It is that time of the week where you, Joe Six-Pack Fan, can call out those idiots, malcontents, ingrates, and general all around bad guys for their behavior that so #### you off. Looking around the world of sports, there are PLENTY of sports figures that have earned the dubious distinction of being thrown Under The Bus this week. I have some sports personalities.

NASCAR

Juan Pablo Montoya: his tete-a-tete with Kyle Busch earned him a trip to NASCAR's equivalent of the principal's office, aka The Big Red Hauler. (Not to be confused with Big Red, one of JPM's sponsors) I will come correct on putting Kyle Busch in the Ugly category of an earlier blog, The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. I will make up for it by throwing JPM Under The Bus.

Tony Stewart's Pit Crew: why on earth did they change two tires when they knew that rain was coming on the horizon? Especially when gas only was working. The crew cost Smoke a possible win. And as a result, Zippy and Company get thrown Under The Bus.

Jamie McMurray: I hate to do this to such a good guy, but I must. It appeared he had plenty of room to go around Dale Earnhardt, Jr. as Junior was entering the pits for his final pit stop. J-Mac plowed into him, tearing up his own vehicle and as he slid to the bottom of the track, he clipped his teammate David Ragan. Ragan lost control and hit the wall, ending HIS day. For being inattentive at an inopportune time, J-Mac goes Under The Bus.

NBA

Shaq: he dissed Kobe Bryant in a freestyle rap at a recent outing at a nightclub in New York City. The Big Chicken#### did this after last week's Who Would You Throw Under The Bus? was posted. Shaq's not escaping. Shaq, where were you when the Finals were being played? WATCHING IT ON TV, like millions of other Americans. Where was Kobe? PLAYING in the Finals. Shaq, grow the hell up. You won a ring without Kobe; give it a rest already. As if Kobe doesn't need any more motivation, this will fuel his fire even more to win a title without you. Shaq, and in the meantime, you get thrown Under The Bus.

Memphis Grizzlies: yes, you got O.J. Mayo. But you paid a pretty steep price to get him. You gave up Kevin Love, Mike Miller, Brian Cardinal, and another player. Meanwhile, the Minnesota Timberwolves improved themselves by getting a fundamentally sound player in Love, a sharpshooter in Miller, and a couple of other serviceable bigs that will add depth to the Wolves' bench. When you allow Kevin McHale to fleece you, it will get you thrown Under The Bus every single time.

NFL

New York Giants: they got rid of the Hefty Lefty, Jared Lorenzen. They got rid of the WRONG QB. They should have got rid of Anthony Wright. For getting rid of the wrong QB, the G-men get thrown Under The Bus.

Houston Texans: it's going to take me a VERY long time to be able to root for this team again. They so screwed up David Carr while he was there he's shot mentally. They NEVER gave him a decent running game and a decent O-line while he was there. They allowed him to be a human pinata. Then AFTER they unceremoniously dump him in favor of Matt Schaub, they FINALLY work on building up a running game and an O-line. If the football gods are listening, the Texans won't win a Super Bowl while Robert McNair owns the team. In the meantime, the Texans get thrown Under The Bus.

MLB

Houston Astros: for allowing the Shawn Chacon/Ed Wade drama to reach new heights. This is one of the most dysfunctional teams in MLB. Drayton McLane needs to sell this team to a local group that WANTS to win. Chacon gets thrown Under The Bus for attacking Wade physically for refusing his orders/requests. Wade gets thrown Under The Bus for escalating the incident. Who's next?

TENNIS

Justin Gimelstob: he called Anna Kournikova a b***h and a #### and said some sexually charged remarks towards her involving his brother. Kournikova, to her credit, is taking the high road. Gimelstob, to his credit, took full responsibility for his remarks and apologized. However, you can't unring that bell. For his egregious lapse in judgment and for putting both feet in his mouth, Gimelstob gets thrown Under The Bus.

Ana Ivanovic: she lost early at Wimbledon. There goes LOTS of guys' reasons to watch Wimbledon in the first place. She's HOT. It wouldn't be so bad if she weren't the #1 seed. But she's the top seed and to lose in the second round IS reason to be thrown Under The Bus.

Those are my nominees for this week. Feel free to come on in with yours! 

My fellow bloggers:

I must come correct on a number of topics. There were things I said and predicted that absolutely has made me look foolish. Here are the topics that I will come correct on:

• Eli Manning/New York Giants: in my preseason prediction, I predicted that the Giants were a mess. Eli was a bust. The Giants were playing the string for a supposedly lame-duck Tom Coughlin. Could it be that Tiki Barber ended up being the biggest cancer that has ever infested a locker room? The Giants added by subtracting Barber and adding Ahmad Bradshaw and Steve Smith and Kevin Boss (replacing another cancer, Jeremy Shockey). Giants' brass had a HUGE draft this past year, not only adding Smith and Bradshaw and Boss, but Jay Alford (a late second day pick who ended up with a HUGE sack of Tom Brady in SB 42). Not only that, while I thought the G-men had a chance to beat the Patriots IF they put consistent pressure on Brady, I didn't think they would put consistent pressure on Brady. They did, and as a result, they are Super Bowl Champions. Eli may well end up with more rings than Peyton when their careers are done.
• Mitch Kupchak, GM, Los Angeles Lakers: in the summer, I lambasted Kupchak as the most clueless GM in not only the NBA, but in all of sports. I take that back, too. He resisted the urge to trade both Kobe Bryant and Andrew Bynum when thousands of GM-wannabes (myself included) thought Jermaine O'Neal was the Real Deal. Then the other day, he lands Pau Gasol for virtually nothing. Gasol is a stud, and he presents matchup problems for the rest of the teams in the West. He can play all three frontcourt positions, Kobe can play both guard positions and small forward, Jordan Farmar can play both guard positions, Lamar Odom can play both forward positions. Simply put, the Lakers' chances of coming out of the West got a LOT better.

There, I feel better now. Again, congratulations to Eli Manning and the New York football Giants for their Super Bowl 42 victory over the New England Patriots. 

This is not intended to elicit sympathy. Instead, it is the rantings of a passionate sports fan that is SICK AND TIRED of his teams tanking and/or sucking. It's one thing to suck; if you're giving it all and the other team still has more talent, I'll not like it, but will be more accepting of my team's sucky situation AS LONG AS THEY GIVE IT 100%. IS IT TOO MUCH TO ASK??

It has been a very nightmarish year for me and my teams sportswise. I DID have one GREAT reason to cheer in mid-February when Kevin Harvick won the Daytona 500. WOOHOO! Here is a brief synopsis of my teams' sucking and/or tanking:

• Los Angeles Dodgers. This team was off to a decent start and had good pitching for much of the year but when the chips were down, they circled the drain. When the calendar hit September 16, this team decided to lay down and tank. They won a grand total of THREE games since September 16th. THREE GAMES!! THREE FREAKING GAMES!! I look at the Dodgers' schedule for October and it's CLEAR!! CLEAR!!!!! They should be playing the divisional playoffs against either the Cubs or the Phillies. Meantime, the L.A.-wannabe Angels ARE playing in the postseason. I'd rather the Dodgers suck and give it 100% than they be mediocre and tank badly.
• Carolina Panthers. I LOVED it when Kris Jenkins called out the team for its lack of heart. GOOD FOR HIM!! I see a 6-10 team written all over themselves unless they get some heart and guts. I don't see that happening, at least not this season.
• Philadelphia Flyers. I actually admired the 2006-07 version, even though they sucked badly. This team gave 100% every game; their lack of talent and injuries were the reason why they sucked. I am more optimistic this season because they went out and got some talent. Martin Biron will be in goal for the full season. What is holding the Flyers back is that they are in a very strong Atlantic Division.
• Los Angeles Lakers. I got fed up with As The Kobe Turns. ENOUGH WITH THE FREAKING DRAMA ALREADY!! Mitch Kupchak, get another freaking point guard to COMPLEMENT Kobe and that can distribute the ball! D-Fish is an improvement over the disaster of a PG the Lakes had last season. I don't see this team being a playoff team this season.

There, I feel better already!! Now I'm ready to emerge from the Rubber Room ready to go and give my insights on the world of sports and the issues surrounding sports.

As I sit on the patio, my lapper fired up, I just thought I'd muse randomly about things in sports and culture.

• The subhumans that burglarized Marquise Hill's mother's house as she was burying her son are the worst people on the planet. Satan is preparing a room for each of them.
• Is Michelle Wie becoming the Paris Hilton of the LPGA? Or the Anna Kournikova of the LPGA?
• We have another sports soap opera, this one NOT involving the Los Angeles Lakers for once. (The Lakers have their own SERIES)
• We are roughly six weeks away from NFL training camps. WOOHOO!
• Has anyone noticed that every year in the MLB draft the same three teams draft 1-2-3 (the order varies from year to year): Tampa Bay, Kansas City, and Pittsburgh? Get the GMs from those NFL teams to run the MLB teams and see how quickly they improve!
• If you suffer from insomnia, just tape a few soccer games and watch them and time yourself nightly on how quickly you'll fall asleep.
• USC will play in the BCS national championship game. Unofficially, they are the NFL's 33rd team. They are LOADED this year.
• Prediction for the NBA Finals: Spurs in 6, Tony Parker wins Series MVP. A perfect wedding gift for him.
• If not for Kobe Bryant, the Lakers would be a lottery team for years to come. Maybe it's time for Jerry Buss to relinquish control of the team and retire with a 23-year-old (or younger) hottie of his choice. Hmmmm, is Buss the Hugh Hefner of the NBA? I've got to know.
• The Philadelphia Flyers are stuck in a time warp. They're slow, stodgy, and can't put the biscuit in the basket. That style worked in 1975, the last time they won the Stanley Cup. Today's NHL is free-flowing, with a lot more scoring. Gooning it up no longer works. Buffalo exposed them big-time in last year's playoffs.
• MMA is for real. It's not a fad that will go away. At UFC 71 there were plenty of good action-packed fights. I was surprised how quickly Quentin "Rampage" Jackson KO'd Chuck "Iceman" Liddell.
• Boxing is on the ropes. (Pun intended)
• Last but not least, congratulations to the Anaheim Ducks for winning the Stanley Cup. They earned it. Ottawa has nothing to be ashamed of. The Sens simply ran into a better team. They'll be back.

I very rarely (in fact, never) blog on the NBA because there are other sports that hold my interests better (NFL, NASCAR, MMA, MLB). However I will make an exception because of the soap opera that is my Los Angeles Lakers/Kobe Bryant.

This is getting more ridiculous by the moment. Who's at fault? Is Kobe at fault? Shaq? Dr. Buss? Mitch Kupchak? The head trainer's dog? I will do my best to break this thing down to its very basics.

After the 2004 Finals, Shaq was traded. A lot of people thought Kobe was at fault for allegedly running an immensely popular, albeit aging, center out of town. When you look at it down to its core, it was a business decision. Question: who scratches those checks with all that jack? Dr. Jerry Buss. Shaq was due $33 MILLION for the following season. Dr. Buss balked at paying an aging, injury-prone center $33 million. Whether Shaq felt slighted or not, that's between him and Dr. Buss. I look at it factually--Dr. Buss didn't want to pay Shaq all that money, so he traded him. I don't think it was a "me or him" ultimatum. Yes it hurt to trade a Hall of Fame center but the team felt that Shaq was on the downside of his career and Kobe was just reaching his prime.

Any good GM worth his salt would have busted his #### to surround Kobe with better players right off the bat. Bring in a veteran center to mentor Andrew Bynum. Bring in a Sam Cassell to distribute the ball and bring floor leadership. Bring in a Ron Artest for rebounding and toughness. Kupchak sat on his #### the whole time--where's his share of blame in this soap opera?? He didn't bring in the necessary personnel to surround Kobe. He could have had Jason Kidd (a future Hall of Famer) at the trade deadline this season but didn't want to give up Bynum. No wonder Kobe is pissed. 

At the end of the day he's not going anywhere. I predict heads will roll (Kupchak's). If that happens, it's long overdue. And I wouldn't be surprised to see Magic Johnson take on a larger role in the franchise, perhaps as a consultant. Personally I hope Dr. Buss one day decides to sell the franchise to Magic.