Boy, How Bad Must Those Other NBA Teams Be?

Peter Vecsey, writing in the New York Post: “For this season, anyway, the Lakers proved themselves the least flawed team in a very flawed league.

“As assistant coach Jim Cleamons confessed to me after the deciding Game 6, other than Shaq and Kobe, this is one of the most unathletic teams in the league.

“Not exactly a ringing endorsement for a team getting a ring, but candidly on target, nonetheless.”

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Trivia time: Which pitcher holds the major league record for walks in a season?

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Eat up: Jim Armstrong in the Denver Post: “David Duval was the second-best player in the world before he went on that maniacal weight-loss program of his. These days, he couldn’t beat Tiger getting two shots a side.

“Two words of advice, D.D.: cheeseburger, cheeseburger.”

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More Armstrong: “You can call off the search party. The next generation has arrived in the NFL. Viking quarterback Daunte Culpepper weighed in at 265 pounds the other day.

“That’s more than any of the four Purple People Eaters [the defensive line] of the ‘70s.”

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She was spared: A woman who attended more than 4,000 consecutive Red Sox games at Fenway Park died Monday, hours before one of the worst games there, a 22-1 loss to the hated Yankees.

Elizabeth “Lib” Dooley was 87, a year younger than Fenway. She was 10 the last time the Red Sox lost as badly as they did Monday.

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Far-sighted: From the Morning Line column of the Dallas Morning News: “After a virtual weekend Tiger-Nike infomercial, how smart does Nike look now for signing Tiger Woods to that big endorsement deal?

“Says Nike CEO Phil Knight: ‘Everybody was looking for the next Michael [Jordan], and they were always looking on the basketball court. He was walking down the fairway.’ ”

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Under siege: From comedy writer Jerry Perisho: “Have you seen CBS’ new hit show ‘Survivor’? It’s the harrowing story of an L.A. Laker fan trying to make his way from the Staples Center to his car.”

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FYI: Lost among Woods’ other achievements in the U.S. Open was the fact he made his 50th consecutive PGA Tour cut, the seventh-longest run in history. Byron Nelson holds the record at 113.

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Looking back: On this day in 1996, Michael Johnson broke the world record in the 200 meters in 19.66 seconds at the U.S. track and field trials in Atlanta. The previous mark of 19.72 was set by Italy’s Pietro Mennea in 1979 in Mexico City. Johnson went on to run a 19.32 at the Atlanta Olympics.

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Trivia answer: Bob Feller of Cleveland, 208 in 1938.

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And finally: Thomas Boswell in the Washington Post: “In terms of job appeal, the career of a pro golfer has just sunk somewhere below cannonball catching and fire eating.

“Until Tiger Woods loses his gifts--which could take 20 years or more--not too many ambitious young men are going to awake every morning with the dream of being the best golfer who ever lived.

“That job’s taken.”