NEW YORK -- Before commencing with today's communique excuse me while I laugh in the faces of pretenders whose "sources" claim Isiah Thomas and Ron Artest had a solid relationship in Indiana . . . heckle the hoodwinked who fail to grasp the Knicks' president's phone call to Pacer CEO Donnie Walsh regarding his screwy swingman was nothing more than a pantomime performance to sidetrack a full-court press and appease fans . . . and mock the oblivious advocating the acquisition of the splattered meteor, period, forget about at any cost.

I can't decide which is more offensive to my senses: Artest's recent stream of unconsciousness or the fountains of misinformation spewing from squawking heads and media mannequins whose line of reasoning on all of the above is decorated in early emptiness.

Yeah, right, let's connect Larry Brown's and Ron Artest's dots.