For today’s edition of “Fans vs. Fritzy” mock headlines, Dan Patrick and the Danettes zeroed in on the titanic Laker woes. With entries such as “Howard the Hell Did This Happen?…” and “Kiss My Nash…”, the fans via Paul “Pauly” Pabst “toasted” executive producer Todd “Fritzy” Fritz.

Then again, it’s not really a fair fight. Kind of like when the Lakers square off against the Thunder, Grizzlies or any other median-age-advantaged Western Conference rivals.

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At the end of last night’s Real Sports HBO episode, host Bryant Gumbel shared a characterization of NBA commissioner David Stern that he knew would make some people “cringe.” He suggested that Stern’s actions and words during a recent media tour are typical of a “commissioner who has always seemed eager to be viewed as some kind of modern plantation overseer, treating NBA men as if they were his boys.”

NBC Sports blogger Kurt Helin writes this morning that “some players are saying very much this same thing when the microphones are off.” Larry Brown meanwhile compares this latest Gumbel brouhaha to some remarks the former Today Show host made five years ago about another commissioner, the NFL’s Paul Tagliabue.

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Despite the fact that Howard Stern has built an empire around the daily rote of interacting on-air with a colorful bunch of studio workmates, Dan Patrick met with resistance when he first pitched a similar radio show format after leaving ESPN in 2007.

As he tells Joe Flint of the LA Times, his new bosses were none too thrilled with the idea, but he held firm and today, his daily joshing with the “Danettes” – executive producers Paul Pabst and Todd Fritz, operations director Patrick “Seton” O’Connor, and Sports Illustrated blogger Andrew “McLovin” Perloff — is a key reason why the program has amassed a combined weekly radio, TV, and online audience of around 2.5 million. Patrick shares an interesting Hollywood comparison for his “Man Cave” ministrations:

“I don’t like it to be labeled a sports show,” Patrick said. “We’ve created almost a Truman Show, where you’re looking into this little world we’ve created, and we let you look in, warts and all.”

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