Kobe Bryant earned another historic athletic distinction. By splitting from his wife Vanessa Bryant, he reached the pantheon of Most Expensive Sports Divorces.

His fortune is estimated at $150 million.  Since he had no prenuptial agreement – and he was married for 10 years or longer – California law forces him to surrender half that pot to his ex.

This is unhappy stuff for sure, especially when you sift through the breathless updates from the news hounds at TMZ.com:

• Kobe’s teammates with the Lakers were well aware of his increasingly frequent marital transgressions. The wives of said players picked up on the scuttlebutt and alerted Vanessa, following the strict “Basketball Wives” code of full disclosure.
• Kobe quickly moved of his Newport Coast mansion that he purchased in 2001. He is surrendering it as part of the divorce settlement.
• Kobe desperately attempted to dissuade Vanessa from pulling the plug on their marriage.
• Vanessa sought for joint custody of their 2 daughters -- 8-year-old Natalia and 5-year-old Gianna – but as the primary caregiver.
• Laura Wasser represented Vanessa, adding her to a stable that has included Britney Spears, Angelina Jolie, Maria Shriver and Kim Kardashian.
• Vanessa’s stepfather, Stephen Laine, claimed she was using the same tactics that her mother used while divorcing him in 2003. “Her mother taught her well to wait for the ten-year mark,” he said. “In California ... it's considered a long term marriage and then she gets paid for life or until she remarries ... just like her mother is doing to me.”

Let's hope for everyone's sake that Bryant didn't really crash Kim Kardashian's inner circle for some extramarital activity.

CRUMMY EFFORT OF THE NIGHT

Say, did Kansas really lose to Davidson 80-74 in Kansas City’s Sprint Center?

Yep. But this time coach Bill Self said it wasn’t like losing to Northern Iowa or Virginia Commonwealth in the NCAA Tournament.

“I don’t know if you take as much from this game as those other games,” Self told reporters. “Because this team’s not that good,” Self said of Kansas. “That wasn’t an upset tonight.“We have to be sharp every night we play. There’s not as much margin for error. I don’t know if this team is mature enough to understand that we have to play really well to beat the teams that maybe they don’t think are our equals, which is total crap. This team was our equal. We knew that coming in, but we certainly didn’t play like it tonight.”

FROM THE TWEETDECK

Here is how the Twitterverse reacted to the Yu Darvish posting:

Jon Morosi: “If #Rangers have any sense for drama, they will let Yu Darvish make his ML debut April 9 in Arlington – against Ichiro and the #Mariners.”

Jeff Passan: “Yu Darvish vs. Albert Pujols. Now that's going to be fun.”

Batting Stance Guy: “Dodgers finished 5th in Darvish bid. Unless they don't count gift certificates. In which case, 30th.”

Jim Bowden: “Darvish has stuff to be true #1...Hollywood persona...has posed nude in women's magaiznes going thru very public divorce with actress wife.”

Batting Stance Guy: “Oh man. Orioles placed $1 dollar bid hoping all other teams overbid. #ShowcaseShowdown.”

FROM THE BLOG-O-SPEAR

Can’t Stop The Bleeding made not of this minor baseball story:

Short of being lectured by Steve Phillips, is there anything more humiliating than being scolded by Jim Bowden about a dubious career move? “Now you’re in a situation where you’ve got to go back and manage Double A and build yourself all the way back,” intoned Bowden in the direction of new Pensacola Blue Wahoos skipper Jim Riggleman on the former’s Sirius/XM show earlier today, as the latter attempted to put a positive spin on his widely mocked decision . . . to bolt the Washington Nationals last summer.

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post caught up with Riggleman for an update.