Free Republic

UPDATE: Here is Gene Wang’s story from on the ground in China. One excerpt: What began as a goodwill trip to China for the Georgetown men’s basketball team turned violent Thursday night, when its exhibition game against the Bayi Rockets deteriorated into a melee during which players exchanged blows, chairs were thrown and spectators tossed full water bottles as Hoyas players and coaches headed to the locker room at Olympic Sports Center Stadium.

INDIANAPOLIS - Stephen Jackson of the Indiana Pacers was slugged in the mouth, struck by a car and fired a gun in the air in self-defense outside a strip club early Friday, police said. Jackson was limping but refused medical treatment at the scene, police spokesman Sgt. Matthew Mount said. Jackson conferred with a team trainer and sought treatment at a hospital. Officers found a small amount of marijuana in the passenger side door of Pacer point guard Jamaal Tinsley's car, police said. Officers could not determine the car's driver or to whom the marijuana belonged, so no arrests were...

A San Ramon man is not expected to survive a severe head injury he received in a fight outside Arco Arena after Wednesday's Sacramento Kings basketball game, an incident investigators say may have been fueled by road rage. Sacramento police said Mark Leidheisl, 39, a regional senior vice president for Wells Fargo, may have been the aggressor in the confrontation. Family and friends describe Leidheisl as a dedicated family man, a leader at work and a generally quiet guy. But police spokesman Sgt. Justin Risley said witnesses described Leidheisl's behavior at Wednesday's game as "aggressive" and "bizarre." He did not...

A San Ramon man was clinging to life this morning, a day and a half after getting into a fight with two other men driving away from a Sacramento Kings basketball game at Arco Arena. Sacramento police confirmed this morning that San Ramon resident Mark Leidheisl, a Wells Fargo senior vice president, remained in a coma today at the UC Davis Medical Center in Davis with severe brain injuries. After learning Leidheisl's injuries were so serious, two Lodi men who police said got into the fight with Leidheisl turned themselves in Thursday. They were not arrested as of this morning,...

PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) -- Five Indiana Pacers players and five fans were charged Wednesday for fighting in the stands and on the court at the end of a game against the Detroit Pistons last month. Players Ron Artest, Stephen Jackson, David Harrison and Anthony Johnson were all charged with one count of assault and battery, a misdemeanor that carries up to three months in jail and a fine of up to $500. Jermaine O'Neal, a three-time NBA All-Star, was charged with two counts of assault and battery. All the fans were charged with misdemeanor assault and battery, including Pistons star...

DETROIT -- Five Indiana Pacers players and five Detroit Pistons fans were expected to be charged with assault Wednesday in a brawl that broke out on the basketball court and spilled into the stands at The Palace of Auburn Hills last month, according to news reports. All charges are expected to be for misdemeanor assault and battery -- except for one count of felony assault against a fan accused of throwing a chair, according to reports citing unidentified sources in Wednesday editions of the Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News and a Tuesday report on WDIV-TV. "I'm not going...