Even Writers Are Getting Easy Shots Against Lakers

Peter Vecsey, writing in the New York Post after the Lakers were routed, 112-97, by the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday:

“The problem for the Lakers isn’t that they belong in group therapy; they’re certainly not the first team I’ve covered in which the stars [Shaquille O’ Neal and Kobe Bryant] are at war.

“No, their problem is that their scorn for each other has affected the team’s interest and intensity, while long ago piercing its invincibility. . . . Yes, there is, indeed, trouble in paradise, no matter how much the oblivious, or those intimately involved, insist on denying it.”

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Trivia time: Who holds the Laker record for steals in a game?

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It’s that time: Bernie Lincicome of the Rocky Mountain News, musing on spring training:

* “What to Wear--Uniform of the day is always long shorts, high socks and a tank top, except in Orlando, where you also must wear mouse ears.

* “How to Ask Directions to Scottsdale, Ariz.--Always look first to see which ear has the hearing aid.”

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Hut, what? Troy Aikman says he wants to keep playing football despite all the concussions. Mike Bianchi of the Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel says:

“By the end of next season, he’ll have to write the words ‘hut, hut’ on his wrist just so he can remember them.”

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Controversial trio: Ron Rapoport in the Chicago Sun-Times: “Ray Lewis is the MVP of the Super Bowl, and Allen Iverson is the MVP of the NBA All-Star game. This can mean only one thing: John Rocker for MVP of the World Series.”

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Get with it: Tom FitzGerald in the San Francisco Chronicle: “Brian Pavlet is one of the champions of the long-driving competition. He regularly hits a golf ball 50 yards farther than Tiger Woods or John Daly. So how come he’s not a star on the PGA tour?

“Here’s a hint. Pavlet says: ‘The whole putting thing is overrated.’ ”

Hey, Brian, haven’t you heard the expression, “You drive for show and putt for dough?”

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Star bores: Mark Kriegel in the New York Daily News: “People were talking about the NBA All-Star game as if the last few minutes all but saved the sport.

“Of course, this trenchant observation neglects the first 45 or so minutes. I’ve seen more intensity from guys in the park high on cough syrup.”

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The detonator: Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh--home of the Steelers and Pirates--was destroyed by dynamite last Sunday.

Said comedy writer Alex Kaseberg to the San Francisco Chronicle: “In San Diego if you want to blow up a sports facility you simply draft Ryan Leaf.”

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Trivia answer: Jerry West, 10, against Seattle on Dec. 7, 1973.

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And finally: Bob Costas on the XFL: “It has to be at least a decade since I mused out loud, ‘Why doesn’t somebody combine mediocre high school football with a tawdry strip club?’ Finally, somebody takes my idea and runs with it.”