Last night, I heard Jon Barry and Magic Johnson exclaim that Kobe Bryant was the best basketball player in the league.

Granted, he just won the NBA title and played well in the postseason, so everyone was grappling for the top spot on his jock, but really? Better than LeBron just because Kobe won the title with a talented supporting cast?

Any comments on this video? - Harold

I think it's been well established that Arizona State is not the place to go for any hope of intellect.

Jimmy Kimmel is our most famous alum (and when I say alum, I mean he attended for a couple years before dropping out. Still, he's willing to go on the air drunk and talk about the Sun Devils, so he's OK by me), and if that doesn't tell you all you need to know about ASU, then I'm not sure what would.

"Do you believe in Magic?" As in, Orlando. - Mrs. Bush Rod

No, I don't. Granted, I didn't watch one second of the series against Cleveland, but I'm completely baffled how they have made it this far. This is a team that struggled with Philadelphia in the first round. Philly!

OK, here are the four Comments of the Week in the running. Vote for the one you like the best, and the winner will take home a free George Steinbrenner biography. Because who doesn't live George?

Oh, I guess I actually have to post stuff in order for people to comment.

Luckily, since I was too lazy to actually do a Comment of the Week last Monday, we have even more to choose from!

This is the final contestant in the race for the free George Steinbrenner book.

Rufus gets the nod by upping the ante on my proposed Brandon Webb for Josh Hamilton swap:

Rufus: Make it Josh Hamilton and a kilo of crack and we might have something cookin'.

I will post up the other three comments along with this one in a few hours, and then everyone can vote in the poll on the top left side of the home page.

Voting will close on Sunday, and I expect each contestant to do as much rigging as they can in order to win. Because even if you don’t want the book, it’s one less gift you need to buy for someone else's birthday.

A few random thoughts after watching some basketball tonight:

- I appreciate the Magic so willingly confirming what I wrote in advance of this series and after Game 1. Boston is winning this series on pure guts. Orlando is better, but doesn't have the mental power to win this series. Shaq was right when he called Stan Van Gundy the Master of Panic. And I loved watching the final minutes of Game 5. Rashard Lewis hits the backboard on a 3-pointer. Hedo Turkoglu hits the side of the glass. Rafer Alston throws up an underhand airball and then misses a wide open 3-pointer. Seriously, the when the Celtics were down by 6 with four minutes to go, there wasn't a doubt in my mind they would win that game.

Shamrock4lyfe is on top of the Streak for the Cash leaderboard.

He picked a hockey game tonight, and I'm proud to say I've never been a bigger Penguins fan in my life. I'll be rooting for Bill Cosby's kid like never before. They are up 1-0 after the first period as we speak.

Now if I could just find the channel where it's being shown...

Now that Manny is out for 50 games and Jason Bay is smashing the baseball in Boston, I guess the Red Sox actually made out pretty good. – Benton, Newark, N.J.

Yeah, the trade definitely wasn’t horrible, I'll give Boston that. But I still think it ended up better for the Dodgers. They probably wouldn’t have made the playoffs without Man-Ram last year, and the confidence exuded by the younger hitters is noticeable.

Los Angeles has such a big lead in the N.L. West that they should be able to keep it until Manny gets back, and he will lead them the rest of the way.

Jason Bay’s numbers are very good, but there’s just something that bugs me about Boston’s lineup.

I know this is an Eddie House loving site. I waited a couple of days to see if you (Bush Rod) would comment on the issue. Your Boy got punked by Rafer Alston. He slapped him in the head and dared him to do something like he was child.  Eddie has lost that battle. My question is how can you rally for a guy who got punked? - Chuckster08, Phoenix, Ariz.

Come on, now. You really think that's how it went down?

Here's what happened: All game, Eddie was in Skip's ear because he was draining shot after shot. You could give the Skip same shots as Eddie took, without anyone on the court, and he still couldn't hit 11-out-of-14. And Eddie made sure he knew that.

As the blowout increased, so did Eddie's verbal jabs.

Finally, Skip got so frustrated with getting punked that he did the sissiest slap I've ever seen. I used to like Skip. I thought he was cool because he was a street baller that made the NBA. But now? Come on. He's not street. My seven-year-old sister slaps harder than that.

I was able to dig up the transcript from the verbal altercation that ensued.

Eddie: Nice slap, sissy boy.
Rafer: I hate you, Eddie House! I'm trying to get a contract and you are treating me like a D-Leaguer!

Should the Diamondbacks have fired Bob Melvin? - Tito, Buckeye, Ariz.

Eh, I'm indifferent on the move. Did he get everything out of the offense in Arizona? Probably not. Can we expect anyone else to do much better? Probably not. This team kind of is what it is. The team did look dead recently, and maybe a new manager can give a spark, but it really doesn't seem like the talent is there on offense to challenge for the division unless something is done.

Here is how I think the lineup should lay out. (Except for the glaring hole in the middle. I can't do anything about that. This team simply doesn't have a cleanup hitter, and it absolutely handcuffs them. No one in this lineup scares opposing pitchers.)