“I don’t like the asshole,” is reportedly what Kobe Bryant said of Antonio Villaraigosa, the Mayor of Los Angeles, during a standoff in the staging area of the Lakers’ championship victory parade. Sports By Brooks brings us the details, via the Los Angeles Wave, of how Kobe didn’t want the mayor to “pimp my popularity”.

“Kobe was refusing to ride on the City Council bus because the mayor was to ride on it,” says the report. “At the same time, the mayor, the consummate spotlight thief, was refusing to get on the City Council bus unless he got on with Kobe.” Eventually Kobe got on the team bus, and then the mayor “was sneaked onto the same bus behind Kobe’s back by a couple of his teammates”. As you can see in the picture, the mayor eventually popped up at the front of the bus, setting up this uncomfortable scene:

As the team bus approached Georgia Street, it was greeted by about 100 city workers who had labored throughout the previous day and night preparing the Coliseum for the rally. The bus stopped in front of them and the hard-working crew went ballistic for the team and shouted and cheered like they’d lost their minds. Then the mayor popped up from among the players and waved to the group, which suddenly turned silent, as if a spigot had been turned off.

Later, during the ceremony, the mayor introduced each player. After saying each name, he extended his hand for the players to shake, but when it was Kobe’s turn, he “strode right past him ignoring the outstretched hand,” says the Wave. “One elected official said the snub was clearly visible to everybody. ‘I didn’t understand it when I saw it, but after hearing about what happened with the bus, I understand it now,’ the official said.”

I’m sure those who already don’t like Bryant will see this as a total prima donna move, but seriously, maybe the mayor should do something popular in his own right, instead of trying to steal the adulation being given to someone else. I dunno, I can only imagine how well it would go over if our own fine mayor here in Toronto tried to pull that kind of a stunt.

“The world of Mexican midget wrestling is in mourning after two of its most famous stars were apparently poisoned by fake prostitutes,” says the first sentence of a Metro (UK) article that you might, for a second, think is going to be hilarious, but of course is really quite sad.

Brothers in armlocks Alberto and Alejandro Pérez Jiménez were found dead in a hotel room after being drugged and robbed.

The women who spiked the twins' drinks are thought to be members of an organised crime gang who pose as prostitutes to attract victims.

They normally just knock out their victims but the dose proved too much for Alberto – aka 'La Parkita' (Little Death) and Alejandro – aka 'Espectrito II'.

Yep. Same old story you’ve heard a million times.

Metro gives some background on the victims:

They began their fighting careers 17 years ago in a tag team called the Small Devils and sometimes crossed over into American WWF/WWE wrestling.

Skeleton-masked La Parkita fought at the WWF Royal Rumble showpiece events in 1997 and 1998 in a tag team alongside Lucha Mini legend and Hollywood actor Mascarita Sagrada.

At the 1997 Royal Rumble, he faced – and beat – a tag team featuring his brother, who was fighting under the name Mini Mankind.

Alejandro also fought at WWE events using the alias 'Tarantula'.

Interesting scenes from San Diego’s Petco Park yesterday afternoon when, in the ninth inning of a game between the Padres and Astros, a swarm of bees inundated the field, forcing the game to be delayed 52 minutes, and a beekeeper to be brought in to take care of bees-ness. Meuh!

Hat tip to Total Pro Sports for the clip.

Obligatory Sports Babe

This morning we’ll go with Elena Dementieva, who pushed Serena Williams to the brink in their semi-final at Wimbledon, and looked pretty not bad in losing. An enthralling match.

Andruw Jones All-Stars

Oh, this is fun. Fanhouse has decided to name its Andruw Jones All-Stars—the major league players who least helped “his team in comparison to expectations -- whether monetary or from management.” And guess how overlooked the Blue Jays are? They didn’t even put Vernon Wells on the list!

Ariza or Artest?

The LA Times’ resident sports-poet-crackpot / Fire Joe Morgan victim, Bill Plaschke, doesn’t feel the need to look beyond the simplest, most superficial non-reasons in explaining why the Lakers should have kept Trevor Ariza in favour of Ron Artest.

Michael Owen Is First Class

The Spoiler is telling us that “If the bookmakers are to be believed, Manchester United could be on the verge of filling the Carlos Tevez sized gap in their squad with a striker who is sincere, clean & fresh and, most importantly of all, first class.” Er… that would be Mickey Owen.

What Happened To Moneyball?

Steven Soderberg supposedly scripted some script based on the book Moneyball, which was going to be a movie featuring Brad Pitt (Billy Beane) and Demetri Martin (Paul DePodesta). Apparently it got axed at the last minute, for spurious reasons. Gawker has the latest gossip.

Philly Boy!

It’s already got a tonne of views on it, but do I look like I care? No. I don’t. Here’s Phil Mickelson—Philly Boy!—making a crazy backwards bunker shot. Nails!

Seriously, is there anyone in the league who grabs their crotch more? Lyle Overbay is our most recent Jays target for Five Questions and he does much better than you’d expect. Between various harassments, we were able to speak with Lyle about a whole variety of things, mostly music and family. On paper he looks like one of the most vanilla (read: plain, not white) guys on the team but he does have a lot of great stories. From taking batting practice with the guys from Pearl Jam back in 2003 to catching AC/DC on their most recent stadium tour Lyle has some great music related experiences. This video is about none of those stories.

It’s Five Questions With Lyle Overbay:

And if that wasn’t enough for you then go waste some time on this site: http://awkwardfamilyphotos.com You can literally spend all afternoon on this puppy.