- BLAZE OF LOVE ranks 28 of the 30 NBA dance teams in order of…well…I don’t know. Personality?

- SPORTSbyBROOKS discusses Deadspin’s budding feud with ESPN. If you read this and don’t have any idea what’s going on, read this and this. Then take a shower to make yourself feel clean again.

- NEXTROUND has video of a Phillies fan air humping a (very hot) local TV reporter. Classy.

- BRENDAN HAYWOOD doesn’t like the way that Magic Johnson went about criticizing Isiah Thomas. Don’t know what I’m referring to? Click here.

In the book, among other things, Earvin “Magic” Johnson accuses long-time friend Isiah Thomas of spreading rumors that he was gay and orchestrating a “freeze-out” of then-rookie Michael Jordan in the 1985 All-Star Game. (SI.com)

On the gay rumors…

“Isiah kept questioning people about it,” Magic says. “I couldn’t believe that. The one guy I thought I could count on had all these doubts. It was like he kicked me in the stomach.”

Thomas vehemently denied that he had gossiped behind Magic’s back, pointing out that he knew better than to engage in such hurtful talk.

“What most people don’t know is, before Magic had HIV, my brother had HIV,” Thomas said. “My brother died of HIV, AIDS, drug abuse. So I knew way more about the disease, because I was living with it in my house.”

Magic also admits in the book that he was part of a coalition of players that kept Thomas off the 1992 Olympic Team:

Magic also admits that he joined with Michael Jordan and other players in blackballing Thomas from the 1992 Olympic Dream Team, saying, “Isiah killed his own chances when it came to the Olympics. Nobody on that team wanted to play with him. … Michael didn’t want to play with him. Scottie [Pippen] wanted no part of him. Bird wasn’t pushing for him. Karl Malone didn’t want him. Who was saying, ‘We need this guy?’ Nobody.”

Magic co-wrote the book, When the Game Was Ours, with Larry Bird and Jackie MacMullan.

Isiah even has a take on Magic’s public friendship with Bird.

“Let’s be real. I’m not going to say the things Magic said in private about Larry, but I do know the public stance he’s taken [in becoming Bird's friend],” Thomas said. “I know that’s not how he felt about Larry Bird. Magic hated Larry, and he tried to make other people hate Larry. Magic was no friend of Larry Bird’s during that time. And his Laker teammates will tell you that. And I’m sure they’ve got to be disgusted with the way he’s carried on with this whole me-and-Larry bull.”

Isiah insists that he led the charge to let Magic play in the 1992 All-Star Game, quelling fears within the Players Association about how HIV is transferred. He seems genuinely hurt by what Magic put in the book and thinks that his old friend is acting on some bad information.

This will be an interesting story to watch over the next few weeks.

There are some classics in this short video…

Tim Legler was on SportsCenter giving his take on the series:

“…really were only seriously challenged in one series, the Houston Rockets, who surprisingly took them to a seventh game. They did it with relative ease.”

Really? So one Orlando win and two Laker wins in OVERTIME isn’t a serious challenge?

I wrote the following last night after the game…

Unfortunately for the Magic, the competitiveness of these Finals is going to fade as time goes on. The Lakers’ ability to clinch in five games seems dominant on paper and people are going to forget that if not for two plays — Courtney Lee’s missed alley-oop in Game 2 and Jameer Nelson’s failure to contest Derek Fisher’s game-tying three in Game 4 — this series easily could have gone into Game 5 with the Magic leading, 3-1. But by losing tonight the way they did, most people are going to forget how evenly matched these two teams were.

…but I had no idea that the revisionist history would start so quickly.

Then there was Magic Johnson, talking about Kobe:

“Kobe proved all the doubters wrong and all the Kobe haters wrong.”

While he certainly proved those that doubted his ability to lead a team to an NBA championship to be wrong, how exactly do you prove a “hater” wrong? The New England Patriots have a lot of haters, but how does a Super Bowl win prove them wrong? The same goes for Duke or the Yankees. People don’t hate those teams because they can’t win a title, they hate them for reasons that are intrinsic to the franchise or program.

For Kobe, it is his insular, “above-it-all” personality early in his career, the perception that he ran Shaq out of town, the way he acts/acted towards his teammates, the alleged rape in Colorado, the $4 million dollar ring he bought for his wife so she’d forgive him for the alleged rape/cheating, and the carefully constructed public relations campaign we’ve been subjected to over the last few years.

Oh, and of course, there’s this face.

Kobe haters didn’t think that he couldn’t win a title, they just think he’s a dick. How does last night’s win against the Magic prove them wrong?

March Madness is arguably the greatest sporting event in the world, so when the NCAA decided to put together a highlights package, there was plenty to choose from. The DVD has four distinct parts: Great Comebacks (including the 1998 “Comeback ‘Cats” of Kentucky), Buzzer Beaters (Bryce Drew, Christian Laettner, etc.), Cinderella Stories (’66 Texas Western, ‘06 George Mason) and Legendary Performances (Magic/Bird in ‘79, Isiah Thomas in ‘81). Jim Nantz narrates and does a nice job of setting up the action, whether it took place in 1966 or in 2006.

In addition to the aforementioned topics, the documentary covers the ‘05 comebacks by Louisville and Illinois to make the Final Four, Michael Jordan’s clutch shot in the ‘82 finals, Keith Smart’s game-winner in the ‘87 finals, Dwyane Wade’s triple-double as well as Jim Valvano’s N.C. State team that took down Houston’s Phi Slamma Jamma. The film also highlights Shaquille O’Neal’s single-game record for blocks, Bo Kimble’s touching tribute to Hank Gathers and Bill Walton’s astonishing 21 for 22 performance in 1973.

Special features include highlights of three championship games: ‘79 (Michigan State/Indiana State), ‘82 (North Carolina/Georgetown) and ‘83 (N.C. State/Houston). There is also an in-depth, uncut interview with Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski.

All in all, this is a nice one-disc package that covers just about every buzzer beater and Cinderella story in the last four decades of the NCAA tournament.

- SI.com writer Selena Roberts is claiming she wasn’t stalking Alex Rodriguez writes SPORTSbyBROOKS.com.

- Dana Strokovsky of 790 The Ticket in Miami wrote about her experiences at Super Bowl 42 and 43. Why is this news? Because she writes about an interaction with ESPN’s Chris Berman…off camera.

- In honor of the 2009 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, InGameNow has ranked the 53 hottest girls to ever appear in the sports mag. Feast your eyes on 585 pictures of the SI models.

- The baseball blog 3-dbaseball.net examines whether or not we can expect a fifth member to join the 40/40 club anytime soon.

- Uncoached.com says there’s something incredibly funny about a 1987 “No Drugs” commercial with Magic Johnson.

NBA legend Magic Johnson is outraged that a pair of Minneapolis talk radio host accused him of faking his diagnosis of acquiring the AIDS virus.

KTLK’s Chris Baker and Langdon Perry made the remarks during their conservative talk show on Wednesday. The context of the remarks are unclear, as Perry was responding to a caller complaining about using common sense in treating diseases. (Click here to listen to the radio segment).

Johnson issued a statement on Thursday:

I am outraged that Chris Baker and Langdon Perry would minimize such a serious and deadly issue. Millions are dying from HIV/AIDS, and the fact that they would make jokes about my status is unbelievable. Chris, Langdon and KTLK should use their power in a more positive light by encouraging people to get tested for this disease instead of making up such ridiculous lies.

Johnson tested HIV-positive in 1992 and retired from the NBA at 32.

The KTLK program director declined to comment on the segment.