Free Republic

Sports announcer Doris Burke is set to make history in Game 1 of the NBA Finals between the Boston Celtics and the Dallas Mavericks. The game kicks off at 8:30 p.m., Thursday.

Columbia Law students want their final exams called off … in the name of Palestine. In a recent letter, the student editors of the Columbia Law Review made a public call for the school to cancel the semester’s remaining exams and “give all students passing grades for their work throughout the semester.” “We believe that canceling exams would be a proportionate response to the level of distress our peers have been feeling,” the unnamed students wrote in an open letter. The plea comes after Columbia University, on April 30, authorized the NYPD to clear out trespassers who violently and forcibly...

by Ron Kersten One would think that having the American sports world’s most popular athlete playing in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, would equal impressive ratings. Well, one would be wrong. One would in fact be very wrong indeed. Instead of posting the good, if not great numbers that the NBA should have drawn for a Game 1 Finals clash including with millions at home on lockdown and LeBron James on the floor, the NBA saw a catastrophic drop in both ratings and viewership. Get woke, go broke. According to the Hollywood Reporter: The opening game of the series...

A donkey named Oliver joined several therapy dogs offering stress relief during Finals Week at Montana State University in Bozeman.

Throughout their first three World Baseball Classics, the United States' burly batting order had some of the most prodigious sluggers in the Major Leagues, but that never got the Americans to the tournament's final game. So naturally that changed in a dramatic 2-1 semifinal victory over two-time Classic winner Japan on a wet, chilly Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium, courtesy of a regular old ground ball. With the score tied at 1 in the top of the eighth, Adam Jones' fielder's-choice RBI grounder was bobbled by Japan third baseman Nobuhiro Matsuda long enough to allow Brandon Crawford to score from...

STORRS >> The University of Connecticut is providing its students with therapy dogs to help relieve the stress of final exams. The dogs will be available for petting at the school’s Homer Babbidge Library from Monday afternoon through Friday afternoon. ... The school says it is keeping the dogs in a space that won’t impact students with allergies who may also need to use the library.

Game Seven. In the realm of sport ($1 to RINO Romney), those are two stirring words. And in just a few hours, the San Antonio Spurs have a shot at redemption after frittering away what should have been a slam dunk for a fifth NBA title and a deserved crowning of a dynasty. Game six is still fresh in my mind. Not only Tuesday's collapse when the Spurs were up by 5 with 20 seconds left. Yet another game six is still painful for this Texan. That of course was the 107th World Series when the Rangers were two...

Michelle Obama is going to speak at a Bowie State University function at the Comcast Center on the campus of the University of Maryland. As a result of security concerns, U of MD students who still have to finish finals will have to pack up and move out of their dorms BEFORE they have taken their final exams. This, when they should be studying ... In-state students whose parents DO NOT live locally AND out-of-state students have NO IDEA where they are going to live during the interim. MUCH LESS, how much time they will LOSE because they are moving...

RALEIGH, N.C. -- After this most bizarro of playoff wins, one might have expected the Carolina Hurricanes' dressing room would have been electric with euphoria, or at the very least, giddy with relief. Instead, there was quiet introspection. "What do you see in this dressing room?" defenseman Aaron Ward asked, gesturing to the oddly silent dressing room. "It's the knowledge that we absolutely escaped with a game, 100 percent by the skin of our teeth." Bruce Bennett/Getty Images Rod Brind'Amour's winning goal in the waning seconds was his second of the game on Monday night. A few moments earlier, Rod...

SNARKY Simon Cowell made his picks for the three top finalists of this season's "American Idol" yesterday. Chris Daughtry, 26, Taylor Hicks, 29, and Kellie Pickler, 19, will be the final three singers vying for the top prize in May, Cowell said during a call-in to Howard Stern's Sirius satellite radio show. "Let me tell you who's gonna be in the finals," Cowell said. "The bald-headed kid [Daughtry] and the guy with gray hair [Hicks]." A few minutes later, he added: "I think the top three will be the two I mentioned and Kellie Pickler."