PLAY BALL: Thelonious Monster has had trouble...

PLAY BALL: Thelonious Monster has had trouble picking up rock radio airplay, but the L.A. group’s leader Bob Forrest got some sports radio and TV play last week . . . and the reviews weren’t good. Sportscasters had a field day with Forrest’s attempt to sing the “Star Spangled Banner” before the Clippers basketball game at the L.A. Sports Arena on Tuesday. He twice botched the lyrics, and his mumbled apologies didn’t stop some fans from booing and later threatening to beat him up in the stands.

KMPC radio’s Jim Lampley played a tape of the performance Wednesday morning and commented on the air, “What he did to the national anthem, you wouldn’t want to do to your worst enemy.”

After his broadcast, Lampley told Pop Eye, “He clearly had no clue. At the end he said, ‘Did I screw up again?’ as if he wasn’t sure he had.”

Forrest, a rabid Clippers fan, said later that he was trying to turn the song into an anti-war commentary, not mock it. “I wanted to do it sad and Civil War-ish,” said a depressed Forrest. “I just forgot the words. . . . All I wanted to do was meet (Clippers star) Danny Manning. I didn’t even get to do that.”