Free Republic

NBA commissioner Adam Silver told reporters this week that China’s response to former Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey expressing his support for anti-government Hong Kong protesters in 2019 cost the league hundreds of millions of dollars. Morey, who is now general manager of the Philadelphia 76ers, tweeted in October 2019 an image that read, “Fight for Freedom. Stand with Hong Kong.” Morey would later delete the tweet and explain that he did not intend to offend Rockets fans or his friends in China. Demonstrators were protesting against China’s control of Hong Kong at the time. China first pulled games...

Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta warned on Monday that the current inflation and supply chain crisis is taking a toll the U.S. economy. Fertitta, who also owns the Landry's restaurant group and other properties, told "Fox News Primetime" that the supply chain crisis coupled with inflation and a labor shortage is doing lasting damage to the United States, while separately urging Americans to be understanding of the hospitality and retail workers who continue to do their jobs during this crisis. "We have 4,000 openings right now," he said. "Between the Golden Nugget, all the restaurants and entertainment venues; people just...

The NBA was understandably excited to start its season and get away from the China controversy that had embroiled the league over the past couple weeks. However, even more controversy ensued on Tuesday night and on into Wednesday as video surfaced showing LeBron James walking off the court and screaming while the national anthem played. James faced a firestorm of criticism after saying that Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey “wasn’t educated” on the China-Hong-Kong issue, before he sent a message of support to pro-democracy protesters earlier this month. While backpedaling, James said that he is not a politician, and...

The Chinese government asked the N.B.A. to fire a team executive who posted on social media in support of pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong, the league’s commissioner, Adam Silver, said on Thursday in his first public appearance in the United States since returning from a contentious trip to Asia. “We said there’s no chance that’s happening,” Silver said. “There’s no chance we’ll even discipline him.” The executive, Daryl Morey, the general manager of the Houston Rockets, set off the international firestorm with a Twitter post using a slogan used by the protesters in Hong Kong, just as the league was...

Charles Barkley roasted Jussie Smollett on Thursday night after more details of the racist attack he is accused of staging emerged, taking particular pleasure in mocking the actor for allegedly writing a personal, backdated check to the men he paid to beat him. Speaking during his half-time coverage of the Houston Rockets-Los Angeles Lakers game, Barkley had his co-commentators on TNT in stitches after bringing the controversial case up. They were discussing unlikely scenarios on the basketball court when Barkley steered the conversation towards Smollett mischievously.

Houston Rockets point guard Chris Paul will miss Saturday's Game 6 of the Western Conference finals at Golden State with a right hamstring strain, the team announced Friday. Paul will travel with the Rockets to Oakland, California, for the game, coach Mike D'Antoni said, and will be re-evaluated after the team returns to Houston. "It's obviously not something we wanted," D'Antoni said before Friday's practice. "I hate it for him above all. He's practically won us the past two games. But it's a great opportunity for other guys, and we have plenty to choose from. We'll be ready." Asked if...

Rockets owner Leslie Alexander has reached an agreement to sell the team to Houston billionaire Tilman Fertitta for an NBA-record $2.2 billion, according to multiple reports on Tuesday morning.

A private jet owned by a North Texas company has been impounded for the past 2 1/2 weeks and its passengers and crew detained by the Congolese government in central Africa, where officials say it was used to smuggle gold from rebel territories in the nation's eastern provinces. The plane was leased by Southlake Aviation, based in suburban Dallas-Fort Worth, to a subsidiary of CAMAC International, The Dallas Morning News reported in its Sunday editions. CAMAC company is owned by Kase Lawal, a Nigerian-born Houston oil tycoon an appointee of President Barack Obama to the Advisory Committee for Trade Policy...

The deceptively named “Cancer Project” animal-rights group is at it again. This time its target isn’t hot dog makers, but grilled-chicken servers. The group, a branch of the PETA-linked Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), filed a lawsuit in Connecticut yesterday against three restaurant chains demanding warnings about a supposed link between grilled chicken and cancer. As we told the media, PCRM is nothing more than an animal rights front for pushing vegan activism, which is funded primarily by a single rich donor. Since 2003, PCRM and the Cancer Project have derived 60 percent of their budgets from a...

Ex-NBA star educates police on Islam HOUSTON (AP)— Houston police learned a lesson about Islam from former Houston Rockets center Hakeem Olajuwon as part of a program to educate officers about the city's diverse communities. Olajuwon spoke to officers Wednesday at the Hakeem Islamic Dawah Center, a mosque and Islamic education center built with money provided by the NBA star. Organizers of the Houston Police Department's program said they wanted someone who could put a face on Islam to dispel cultural stereotypes. "This type of program is so important in today's world, where Islam has been so misunderstood by so...

LEXINGTON, Ky. A woman is suing former U-K basketball star Chuck Hayes for 75-thousand dollars, claiming he raped her in a university dormitory last year. Cynthia W. Smithers filed the suit in U-S District Court yesterday. In the suit she claims Hayes drugged, raped and injured her on April 20th, 2005 at the Wildcat Lodge, a dorm on the U-K campus. Smithers filed a complaint with Lexington police last year, but no charges were filed against Hayes.

SPECIAL REPORT: Slam-Dunking Animal RightsPosted On July 28, 2003It's no secret that Leslie and Nanci Alexander, co-owners of the NBA's Houston Rockets franchise, are among the global animal-rights movement's biggest financial backers. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals even acknowledged the couple in 1998 for making "one of the most generous gifts we have ever received." Nanci Alexander personally donated over $225,000 toward the passage of a constitutional amendment that gave legal protection to pigs in Florida. But recently released tax records indicate that the Alexanders have also funded the operations of "Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty" (SHAC), one of...