This Vince McMahon-Stan Kroenke tiff was one of the strangest public flare-ups Tipsheet has ever seen.

McMahon is the bombastic czar of World Wrestling Entertainment. He is the ultimate showman.

Kroenke, minority of the Rams, maintains a very low profile. He has no Rick Flair-like inclinations.

He is a powerful man in Denver, as owner of the Nuggets, Colorado Avalanche, Pepsi Center and other properties. Yet he shuns the spotlight.

They came to loggerheads when the NBA playoffs bumped the WWE from its scheduled event next Monday night at the Pepsi Center. Game 4 between the Lakers and Nuggets will be held there instead.

“Quite frankly, it’s my view that Stan Kroenke should be arrested, should be arrested for impersonating a good businessman, because he’s not a good businessman,” McMahon told ESPN. “A good businessman doesn’t book a World Wrestling Federation live televised event on Monday night realizing that his team in all likelihood would not make the playoffs.”

And . . .

“The fans in Denver had a lot more faith in making the playoffs than the owner,” McMahon told Yahoo! Sports.

McMahon milked this for all its worth.

Kroenke’s people tried to negotiate an alternative, but McMahon took his show to the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Yahoo tells us Monday’s show would include a 5-on-5 match pitting “Lakers” against “Nuggets” and his character would likely confront a character of Stan Kroenke.

That will make Stan’s week.

As for McMahon, there is no telling the lengths he will go to sell tickets. Just ask his daughter.

MYSTERIES OF THE UNIVERSE

Questions while wondering if Chris Carpenter will hang around for a while this time:

• Is anybody else fretful about Adam Wainwright’s pinch-hitting role?
• Are the Indians having any second thoughts about that big investment in star-crossed Kerry Wood?
• Where will Mike Tyson’s upcoming cameo in “Hangover” rank among the all-time great athletic cameos?
• Will Lane Kiffin ever learn the NCAA rulebook?
• Will LaLa Vazquez keep her emotions in check during the Nuggets-Lakers series?

QUIPS ‘R US

Here is what some of America’s leading sports pundits have been writing:

Rick Morrissey, Chicago Tribune: “You can’t make mistakes against the Red Wings. Once you do, only the IRS has more effective methods of making you pay.”

Dwight Perry, Seattle Times: “Ever hear of the pump-and-run defense? All 20 competitors who had just weighed in for last weekend’s Belgian bodybuilding championships quickly scattered when three doping officials showed up unannounced to do some drug tests, causing the event to be canceled. Belgian bodybuilding took a hit last year when 22 of 29 posers’ tests were declared positive — either for steroid use or for refusing to be tested — and, as doping official Hans Cooman told AP, ‘[This] didn’t do its reputation any good.’”

Greg Cote, Miami Herald: “The NFL will consider playing a second regular-season game in London each year as soon as 2010, and hasn’t ruled out playing a future Super Bowl there. Hey, here’s an idea: How about British fans of American football flying over here to watch games?”

David Whitley, Fanhouse: “The Fighting Irish have remained a member of college football’s aristocracy. Could somebody please tell me why? Yes, they were once an empire to be feared. So were the Ottomans, but you don’t see them signing an exclusive deal with NBC. You can’t really blame the network for televising every Irish home game. As many people want to see them lose as watch them win.”

Scott Ostler, San Francisco Chronicle: “Gynecomastia is a womanly chest on a male. Those afflicted allegedly include Roger Clemens and Alex Rodriguez, also known as AA-Rod.”

Mark Kriegel, FoxSports.com: “Good too see Michael Phelps back in the pool. I mean, he’s only the most unjustly persecuted athlete of our time. It’s gotten to the point where he’s getting grief for a couple of strippers. Just a couple? In the NBA, that’s considered D-league.”

NATIONALS CAN DO NO RIGHT

Even a simple task — such as having the mascot shoot hot dogs to fans with a Nick’s Sausage Shooter – proves problematic for this bunch.

WashingtonPost.com blogger Dan Steinberg reported extensively on Saturday’s fiasco.

“It’s just funny to watch hot dog rolls explode and come down on people,” commenter James Timmermeyer noted. “I would actually like to see that again. I’d want it to go awry every time.”

MEGAPHONE

“All of a sudden nothing has worked. Who is to blame? You’ve got to blame everyone. Myself, the hitting coach, pitching coach, the players — everybody has to take the blame because we still believe we have a good ballclub. But like I said a few days ago, I don’t want anyone in there to start pointing fingers at someone. We’ve lost so many different ways, you can’t point a finger at any department. And that’s the worst thing that can happen, if we start doing that.”

White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, to the Chicago Sun-Times.