Lakers try to Jazz it up, but it's a Muzak series

What a waste of a beautiful Sunday unless you are into public executions.

By way of the score, it looks as if the Dodgers were also playing the Utah Jazz, but at least they were outside.

It got so bad inside stuffy Staples Center, Kobe Bryant was at the free-throw line and the crowd was chanting, "MVP, MVP." Odd, I thought, fans would be calling for LeBron James so early in the playoffs.

But then Lakers fans haven't gotten it right all season.

If you live next door to a Lakers fan and had no interest in the team while listening to your neighbor all season long, you're probably surprised the Lakers made the playoffs.

I know the Lakers really weren't much fun to watch this season, winning the conference title in a walk by 11 games, but at times there was talk around here of the sky falling. Or Luke Walton shooting yet again.

I understand if someone's a Clippers fan. As far as they are concerned, the world is flat, and when their team steps off the cliff, it's a good bet they are going to hit bottom.

But these are the Champs we're talking about, everyone in the joint back on Oct. 28 when it all started knowing the Champs were going to finish the season in the NBA Finals.

The Champs have Phil Jackson, Kobe, Pau Gasol and the NBA referees, so why all the angst?

I'd expect such up-and-down mood swings from Portland yahoos, folks who have nothing else in their lives other than the big show in town, and every game's results determining their happiness or disappointment.

We've got some people here acting as if they were reared in Angryville.

First of all, Vladimir Radmanovic wasn't good enough for you, then it was Walton and now Jordan Farmar. What's the problem? The Champs winning by 12 points instead of 22?

"This is a game we could have won by 25 or 30," Lamar Odom said after beating the Jazz by 13 points, and even the players aren't happy with their own team.

I can understand Kobe's former housekeeper always finding fault with the Champs, but it makes no sense why Lakers fans should have any problem with these guys.

Just imagine if the Champs lose a playoff game somewhere in the next several weeks before taking on Cleveland. For a day or two here, it will be like living in Lincoln, Neb.

It's crazy they even have to play these games. ABC, in a futile effort to present this as some kind of drama, showed Kobe's walk into Staples Center, everyone in Salt Lake left deflated when he didn't trip and fall.