Free Republic

Texas Tech suspended women's basketball player Amber Battle for the month of November for her involvement in an altercation with former football player Nigel Bethel, the school announced Friday. Battle and Bethel reportedly got in a fight during a pickup basketball game on Tech's campus. Bethel was dismissed from the football program last week, with the school saying "Texas Tech Athletics does not tolerate violence against women." Bethel also faces felony assault charges because of the incident.

The recent decision by an obscure administrative law board to cancel the Washington Redskins‘ trademark registrations came despite the fact the agency hadn’t received a single letter from a member of the public complaining about the team’s name, records show. The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, which is part of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, ruled last month that the name was disparaging to American Indians. The team is appealing that decision. Politicians, including President Obama, have waded into the team name controversy, with many saying the team should change its name. But despite widespread media attention and a...

Conservative pundit Ann Coulter believes that the country’s growing interest in soccer – fueled by Team USA’s success in the 2014 World Cup - is a sure sign of America's ‘moral decay.’ Coulter’s reasons for hating soccer include that individual achievement is not a big factor, it isn’t rough enough, and the fact that ‘it's foreign.’ As a conservative she argued that liberals only love soccer - and the metric system - because they're both 'European.'

The US has brought more fans to Brazil than any other country and this may be a genuine tipping point.... A recent ESPN poll found that among Americans aged 12-17, football was now neck and neck with baseball in terms of popularity, and well ahead of ice hockey. A Washington Times survey found that almost a third of Americans planned to watch at least some of the tournament. The New York Times has splashed the World Cup over its front page several times in recent weeks. Beneath the surface, the last four years have seen the emergence of magazines such...

Ex-Rep. Joe Walsh ‘kicked off the air’ over racist terms on radio Fri, 06/20/2014 - 3:37am Mitch Dudek According to posts on former U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh’s Twitter account Thursday night, the conservative radio talk-show host was kicked off the air on WIND-AM (560) for using racial slurs while trying to have a discussion about racial slurs. In a series of tweets posted about 7 p.m., Walsh says: “Just got kicked off the air until further notice. Tried to have honest discussion about racist terms and management censored my language.” And: “I’m trying to have an honest, adult conversations about...

Anyone deemed politically incorrect is now outside the protection of the law. Like most people, I haven’t been all that interested in the controversy over whether the name of the Washington Redskins is offensive. Personally, I’m more offended that Washington, DC, has become the kind of megalopolis that can support an NFL team. If I had my way, it would go back to being a humid, swampy backwater with impassable mud roads. Pierre L’Enfant has much to answer for. But I think everyone should be terrified by the new ruling by the US Patent Office cancelling the team’s trademark. The...

The United States Patent and Trademark Office has canceled the Washington Redskins trademark registration, calling the football team’s name “disparaging to Native Americans.” The landmark case, which appeared before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, was filed on behalf of five Native Americans. It was the second time such a case was filed.

Who would have thought Israel would dream the impossible dream, fight and beat the undefeatable foe not only in the fields of science, startup companies, art, or culture, but in those of sport? Its barely imaginable world victory was registered on May 18, 2014 when the Israeli basketball team, Maccabi Electra TV, won the Euroleague Basketball Championship. Maccabi beat Real Madrid 98-86 in Milan in overtime in the finals after defeating CSKA of Moscow and Emporio Armani Milan in earlier rounds. With its victory, Maccabi may have reached the moon, but its joy was not unalloyed. Maccabi supporters sang the...

A person with knowledge of Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling's legal strategy says his team of lawyers has hired four private investigation firms to dig up dirt on the NBA's former and current commissioners and its 29 owners. The individual, who wasn't authorized to talk publicly, says investigators were given a six-figure budget over the next 30 days to examine the league's finances, allegations of previous discriminatory conduct and compensation to past commissioner David Stern and current commissioner Adam Silver. They're also looking into whether other owners ever made any off-color jokes, or racist or sexist remarks....

A Democratic state representative wants to send a sportsmanship message to high school athletes and has authored a bill that would end some football games early. State Rep. Robert Kosowski, D-Westland, introduced House Bill 5605 last week, which would prohibit a public school from participating in an interscholastic football game unless the Michigan High School Athletic Association creates a rule to end games if one team has a lead of 17 points or more with a minute or less remaining. Rep. Kosowski Rep. Kosowski said the law would allow the game to be ended or the team with the ball...

Native Americans are sending a loud message to the Washington Redskins. A northern California tribe paid for a commercial to air in seven major U.S. cities during halftime of Tuesday's NBA Finals game, their latest plea for the NFL team to change its “racist” name and mascot.

University of Connecticut star basketball player Stefanie Dolson slips off the podium riser as U.S. President Barack Obama hugs head coach Geno Auriemma during a presentation in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC on June 9, 2014. Obama honored both the women's and men's basketball teams....

The U.S. government-funded Radio Marti will broadcast the NBA finals live to audiences in Cuba. The Office of Cuba Broadcasting announced Thursday it will air play-by-play commentary of this year's matchup of the Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs.

Dan Marino has sued the NFL, claiming that playing professional football left him suffering from concussion-related injuries, Nathan Fenno reports for the Los Angeles Times. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia last week, according to the Times. Fourteen other players joined Marino in the suit.

BYNISHAD PADIYARATH | JUNE 01, 2014 , 8 : 35 PM GST Share Share on facebookShare on twitterShare on googleShare on emailMore Sharing Services Redha Taqi Al Lawati,general secretary - Oman Hockey Association. Photo - Supplied Muscat: The Oman Hockey Association (OHA) is studying a plan to increase the number of teams for the National Hockey League ahead of the new season. The 2014 edition of the league, which saw participation of just eight teams, concluded on Saturday night at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex with K.K. Poonacha-coached Ahli-Sidab clinching the title after overcoming Al Nasr via penalties. Revealing the...

The woman at the center of the Donald Sterling racism scandal, the ex-Los Angeles Clippers owner’s gal pal V Stiviano, was badly beaten up by two white men in New York City on Sunday night, her lawyer has confirmed exclusively to RadarOnline. Around 7pm, as Stiviano was leaving the Gansevoort Hotel in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District, “two white men descended on her,” attorney Mac Nehorary said. “They were about 5’7 and they knew exactly who she was. They began to hit her and called her the N word. “Other disgusting slurs were made against her. She was able to run away...

I guess the PC sports press was hoping for a high-tech lyching of sorts, wherein Donald Sterling, the owner in limbo who is soon to be former owner of the National Basketall Association's Los Angeles Clippers, would be frog-marched out of his office and dumped onto Skid Row, never to be heard from again, for his undeniably racist remarks to his now ex-girlfriend about how he didn't want her bringing blacks to Clippers games while directing racial invective at other specific persons. It's not working out that way. In fact, quite the opposite. Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is reportedly...

Donald Sterling is preparing to sue the NBA for $1 billion, according to a report from NBC News. The report comes a day after it was announced the Sterlings, actually via Shelly Sterling, had reached an agreement to sell the Los Angeles Clippers to former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.

His voice cracking with emotion, Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice acknowledged Friday that he “failed miserably” and apologized for the actions that led to his arrest on assault charges. Rice was arrested following a Feb. 15 altercation in Atlantic City, in which he allegedly struck fiancee Janay Palmer. The couple married in late February, and both went to the stage at the team training complex for their first public comment since the arrest. “I failed miserably, but I wouldn’t call myself a failure because I’m working my way back up,” Rice said. Rice was accepted Tues­day into a diversion...

On Friday, Rush Limbaugh opened his radio show by diving into recent comments Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban made about how own struggles with “bigotry” and “prejudice.” Limbaugh did not seem to have any particular problems with what Cuban said, but was rather offended by his subsequent apology to Trayvon Martin’s family for using a “black kid in a hoodie” as one example of who he would avoid on a dark street. “I know I’m prejudiced and I know I’m bigoted in a lot of different ways,” Cuban said at Nashville, Tennessee’s GrowCo Conference. “If I see a black kid...