Kobe Being Kobe

Page 6/NY Post reported that Kobe nearly killed the Spike Lee documentary at the very last minute to gain complete creative control. I expect the Lee documentary to play more like a Kobe Bryant commercial, than a serious look at one of the most famous athletes in the world.

But suddenly Bryant said he wouldn't cooperate unless he was granted creative control, sources said. Lee tried several times to call Bryant, who wouldn't accept his calls. So Lee, at the suggestion of ESPN broadcaster Stephen A. Smith, drove to Bryant's house in a gated community, where Bryant refused to see him, sources said.

"It went so far that Lee had a last-minute plan to substitute Spurs star Tim Duncan for Kobe and make the whole documentary about Duncan," said our source.

But Kobe and Spike somehow worked it out, and Lee is being a good soldier promoting the Kobe picture, which screened Saturday night at the Tribeca Film Festival.

"Spike Lee completely yielded," said one insider. "And at the start of the film, when Kobe arrives at the Staples Center and sees Spike with the camera, he gives him a big smile and thumbs up, showing he knows he won the battle."

Jayson Williams Is Not Doing Too Well

Former New Jersey Nets star Jayson Williams was removed from a hotel by cops and hospitalized [NY Post]. He was described as being suicidal and acting violent.

Inside the hotel, the officers confronted what sources described to The Post as "a suicidal man" who was acting "violent."

The cops called an Emergency Services Unit for help since Williams, 41, had trashed his room.

Once there, sources said, the emergency service officers used a Taser to subdue Williams, who was taken to St. Vincent's Hospital for a psychological evaluation.

The incident occurred 11 days before Williams must decide whether to accept a plea deal offer from New Jersey prosecutors in his pending manslaughter case or face re-trial, according to several sources. Williams also has a looming May 12 hearing in his divorce case filed by his estranged wife, Tanya.

Freddy Begging For Yankee Tickets

It's a little bit sad to hear that unofficial/ official Yankee fan mascot Freddy "Sez" Schuman has been denied free entry into the New Yankee Stadium. In the old Stadium, they used to let Freddy go in for free. Freddy is living on only $750 per month, so it's not like he's got any money to buy tickets, even the $5 obstructed bleacher seats.

On Sunday he stood outside the stadium holding his frying pan and a sign that read, "Freddy Sez, Yankees say 'I can't go in. Must buy ticket!"

"The Yankees say I am a part of the stadium. What part am I, the toilet bowl?" Schuman said. "But the fans have come through. They gave me $40, and even $100 tickets."

The uncertainty about his future presence at the stadium has given him insomnia and indigestion, Schuman said.

Yankee officials insist that shutting out their superfan was just a "miscommunication." When Schuman first told the Post he was nervous about being shut out two weeks ago, a team spokeswoman said "We love Freddy and will accommodate him."

"That's fantastic news," said Schuman, who lost his eye in a stickball injury, now lives on a fixed income of little more than $750 a month, he said.

[Jeremy Olshan/ NY Post]

Mets treat Gooden's Citi Field autograph as graffiti

Mets are unbelievably dumb when it comes to, well, just about everything.

Dwight Gooden used signed his name w/ a black marker onto a wall in the exclusive Ebbetts Club near the first base line. Turns out the Mets are not too happy with this and they decided to erase Gooden's autograph, treating it as graffiti.

"It's a brand-new building," said Jay Horwitz, the Mets' VP of media relations. "No one is supposed to write on the wall. It's going to be erased."

Lou DiBella, a Manhattan-based boxing promoter and devoted Met fan, was in the Ebbets Club on Opening Day when Gooden signed the wall, and he was there yesterday as the Mets lost 4-2 to the Brewers in the final game of a three-game series.

He's among a number of fans angry Gooden's signature likely will be gone when the team returns from a short trip to St. Louis.

"That's the same spirit that caused them to build a new ballpark that doesn't have any semblance of Mets history," DiBella said. "They charge $240 a ticket, and when your greatest pitcher tries to do something to reach out to the fans, the Mets make it seem like he did something wrong. It's so stupid."

[George Willis, NY Post]

[Flickr picture by Michael G. Baron]