Lawrence.com

FLORIDA SHOOTS CRAP-The KU men's basketball team defeated top-ranked Florida 82-80 in overtime Saturday night in Las Vegas. The Jayhawks overcame a three-point deficit with 1:21 left in overtime to best the defending national champion Gators, who had up until Saturday won 17 straight games. The win should put the Jayhawks back in the Top 10, which the team had slipped out of following a home loss to Oral Roberts University last week. *:KU coach Bill Self attributed the remarkable turnaround to strengthened defense, improved free-throw shooting, and the massive gambling debts Florida incurred at the Belagio the night before. "Several of their best players had busted knee-caps or were missing thumbs this morning," said Self. "Thanks, Mafia!"

KKKRAMER-Actor Michael Richards, who played Kramer on TV's "Seinfeld," lashed out at African American hecklers with a string of racial obscenities and profane language while performing stand-up at a Hollywood comedy club last week. A cell phone camera captured the outburst-in which Richards repeatedly used the n-word and made reference to lynching-and the incident was soon a viral video on the internet. Richards appeared via satellite on "The Late Show with David Letterman" while Jerry Seinfeld was a guest and apologized to any "Afro-Americans" he may have offended. He later apologized on Jesse Jackson's radio show and said that he doesn't consider himself racist, but thinks he does have anger-management problems. *:Richards quickly rebounded from the bad publicity to become Republican Minority Whip in the Senate.

PSWii-Sony's Playstation 3 and Nintendo's Wii both debuted for sale last weekend, and both next generation video game consoles sold-out immediately upon release. Sony's launch-which was particularly plagued by severe supply shortages-led to accounts of violence, including a man who was shot in the chest while waiting in line for a PS3 in Putnam, Connecticut. Nintendo shipped nearly five times as many Wii units as Sony's $600 PS3, but the Wii also sold out at $250 each. *: Said one hardcore gamer who had camped out for days and was still unable to procure a console, "If I showered regularly or had any semblance of a social life to begin with, I would be furious!"

DON'T ORDER THE GLOWING BORSCHT-London doctors have determined that an ex-KGB agent, who was investigating the murder of a journalist critical of the Russian government, died of radiation poisoning. Alexander Litvinenko was found to have traces of polonium 210 in his system, an extremely rare radioactive material that is 250 million times as toxic as cyanide. Litvinenko was hospitalized three weeks before doctors could provide a diagnosis, his hair falling out and his organs failing as he slowly died. Shortly before dying, Litvinenko accused Russian president Vladimir Putin of the poisoning, saying that Putin didn't want him uncovering the truth behind the death of anti-Putin journalist Anna Politkovskaya. The Kremlin denies those charges, saying that Litvinenko's death could have been orchestrated to discredit Putin. *:The Kremlin also speculated that Litvinenko's agonizing death was probably just a bad case of "The Mondays."

NOXIOUS EMMISIONS-Sunflower Electric Power Corp. spokesman Steve Miller apologized last week for saying he would push for a boycott of Lawrence because of the city's opposition to a proposed coal-fired power plant in western Kansas. Miller had told the Salina Journal: "I personally will make it my crusade to make sure all our western Kansas dollars are diverted as far away from Lawrence as they can be, because they have unfairly stuck their nose in western Kansas' business." Miller was upset by the Lawrence city commission's vote to submit a letter to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment opposing a new power plant based on environmental concerns. "It was just a dumb thing I said," apologized Miller. *:Miller was also sorry for threatening to catapult plague infected goat carcasses on Mike Rundle's property and then force him to convert to Christianity. "I was really hung up on that 'crusade' theme," said Miller.

IF RUPERT MURDOCH WAS A SOULESS BASTARD-Following public outcry, News Corp founder Rupert Murdoch abruptly cancelled a planned book and television special in which O.J. Simpson openly speculates how he could have hypothetically murdered his wife. The book, entitled "If I Did It," was meant to go on sale last week, coinciding with a two-part interview of Simpson conducted by Judith Regan, head of News Corp publishing imprint, ReganBooks. The Fox broadcasting network, also part of Murdoch's holdings, planned to air the interview. The families of both Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman, who was murdered with her over a decade ago, have accused Murdoch's organization of trying to buy their silence. *:To fill the scheduling void left by "If I Did It," Fox will air the pilot for its new reality show, "Child Molesters Say The Darnedest Things!"