It might be best for Rep. Jason Chaffetz to stay away from Los Angeles for awhile, seeing as he majorly dissed beloved Lakers star Kobe Bryant during an appearance on Fox News last week.

The Utah Republican recently vowed to vote “present” whenever resolutions honoring athletes or sports teams are brought to the House floor, arguing that such legislation is a waste of time and resources. Chaffetz continued his crusade on “Fox & Friends,” using Bryant as an example of why athletes shouldn’t be honored by Congress.

“We recognized Kobe Bryant last year, but does Kobe Bryant even know who his Congressperson is?” Chaffetz said. “Can he even point to Washington, D.C., on a map? I don’t think these people even care, yet we’re spending all this time and resources on it.”

Burn!

Chaffetz’s comments drew the ire of reporters from the Los Angeles Times and the Orange County Register, both of whom argue that Chaffetz is probably just bitter that Bryant and the Lakers beat Chaffetz’s home-state Utah Jazz in the NBA playoffs this year.

“Obviously Utah Republican Congressman Jason Chaffetz is still sore. … That, or he’s just a cranky politician,” Register reporter Janis Carr writes.

And both papers point out that Bryant probably can find D.C. on a map — the basketballer (who grew up in Italy and is fluent in English, Spanish and Italian) managed to find his way to the nation’s capital to be honored at the White House earlier this year, after all.

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