Regular-season game #82: Like a war, kind of

Kyle Hightower of the Associated Press just wanted everyone to know that, even in the post-Bush era, the tired practice of writing only "Mission accomplished" for the second paragraph of a news story was alive and well.

He succeeded.

Never said it was a PED

Stephon Marbury: "I smoke marijuana. Yep."

A second chink in the armor?

MADRID -- Los Angeles Lakers center Pau Gasol underwent surgery on the index finger of his left hand Monday after breaking it during practice with Spain's national team, the Lakers confirmed.

Gasol will be sidelined at least three weeks.

A chink in the armor?

My longtime small forward will miss 1/8th of the season. Not exactly a crushing blow to the two-time title defense hopes, but the other PARCers need some ray of sunshine...

Orlando Magic All-Star Rashard Lewis will be suspended for the first 10 games of next season because he has tested positive for a testosterone-producing steroid, the Orlando Sentinel has learned.

LeBron for President!

CLEVELAND (AP) -- LeBron James struggled with sudden fame after appearing on Sports Illustrated's cover as a 17-year-old and admits he smoked marijuana during his junior year in high school.

Much better

After drawing my ire for favoring football over hoops and the Bears to the Colts, Miss America has apologized from downtown (Indianapolis):

Miss America, Katie Stam showed off her Hoosier roots prior to the Pacers game last night. While players were going through individual workouts an hour and a half before the tip, Ms. Stam and her sparkling smile showed up courtside in a custom Pacers jersey.

After chatting up assistant coach, Jay DeFruscio, Miss America stepped on the court as if she wanted to try a shot. Bold, I thought.

Then she stepped behind the arc. Yes, Miss America lined up to shoot a regulation NBA three pointer. This has to end badly, right? The woman is tiny, plus the basketball looked more like a medicine ball in contrast to her body.

The first attempt was woefully short, but Miss America's elbow was tucked nicely, wrist cocked with appropriate wrinkles and the follow through was pure. Not bad.

Her second attempt was far better and while it was still a few feet short, this suddenly didn't seem so ridiculous.

After calling for one more shot, Miss America put it all together. The legs, the form, the follow through all in perfect rhythm. The ball floated through the air with a nice, subtle backspin before splashing through the net.

Bill Simmons, on Nellie and a Serf

There hasn't been nearly enough made of how screwed up the Warriors are right now. Their front office and ownership situation is a world-class mess. Their coach has been in "I'm Keith Hernandez" Mode since the 2007 Dallas upset and looks like he's actively trying to get fired. They have two young players everyone loves -- Randolph and Monta Ellis -- only they've been antagonized to the degree that it might affect them long-term. In Randolph's case, how can a lottery team not play a talent like Randolph 35 minutes a game? What the hell is going on here??? For some reason, the only media member who seems to care is Tim Kawakami. I don't get it. If I were a Warriors fan, I would be organizing protests outside the arena complaining about Randolph's playing time. It's insane. Imagine if Chicago was 16-50 and played Derrick Rose 10 minutes a game. Would you think that was weird? You would, right? Welcome to Anthony Randolph's world.

why you foul when you're up 3 with :05 left

NIT 1st Round
George Mason (22-11) 73
at Penn State (23-11) 77
Final - Overtime

The chairman is displeased

As transcribed in the Trib:

Mike North: Where would you rate this season?

Jerry Reinsdorf: You want the grade up till today? What's the lowest grade you can give? This has been a disaster. It's embarrassing. But it will get better.

Mike North: With the same people?

Failure to represent

Stam was the first Miss Indiana to win the pageant. This Hoosier said her favorite sport is football, not hoops.

"I know, it's supposed to be basketball," she said.

She was raised in Seymour, about 60 miles south of Indianapolis. Rather than the home-state Colts, she roots for the Chicago Bears. That's the team her boyfriend of three years cheers for.

Trailblazers: Don't use him to fill a seat

Are they talking about Roland Burris?

No clue who he was, but it's anudder Smiff sucker

Good old [Warriors coach] Don Nelson. Anthony Morrow didn't play in an overtime loss to the Heat. You never know with Nelson, but I'd release him in shallow leagues. [So would Smiff.]

This guy had better not upset my fantasy team chemistry

Without his day job occupying the vast majority of his time, Gilbert Arenas paid a visit to his tattoo parlor in the last couple of days to celebrate the election of Barack Obama. On the fingers of his left hand, he got “Change We Believe In,” and “44″ on the outside of his pinky.

Your long fantasy basketball nightmare: just beginning (again)?

After five whole days...

1. Second Jumpability 98
2. Q-Balls 91.5
3. Fung's Globetrotters 90.5
4. Coach #31 77.5
5. Sarah's Barracudas 67
6. Rochester Zeniths 66
7. Cook County Crooks 65
8. Columbus Bureaucrats 64.5
9. La Jolla Chemists 59
10. shot_at_bill 57.5
11. Meowing Squirrels 55.5

More Colts chat

(3:51:22 PM) briggs: the announcers have talked a lot about marvin [harrison]
(3:51:35 PM) briggs: and not a word about the new civil suit that accuses him of having shot a guy
(3:51:47 PM) briggs: if this were an NBA game
(3:52:05 PM) briggs: that'd be all they'd talk about
(3:52:10 PM) briggs: it wouldn't matter if he had 30 points
(3:52:46 PM) fungster: dat's because Marvin is Obama
(3:52:54 PM) fungster: NBA players - thug life
(3:53:06 PM) briggs: haha

Sarge's PARCers offseason gets rougher still

In perhaps the biggest setback of a difficult summer for the Warriors, team officials confirmed Wednesday that [Monta] Ellis -- just awarded one of the biggest pay raises in league history -- will be sidelined at least three months after suffering a severe high ankle sprain in his hometown of Jackson, Miss.

Euroleague stats will not count in PARCers '08-'09

...much to the chagrin of Sarge.

Ex-Hawk Childress signs with Greek club team
ESPN.com news services
Updated: July 23, 2008, 5:54 PM ET

Josh Childress is leaving the Atlanta Hawks for Greek club Olympiakos, reversing the course of the many international stars who have signed with the NBA.

Heading overseas allows Childress to make more money than he could have as a restricted free agent in the United States. The Hawks had the right to match an offer from another NBA team, but not from an international club.

About which PARCers manager is ESPN's Chad Ford (not) talking?

By the way, is ___ _______ the most fun GM in the league? The guy is working on roughly 150 trade proposals as we speak. He has no qualms about calling up a team and saying, "How about Travis Outlaw and Sergio Rodriguez for Dwyane Wade." He won't blink an eye.

A triumph of charisma over flow