Usually, while everyone is glued to the action of a big game — like last night's game 5 between the Lakers and the Celtics — I'm checking the stands for celebs in attendance. That says something about my dedication to sports (none) and my dedication to the world of celebrities (problematic at best). Last night's game was star-studded, and considering the fact that court-side seats were selling online for more than $10,000 a pop, celebrities were the only ones who could really afford front and center.

STRAIGHT UP NOW TELL HER It's definitely about time for Paula Abdul to retire from American Idol. [MG]

IT'S NOT RIGHT, BUT IT'S OKAY. At Whitney Houston's weekend concert in the Tobago, her voice was flat hoarse and listless, and she kept shouting out Trinidad, according to an Ebonyjet.com reviewer, who wrote that she overheard an audience member say, "I don't think her voice is still there." Plus side: she looked fabulous. That's what Paula Abdul tells the girls who did poorly on American Idol before the judges announce how criminally pitchy they were.

She's got balls, at least.

Paula Abdul lip synced performed her new single, "Dance Like There's No Tomorrow," during a Super Bowl pre-show yesterday. I'm gonna start with the good: it was definitely better than Britney Spears' VMA performance. The bad: better-than-Britney is not so hard to achieve these days. Paula, whose vocals have always been rusty, is getting a little rusty in the dance category, too, although every now and then I peeped remnants of P.A. circa 1989. Nevertheless, my guess is we're not going to see this puppy performed live in this lifetime.

Paula Abdul is probably smiling with woozy triumph and popping pills in celebration after hearing that her former tormentor, Corey Clark, was busted on drug charges in Arkansas yesterday.

The American Idol reject, and tell-all book author, who claimed to have had a torrid love affair with poor Miss Abdul while was he was on the show, had drug paraphernalia and a controlled substance on him during a routine traffic stop, not to mention an outstanding warrant.

It's totally unrelated, but I wonder if he had a chance to catch The Simpsons Movie before he went to jail. He could play a great Sideshow Bob if they ever decide to do the live action version.

[AH]

Taking a close, analytical look at this video after many years, I don't see how it was supposed to be geared toward anyone but children. I was a child when it was out, so it worked for me, but I can't imagine a contemporary pop star putting out a video like this and expecting adults to watch it. By "a video like this," I mean a video featuring an animated, rapping feline named MC Skat Kat as the star's love interest.

However dated the clip might be, it is refreshing to see Paula before the prescription drugs and/or alcohol completely addled her mind and effected her ability to craft complete sentences. The dancing is fun, too.

I watched enough of last night's American Idol finale show to see a cringeworthy Blake Lewis try to keep up with Doug E. Fresh and look into Smokey Robinson's (kinda creepy) eyes as he sang Motown greats with the all the male losers, but I had to change the channel before Jordin Sparks' winning moment. On the scales of television importance, the season finale of Lost weighs about 100 lbs more than American Idol. But hey, I can relive the night in pictures, right?