Ron Artest's 'Abused Women of Afghanistan Rap Video' No Picnic...

In what first appeared to be a set up for a perfect slam dunk of a parody rap video...comes a serious (yes, this is for real folks) piece from the only NBA player to fail his pre-draft mental evaluation, Ron-Ron has taken time out from his busy schedule of writing court order apology letters, applying for a job at Circuit City in order to get an employee discount, recording a country song with an elderly woman neighbor, showing up to practice in a bathrobe, smashing a 100k HD Camera, not feeding his dog, recording a Michael Jackson tribute song (yes this is real), and evidently picking #37 to grace his new Lakers jersey because of MJ's 'Thriller' (you can't make this stuff up), making nice-nice with Kobe, anyone remember this?, and being arrested for domestic abuse himself, to put together this high quality rap video for the abused women of Afghanistan.

In his rapping ode to “all his Afghani women,” the video intertwines clips of battered women from the war-torn country of Afghanistan juxtaposed with apparently a bunch of hand-held camcorder shots of a walk in the public park with Artest rapping while families enjoy, um... picnics in the background.

Michael Jordan allegedly commented on his charitable attempts as “not a very good way to make money for himself.” But Artest is not letting that get him down, he is always about doing it his way...whatever way that is. Thanks for showing us your sensitive side, Ron ('cuz you know he's all about the ladies) and for making this country proud...

Mbenga Off To A Great Start...

Mbenga, the Congolese 7-footer, had started just two games in his entire career, getting one start in each of his first two NBA seasons with the Dallas Mavericks. D.J. Mbenga made the most of a rare and first Lakers start tonight, with five points, 13 rebounds and four blocks in a win over the Grizzlies.

Other notes on tonight's game... The Lakers honored John Radcliffe, their longtime scorer, by presenting a championship ring to his wife, Carolyn. Radcliffe, who had held his job since 1961, died during the summer. ... Bryant is responsible for the three highest-scoring performances by an opponent in Grizzlies history, including a 60-point game in March 2007.