don’t care about syndicated national radio. If they want to syndicate a local show that I do, I’m happy to do it, but I want to local radio.”

(Steinberg): How many business people are interested?

“Not enough yet,” he said. “But maybe in an hour. Maybe in an hour.”

So wait, Kornheiser has plenty of people beating down his door to do a national radio show, but no one in his hometown is interested in hiring him?

Does that smell funny to you?

Actually, uh, no.

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You might just know Skip Bayless as the blowhard on ESPN who says outrageous statements just to get attention. (Versus, basically, every other personality on ESPN who does exactly the same thing.) Among his greatest hits are his on-going hatred of LeBron James and his belief that Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson were boycotting a golf event because it was sponsored by Mercedes.

(ESPNer Bayless reiterated stand on Aikman’s sexual preference)

So you might be surprised - shocked, even - to learn that Bayless used to be more than a talking head seeking out controversy: he used to be a writer seeking out controversy. THE STARTING FIVE has Part One of an exhaustive interview with Bayless about his columns and books, focusing on his expose “Hell-Bent: The Crazy Truth About the’Win or Else’ Dallas Cowboys,” which created a scandal for allegedly “outing” Cowboys QB Troy Aikman. And Bayless isn’t backing down. Sort of.

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• Mike & The Mad Dog’s radio show is sent to live on a farm upstate.

• Alonzo Mourning helps a Miami Heat fan celebrate her 102nd birthday.

• Some things never change, like John McEnroe’s time-honored tradition of throwing tennis tantrums.

• Michael Wilbon sings for the faithful of the Friendly Confines, but is it a slap in the face to the fourth estate?

• China: Land of many diverse peoples, all played on the Olympic Opening Ceremonial stage by the same ethnic group.

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I’m back in L.A., only took a 4-day drive from Miami. I’ve gone from 107 degree temps in Phoenix yesterday to 66 in Santa Monica today.

That’s one of the great misconceptions about Los Angeles, that it’s warm near the beach - even in the summer. The ocean water is cold (and filthy) from Redondo up to Pacific Palisades (just north of SaMo) year round. If you ever plan to do the beach thing in the L.A., goto Zuma Beach, which is at the northern tip of Malibu. And stop at the Malibu Inn for some BBQ on the way up.

I’m going down to Staples today to see what there is to see before the game. Knowing the type of fan that will be attending tonight’s final game of the Staples season (well-monied, runners-to-the-front), the best I can expect for entertainment value is a Mike Wilbon sighting. Considering how worn-out he’s likely to be from a free Saturday night in Lipstick City.

I’m reporting for duty today from the Florida Panhandle, with designs on driving to East Texas later tonight. ETA for L.A. is Saturday night, just in time for … sleep.

By now you know about Milton Bradley beserking on Royals announcer Ryan Lefebvre over innocuous (and true) on-air comments the broadcaster made about him last night. What you don’t know about this story is what makes it wildly ironic.

(Lefebvre: Class act who has overcome his own personal demons)

I had the pleasure of working with Ryan as a Royals broadcaster during the 1999 season. Great guy and a true professional. Before I met him, Ryan had gone through some tough times with alcohol, and since escaped his own personal demons. Here’s a quote from him last month - from a piece about his charitable Footprints Foundation:

“Through some difficulties that I had in college and after college, I just found myself drawn to go to church; just to have the emptiness filled up with God and not with alcohol, or drugs, or women, or possessions. God just laid down a path for me that allowed me to be influenced by mentors and people who have given me a good example.”

Ryan’s comments about Bradley came from a different place than the typical MLB broadcaster. And if anyone has insight into what Bradley is obviously wrestling with, it’s Lefebvre. So Lefebvre is the last guy Bradley should be irate at.

The only thing now that’s going to help Bradley get himself straight is to get away from all the baseball-borne enablers. Perhaps the Rangers will be smart enough to do that. But with the year on the field that Bradley is having, I highly doubt it.

Yesterday I heard Michael Wilbon live on WAXY-AM in Miami address the the online pix posted of him - together with porn stars - at a L.A. party. Wilbon went on Dan Le Batard’s afternoon show and threw a wet blanket over the fun that his PTI fill-in wanted to have with the piccies (Wilbon also talked briefly about it on PTI - and was slightly more jocular).

Le Batard was initially giddy when asking Wilbon about the photos, but the minute the WaPo columnist made it clear that he didn’t want to discuss the pay-for-sex-staffed soiree in detail, Le Batard’s tone suddenly took on a more subdued (and boring) tenor.

Wilbon’s cell phone soon after crapped out, and Le Batard, instead of trying to get his ESPN colleague back on the line, said goodbye to him on-air, even though it was clear that Wilbon had been disconnected and couldn’t hear him.

I’m wondering, if Wilbon had been willing to have fun with the DEADSPIN-found photos, do you think Le Batard would’ve suddenly dumped the interview? And by the way, we completely agree with what Le Batard did. He had the entertainment quotient of the show in mind.

In case for some reason you don’t know, Wilbon famously despises all manner of blogs, which is why he had no interest in discussing the pictures in the first place. Read more…

Who knew Bill Belichick would have such a gay ol’ time in Beantown?

• Things to do in Denver when you’re dead-set about getting some hookers & blow:

• Going Washington Post-al: Tony Kornheiser & Michael Wilbon are cheesed at DC SPORTS BOG’s Dan Steinberg.

• Keeping abreast of Jessica Canseco’s topless sunbathing habits.

• Tony La Russa knew about Scott Spiezio’s speeding & spewing since early January, yet did nothing about it.

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The internecine battle between old and new media wages on even within unwieldy media conglomerates.

Such a set-to is currently going on at THE WASHINGTON POST, with Pardon the Interruption hosts and still occasional journalists Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon trading barbs with and now threatening bodily harm upon The Post’s own sports blogger, Dan Steinberg.
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No crosstown trips necessary for USC football fans - for now.

• In case you didn’t know, Roger Clemens was in Washington today.

• Those crazy Chris Berman clips have been booted off YouTube.

• Is Michael Wilbon swiping NBA All-Star ideas from bloggers?

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We want to preface this post by saying we really like Mike Wilbon on PTI, and enjoy his work in the WASHINGTON POST. But Chris Mottram of the SPORTING NEWS’ SPORTING BLOG has a curious comparison between something suggested by SPORTING BLOG writer Bethlehem Shoals regarding the NBA all-star game, and a subsequent, very similar idea about the game put forth by Wilbon.

Before laying out what happened, Mottram writes: “It’s a well-known fact that columnists, sports radio DJ’s and the main-stream media in general are prone to stealing content from bloggers and never giving credit. It’s total B.S., sure, but bloggers don’t get too up in arms because we know that in five years these people will all be completely irrelevant (assuming they aren’t already). So we let it slide, for the most part. (Plus, there’s nothing we can really do about it.) ” Read more…

Shaquille O’Neal to FSN Arizona today on the negative reaction of the media on the Suns acquisition of him: “I’m very upset. … I have cable. I watch ESPN. I listen to Mike Wilbon and ‘Around The Horn’ and all that stuff.”

We haven’t been watching Wilbon lately on PTI (shouldn’t he be resting?). But we did check out his column on the the Suns’ sudden Shaq-up with O’Neal. And it isn’t altogether complimentary.

More amusing is the thought of Shaq scheduling his day around “Around The Horn.” And The Big Judas wincing at the well-reasoned analyses of Jay Marriotti.

Before, we viewed that show as nothing more than inspiration for stroke recovery victims (Woody). But knowing now that Shaq gets his hot sports opinions from Tim Cowlishaw, it will be appointment viewing. At least while we await our next colonoscopy.