Your movie snipe totally doesn't belong in my basketball game

There's a battle raging for the bottom third of your TV screen, in case you hadn't noticed. It's nearly impossible not to lock onto those annoying little promo "bugs" for shows you're not watching that pop up during the shows you are watching. The space is also the new Madison Avenue land grab. Some of these snipes are more forgivable and benign than others, I think, but the mini-trailer that interrupted my L.A. Lakers game the other night falls into the seizure-inducing camp. Screen Gems, I appreciate that you're launching a sci-fi horror flick, Legion, in the dead zone of winter moviegoing, but must you flash bits of monster-filled mayhem in the corner of the screen while I'm trying to concentrate on the state of Pau Gasol's hamstrings and the Lakers' non-existent defense against the Phoenix Suns? Just wrong, I tell you. (The Lakers lost, which was wrong, also). And it's not like I could get the gist of this flick from the media buy on Fox Sports West anyway. Something about angels, armageddon and heavy artillery? Maybe I just resented the parallels of blood on the floor. But it was disruptive and I remembered it. That's half the battle? We'll see how the movie does with its target action fans when it opens Jan. 22. I won't be there. The Lakers are playing that night.

—Posted by T.L. Stanley