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Former Baylor women’s basketball star Brittney Griner, who acknowledged she was gay in an interview with SI.com’s Maggie Gray last month, said Bears coach Kim Mulkey told her not to be open publicly about her sexuality because it would hurt recruiting, according to ESPN.com.

Let’s give David Stern the benefit of his clout. This week, when he and Commissioner-in-waiting Adam Silver, in a released statement, provided Jason Collins their support and approval as an “exemplary member of the NBA family,” they might have come at it through a different door. They might have instead released the following: “You’re kidding, right? How could we possibly have the audacity to pass judgment on Collins’ decision to reveal that he’s gay — to offer our official position and blessings on his lifestyle — when the league indulges, suffers and excuses just about every act in The Big...

MoveOn.org has started a petition to get ESPN reporter Chris Broussard immediately suspended from the network for comments he made regarding Jason Collins's homosexuality, which Broussard said was a sin according to his personal Christian beliefs. The group said Broussard was engaging in "gay bashing." The petition reads: Chris Broussard's hateful attack on Jason Collins for being gay was an unacceptable misrepresentation of the Christian faith. ESPN must immediately suspend Chris Broussard and guarantee that their network will never again be used for gay bashing. In its "petition background" statement, the left-wing organization says that after Jason Collins "emphasized the...

The former fiancee of NBA star Jason Collins said today she had no idea that he was gay, despite dating him for eight years. Carolyn Moos, 34, broke up with Collins - who became the first openly gay, active player when he came out yesterday - in 2009 when he cancelled their wedding, leaving her heartbroken and confused. The 6'5" former WNBA player said she was shocked when Collins delivered the news to her last weekend and confessed that was the real reason he ended their relationship.

Thank goodness for new Dolphins receiver Mike Wallace's quick fingers. "All these beautiful women in the world and guys wanna mess with other guys SMH,'' Wallace tweeted Monday. Thank goodness he explained in 140 quickly-erased characters why it took until 2013 for the first active gay athlete to announce himself in a team sport.

A semi-pro women's basketball team has decided to change its name after last week's bombings at the Boston Marathon. The Boston Bombers, whose black, red and white logo featured a cartoon bomb with a wick and basketball grooves, decided after last Monday's bombings at the Boston Marathon to change their moniker, Gawker reports. "We changed it due to events Monday," a team spokesperson told Gawker in an e-mail. "Our fans (were) not happy with the name." The team, which plays in the Women's Blue Chip Basketball League, plans to unveil their new name this week, Gawker reports. Their website, bostonbombersbasketball.com,...

DENVER -- It was a Sunday morning in Los Angeles, the day before a preseason tussle with the Los Angeles Clippers, and Warriors coach Mark Jackson had given his team the day off. But instead of sleeping in or dispersing to meet with friends, nearly the entire team took the team bus to a hotel ballroom in Studio City. Instead of indulging in the Hollywood scene, they worshiped together. Coach Mark Jackson, pastor at True Love Worship Center International, preached about letting their light shine. Jackson's wife and co-pastor prayed over the often-injured right ankle of team star Stephen Curry....

FULL TITLE: Basketball star Brittney Griner comes out as a lesbian and reveals how she was 'picked on for being different' Brittney Griner, the number one pick in the WNBA draft on Monday, yesterday acknowledged that she is gay and talked about being bullied while growing up. The 6-foot-8 basketball star, selected by the Phoenix Mercury after an astounding four-career at Baylor, openly discussed her sexuality with Sports Illustrated. When asked about why more female athletes were out as opposed to men, Griner replied: 'I really couldn't give an answer on why that's so different. Being one that's out, it's...

I am looking for a reference link for Clinton's comments about the women basketball players that visited the WH during his stay.

Rutgers University basketball coach Mike Rice was fired today for hitting, kicking and verbally abusing his players during practices — a decision that has met with widespread praise from many commentators in the news media, who found his actions abhorrent. Not so Fox News co-host Eric Bolling, who said the decision to fire Rice was evidence that American culture was in decline because of the "wussification of American men." “We’re in the midst of political correctness crushing our ability to teach kinds, to discipline kids, to disagree with people or one another or kids,” Bolling said on today's edition of...

Mike Rice's three-year run at Rutgers has come to an end. The university terminated Rice's contract this morning following a meeting with athletic director Tim Pernetti in his office at the Rutgers Athletic Center. Rice's job status became tenuous when videotapes of his actions during practices from his first and second years on campus were made public by ESPN's "Outside the Lines" program on Tuesday. Rice was seen throwing basketballs at players — including one instance, throwing it at a player's head — as well as shoving players during a practice. He was also heard using the term "f------ faggot"...

Sheeze! Lighten up! Everyone is picking on Big Guy for missing 20 of his 22 shots at the shootout (can I say that?) yesterday. It’s catch and release, BO, release! Some people even cynically suggested that BO shot all those “bricks” on purpose to draw attention to his new gazillion dollar “infrastructure” project to rebuild Amerika.  “Somebody” doesn’t know Big Guy very well if he thinks that’s even a remote possibility. (SNIP) That brick thing reminded me of the movie I watched on Easter though; you may have heard of it: Cecil B. de Mille’s The Ten Commandments? The Pharaoh...

Millions of us out here in flyover country have long been of the opinion that Barack Obama is not a straight shooter. This weekend he proved it. During the White House Easter Egg Roll, the handlers gathered the kids around the half-court to watch the Prez, whom the press has led us to believe for several years now is quite skilled in the game, shoot some free-throws and layups. Bad move, handlers. Much to the dismay of all those who have worked so hard to create this faux image of our chief executive as a skilled athlete (skeet-shooting comes to...

Louisville sophomore Kevin Ware was taken from the court on a stretcher after a serious leg injury this afternoon during the NCAA Midwest region basketball final. It is terrible to see this happen to anyone, let alone an elite athlete in his prime. There is nothing to do but pray and hope this is not as bad as it looks: WARNING! Extremely graphic! Louisville player Kevin Ware breaks his whole leg on bad fall!

No the title of this post doesn't get it wrong, I thought I was being charitable...How do I know he's better at basketball? The whole net doesn't come crashing down just because he touched it.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan is calling for the imposition of financial penalties on college basketball and football coaches whose players don't graduate. Duncan argues in a USA Today op-ed that too many coaches get bonuses for athletic performance that far outpace the bonuses for academic achievement. "If universities and colleges want to readjust a coach's priorities, they need to change the penalties and incentives they offer coaches," he and co-author Tom McMillen write. "...Poor academic performance means the team or the individual player — not the coach — gets punished. But no coach should receive financial bonuses when much of...

In the past three years, 54 of 198 (27.3 percent) NCAA tournament games have been decided by three points or fewer (or went to OT), the most in any three-year span in tourney history. Considering that, along with the unpredictable nature of things all season long in college basketball, we should be in for quite a ride during the next three weeks. So, if you like to consider historical trends -- some more recent than others  when you fill out your bracket, we've got plenty to consider … 68, in fact, in honor of the size of the tourney...

Louisville is the top seed in the NCAA tournament after a topsy-turvy season in college basketball, capped by another round of upsets over the weekend. That other team from the Bluegrass State won't even get a chance to defend its national title. While the Big East champion Cardinals surged to the top of the 68-team bracket released Sunday, joined by fellow No. 1 seeds Kansas, Indiana and Gonzaga, the school that won it all a year ago was left out of the field. Kentucky was hoping the committee would overlook a dismal performance in the Southeastern Conference tournament, but the...

Ex-Sonics player Robert Swift has refused to leave his Seattle home after it was foreclosed on last summer, KOMO News in Seattle reports. Swift was drafted straight out of high school at age 19. He played three seasons for the Sonics and Thunder before falling out of the NBA, earning ~$11.5 million in salary. After he flamed out, he became one of the league's most notorious cautionary tales for the dangers of leaping straight from high school to the pros.

A member of the University of Pennsylvania's 1979 Final Four team was fatally stabbed by his wife, who told police she had caught him looking at child pornography, according to court documents. Matthew White was found stabbed in the neck around 12:45 p.m. Monday in bed at his home, police said, and was pronounced dead a short time later. An officer responding to the home for a report of a stabbing found White's wife, Maria Rey Garcia-Pellon, as she pulled into the driveway, authorities said. As she was being taken into custody, according to a police affidavit, she said, "I...

Derek Brown quietly walked into Auburn Riverside's gym last summer preceded by a swirl of hype. Friends and basketball players who knew Derek had slipped first-year Riverside coach Jason Brown reports on the high school team's new transfer. He attacks the basket like a madman. He can shoot. He's going to take somebody's spot. "Of course," Jason says now, "you always have to take that with a grain of salt." Jason had yet to see the mysterious transfer who spent much of the previous year on Beamer's bench. All he knew was hearsay: Derek could play and his mom died...

Denver Nuggets forward Kenneth Faried has breached protocol for most professional athletes, taking a stand on an issue still controversial throughout the United States. Appearing in a video posted Friday, Faried introduced the world to his two moms, his birth mother and her partner, and proceeded to make the case for same-sex civil unions. One excerpt: I support civil union because it gives…gays and lesbians the right to make decision on their own if they want to get married and let them choose who they want to be with. Even straight people have drama and stuff, but i really don’t...

A towering high school basketball star dominating the court in the nation's capital has much more than a height advantage, a startling new report has revealed. Junior Etou, who is originally from the Congo, is the talk of the town in Washington, DC, where he plays power forward for the Bishop O'Connell High School Knights. But the 6'7" high school senior, who has drawn interest from several colleges with storied basketball programs, is almost legally allowed to drink. An investigation by Deadspin.com found several different birthdays listed for Etou, both in 1992, which means he is just months away from...

A 17-year-old boy was shot and killed after a fight broke out at the end of a high school basketball game at Chicago State University. Tyrone Lawson was shot around 9:20 p.m. outside the gymnasium near 95th Street and King Drive, according to Police News Affairs Officer Daniel O’Brien. Shortly before the shooting, an argument had broken out in a handshake line after the game between Simeon Career Academy and Morgan Park High School, police said. The argument spilled into the parking lot and someone pulled out a gun and shot Lawson, officials said.

Remember when San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich sent home four of his players before a nationally televised game against the Miami Heat and was fined $250,000 for it? Well, so does a lawyer who just filed a suit against the team in Miami-Dade County, citing that the Spurs broke a state law regarding "deceptive and fair trade practices." According to ESPN.com's Darren Rovell, Larry McGuinness filed a class action lawsuit against San Antonio for sending Tim Duncan, Danny Green, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili home before their game against the Heat on Nov. 29, 2012. On Monday, Larry McGuinness...

PALOS HILLS, Ill. (AP) A local bank has closed a mosque's account after it donated money to an Islamic charity under federal investigation for allegedly helping terrorists. Family Bank and Trust Co. closed the account of the Mosque Foundation in Bridgeview after the mosque wrote two checks to the Islamic American Relief Agency, according to the mosque's imam, Sheikh Jamal Said. Mosque Foundation president Oussama Jamal said the mosque made its donations in August and September, before the federal government froze the charity's assets and raided its Missouri offices in October. The Treasury Department alleged Islamic American Relief was part...

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) — Spurs forward Stephen Jackson left San Antonio’s 100-83 loss to the Knicks after spraining his right ankle when he crashed into a waitress working the sideline in front of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. “Guess who just contributed to the crime rate in NYC,” tweeted New York Daily News reporter Frank Isola.

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — The women’s basketball team at Mission College expected the bleachers to be full and the hecklers ready when its newest player made her home court debut. In the days leading up to the game, people had plenty to say about 6-foot-6-inch, 220-pound Gabrielle Ludwig, who joined the Lady Saints as a mid-season walk-on and became, according to advocates, the first transsexual to play college hoops as both a man and a woman.

SAN PABLO, CA, December 10, 2012, (LifeSiteNews.com) – Gabrielle Ludwig is not like any other woman on the basketball courts, or in the locker rooms, in Santa Clara Community College’s junior team. Gabrielle is a foot taller than every other player and has significantly more upper body strength. That’s because the 50-year-old player was born Robert John Ludwig, a man. He still bears the tattoos of his service in Operation Desert Storm. This turn at college basketball is his second. His first stint in 1980 was as a man at Nassau Community College. After his sex change operation this summer...

It's been less than a year since we learned former NBA star Allen Iverson was broke, despite a $150 million career. Now we know why. TMZ has obtained court documents from Iverson's ongoing divorce proceedings that clearly show a man drowning in debt. Though he still earns $750,000 per year, Iverson is bleeding an estimated $360,000 each month. About a third of his debt is owed to creditors –– his bank account was seized last year when he couldn't come up with $860,000 he owed to a jeweler –– and another chunk goes to his mortgages. But there are a...

SAN PABLO -- As the buzzer sounds to announce the substitution, a handful of Mission College basketball supporters chant: "Gabbi! Gabbi! Gabbi!" Most of the 50 or so onlookers in the dingy, yellow-tinted gym briefly look up from their chili-cheese nachos and smartphones, and then back down. A few whisper and point at No. 42, marveling at her size. It was the debut of Gabrielle Ludwig, and at 6 feet 8, 220 pounds, with tattoos on her arms and legs, she stands out in the Contra Costa College gym. At 50, the Fremont resident is about three decades older than...

The New Orleans Hornets are expected to change their nickname to the Pelicans as early as the 2013-14 season, numerous sources told Yahoo! Sports. The Hornets planned to change their nickname since Tom Benson, owner of the New Orleans Saints, purchased the team on April 14. Benson also owns the rights to the nickname Pelicans.

Four Hofstra University basketball players were arrested on burglary charges stemming from dormitory room break-ins, police said Friday. Detectives said the players were charged in six burglaries that occurred between Oct. 4 and Nov. 5, but they suspect there have been numerous other thefts starting at the beginning of the semester.

The goal was to get Jack Taylor out of a shooting slump. He did that. Then he went out and scored the most points ever in a college basketball game. Taylor, a Black River Falls High School graduate, is about to get his 15 minutes of national fame after scoring an NCAA-record 138 points for Grinnell College in a 179-104 victory over Faith Baptist Bible College on Tuesday night in Grinnell, Iowa... The previous NCAA record was held by Clarence “Bevo” Francis, who scored 113 points in a 1954 game for Division II Rio Grande....

After a poor shooting weekend, Grinnell guard Jack Taylor was given the green light to shoot his way out of a slump. It only took 108 shots for Taylor to make a mockery of the college basketball record books. Taylor scored 138 points to shatter the NCAA scoring record in Division III Grinnell's 179-104 victory over Faith Baptist Bible on Tuesday night in Grinnell, Iowa. Taylor, a 5-foot-10, 170-pound sophomore from Black River Falls, Wis., made 27 of 71 3-point attempts, was 52 of 108 overall from the field and added seven free throws on 10 attempts in 36 minutes.

Grinnell's Jack Taylor didn't just amend the NCAA's record books when he scored 138 points -- a new collegiate high mark -- in his team's 179-104 victory over Faith Baptist Bible Tuesday night. The Division III star wrote a new chapter.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A former University of Nebraska women's basketball star accused of faking a hate-crime attack against her is standing by her story in emails to news organizations and in an online video. In the YouTube video and emails Charlie Rogers, 34, insists she did not make up the July attack, the Lincoln Journal Star reported (http://bit.ly/TGTbiv).

A Lakers fan attacked a pair of Utah Jazz fans with a can of pepper spray after the game Wednesday night, according to Janelle Stecklein of the Salt Lake Tribune. At some point during the Lakers' 95-86 loss to the Jazz, two Lakers fans were thrown out of the game after a confrontation developed from "trash talking" with a pair of Jazz fans.

When Wolves offseason moves built a squad that's glaringly white, skeptics chimed in about motives. 144 comments resize text printbuy reprints share email Email shareyour name your email recipients email + add a comment add a comment . Dante Cunningham noticed when he reported for work in Minnesota this fall that his new Timberwolves team is unlike any for which he has ever played. "Day One, we were all in the elevator and I kind of looked up," he said about a crowded ride with many of his new teammates, "and I was just like, 'Where is everybody?' " Everybody,...

Slater Martin, the defensive-minded Hall of Fame guard who won four NBA titles with the Minneapolis Lakers and one with the St. Louis Hawks, died Thursday. He was 86.

LAS VEGAS (AP) - Former pro basketball player Greg Anthony is backing Mitt Romney for president in a new Nevada TV commercial. The University of Nevada, Las Vegas alum says in the ad that he voted for President Barack Obama in 2008 because he thought Obama was a centrist. Anthony says he lost faith in Obama and is now supporting Romney, who he calls "a no-excuse kind of guy."

Harvard basketball star Kyle Casey will leave the university due to his involvement in a cheating scandal. Casey will withdraw from school instead of enrolling for the fall semester and attempting to fight the charges, according to a report from Luke Winn of SportsIllustrated.com. Winn notes that Casey would lose his final year of eligibility if any action to clear his name failed. Dean of Undergraduate Education Jay Harris wrote a letter to the student body regarding the incident and said, via Boston.com:"The College Administrative Board is currently reviewing allegations that students in one spring class may have committed acts...

full title......'I have no social life': Obama says he spurns parties so he can eat dinner with daughters and help with homeworkAs any parent knows, juggling a family and a social life can be hectic at the best of times. But now even Barack Obama has revealed that he has given up on going out because he wants to be there for his daughters. The U.S. President said that he passes up social engagements because he wants to be home at 6.30pm to eat dinner with his family.

President Barack Obama sees the presidential contest as a clutch moment in his favorite sporting moment -- the fourth quarter of a taut basketball game. "But the other side is coming strong," Obama said. "And they play a little dirty. We've got a few folks on our team in foul trouble. We have a couple of injuries. And I believe they have one last run in them." Obama raised $3 million with the help of the players, who included former Chicago Bulls player Michael Jordan and former Knicks Walt Frazier and Bill Bradley. NBA Commissioner David Stern also was there....

Aquille Carr, a star high school basketball player who has verbally committed to playing at Seton Hall, was arrested in Baltimore Friday for allegedly assaulting the mother of his child. . .According to the Baltimore Sun, the assault occurred after the victim, 26-year-old Treshonda Williams, informed Carr, 18, that she no longer wished to be in a relationship with him. . . Carr grabbed her by her shirt and threw her to the ground. He then is accused of kicking her in the back, and punching her in the head and face before fleeing in his vehicle, according to...

Tony Farmer was a blue chip basketball recruit who seemed destined for Division I basketball, but instead the 6-foot-7 high school standout will be spending the next three years in prison. The Ohio high school star, an 18-year-old senior at Garfield Heights High School, was handed the three-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to kidnapping, felony assault, and other crimes, Yahoo! Sports Blog The Dagger reported. Tony Farmer’s sentence came as a bit of a surprise to those following the trial. After pleading guilty he had a number of teachers, coaches, and family members testify on his behalf. Even the...

I just saw this ad on RCP for the "Obama Classic 2012." Notice they tiny "no contribution necessary" hidden next to the "Donate Now" button.

The owners of the Orlando Magic are coming under fire for a 2009 donation they made on behalf of one of their executive's marriage beliefs.The Douglas and Maria DeVos foundation, which is financially supported by Amway president Doug DeVos, donated $500,000 to NOM, the National Organization for Marriage.The organization is among those leading the charge against same-sex marriage initiatives in several states.Now, gay rights activists are calling for a ban of the Michigan-based Amway and all of its affiliates, including the Orlando Magic, which is also owned by the DeVos family.Here's the official statement from Amway on the issue,...

Neil Reed, who coached boys basketball and both boys and girls golf at Pioneer Valley High School, died Thursday of a massive heart attack according to members of the faculty at the school. Early reports are that Reed, who lives in Nipomo, had trouble breathing early in the morning and was taken to an area hospital where he went into cardiac arrest and could not be revived.

Jeremy Lin took the NBA by storm in 2012, rising from undrafted Harvard grad to one of the most popular New York Knicks players in a decade. Lin led the Knicks to wins in his first six starts, and became the first player in NBA history to score 20 points and record seven assists in each of his first five starts. After a last-second game-winning three pointer against the Toronto Raptors, his rise to stardom was known ubiquitously as “Linsanity.” After signing a three year, $25.1 million contract with the Houston Rockets, Lin moves from one of the highest taxed...