Shocking Riot Ends Pacers-Pistons Game

By LARRY LAGE, AP Sports Writer

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. - Players and fans exchanged punches in the stands as an NBA game turned so ugly a police investigation was necessary. Indiana's Ron Artest and Stephen Jackson charged into the stands and fought with fans in the final minute of their game against the Detroit Pistons (news) on Friday night, and the brawl forced an early end to the Pacers' 97-82 win."I felt like I was fighting for my life out there," Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. "I'm sorry the game had to end this way."

This is the most insane fight I've ever seen between fans and players!

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It's Blooper Day.

You gotta love live TV. Lawrence Frank is the ex-coach of the horrendous Nets, who lost seventeen straight games to start the season, was on ESPN doing a little analysis about LeBron James yesterday. His spot was over and when they switched to the Skip Bayless' "First and Ten" segment, there was a little overlapping banter between the debate panel and Frank. Bayless is a big-time LeBron James critic, and Frank responded to the idea that James is not clutch when the game is on the line.

Frank: I said, tell Skip that I'd rather have that bad because I'd still be coaching instead and not sitting here. Give me that "f*&ker" other than seeing some of the s*!t we were putting up there. Sorry...

ESPN came on a few minutes later and said that Lawrence thought he was off the air, but that excuse isn't cutting it. Just apologize and move on. I'm sure there were some of James Dobson's acolytes watching and their kids have now been damaged once again because of his language. They were just getting over the trauma that was caused by Janet Jackson's Super Bowl mishap, and now this. Oh, the humanity.

What's that old saying...If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging? University of Hawaii Football coach Greg McMackin should have dropped the shovel long before he did:

The Hawaii football coach who used the word "faggot" three times to describe rival team Notre Dame during a press conference, then asked the press not report on his use of the antigay slur, has been suspended for 30 days without pay in addition to other penalties.

Greg McMackin, who attempted to apologize multiple times during the same press conference -- he said he hoped the press wouldn't report on what he said because he didn't "want to… have every homosexual ticked off at [him]" -- will also receive a 7-percent pay cut. Read on...

McMackin finally issued a formal apology (seen in the above video -- note he apologizes to Notre Dame first) but I honestly have to ask why he still has a job at all. Imagine if he would have used the "N" word to describe Notre Dame's players or the "C" word to describe say, their cheerleaders. Would he have been fired for using those words? Of course he would have. The "F" word is equally as offensive, but apparently, not offensive enough for the powers that be at UH.

Connecting.the.Dots: V.P. for saving the planet

Facing South: Gulf Stream Coach - the politically connected company handed a $500 million federal contract to manufacture trailers for Hurricane Katrina victims knew its product was contaminated with dangerous levels of cancer-causing formaldehyde in early 2006. But they failed to notify residents or take any action to protect them.

Petrelis Files: AIDS exec gets a pay raise, then cuts food and supplements to patients.

Shakesville: Onward HMO soldiers, marching as to war

Newshoggers: If the only tool one uses is a hammer, everything starts to look like a nail.

ANNALS OF JOURNALISM: The "gas tax holiday" and objective journalism...Crude Reporting..Obama moves right, pundits cheer...Har Har Har...Maybe someday, Maureen Dowd won't write something juvenile enough to make Annals...Zzzzzzzz: get ready for CNN's exciting convention coverage...Can we stop with the "liberal media" trope now?...Bypassing the Corporate Media...Jane Mayer shines some light on The Dark Side...Tom "six months" Friedman is angry because the world hates us...Shut up!...Judy Miller in a tent...

I'm watching Brit Hume coach Bush in an "interview"...Don't laugh...I know...that's a funny one, anyway...I wonder how that interview would turn out if Michael Ware was asking the questions....sigh...

Bush with Foley: Write your own caption ...*

Much as I tried to resist, I'm now tracking the Foley matter closely. We may wish the political tides turned on the deceptions in Iraq, but this is the wave that has formed and is sweeping the ... well, enough with the metaphors.

As John notes below, another Republican has thrown The Coach overboard - but the big guns are speaking up for Denny. Could those kind words be the equivalent of the Cosa Nostra's 'kiss of death'? (More on the Mafia-like nature of the GOP's coordinated Hastert defense here, at "Surprised GOP Reacts -- Thought Child Molester Would Be 'Welcomed As Liberator.'")

Republican support among white evangelicals was already nosediving, according to a new poll - even before the Foley episode and subsequent cover-up scandal.

More on the evangelical vote here, in "Democrats' Letters to God ."

Expect new developments on the Foley front soon. Call it a hunch.

*Better yet, don't write your own caption. I've come to regret extending that invitation - really regret it ...

None of the Republican leaders will answer any questions after they issue their statements:

"I know Denny Hastert. I meet with him a lot. He is a father, teacher, coach who cares about the children of this country," Bush said. "I know that he wants all the facts to come out." Bush took no questions. And as he stepped toward his motorcade, the president ignored a shouted question directly asking whether Hastert should resign.

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Bush supports the guy who is supposed to protect the kids. He knew about Foley for a long time and did nothing. That's leadership! Remember Abu Ghraib? It was just a few lowly nobodies that went rogue on us.

Digby:

Dennis Hastert's office was warned that this was an issue. (According to this morning's interview on CNN, he was warned about it in the context of "campaign issues" which is telling in and of itself.) As the Speaker of the House, the buck stops with him. He can try to rationalize his behavior all he wants, but the fact is that he was told that there was suspicion that a congressman was preying on the teen aged congressional pages and he failed to ensure that it was fully investigated and dealt with. (He allowed the guy to continue to co-sponsor the child abduction and abuse legislation that was signed into law just last July.) Come on....read on

Max sent me an email about this story. You might have seen it alread, but if you didn't- David Edwards sent the video over. " Jason McElwain, an autistic high school basketball team member in Rochester NY, served as the coach's assistant and spirit leader for several years. On the final game of the season the coach let him finally put on a jersey with the rest of the team. Watch what happens then..."
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Pretty amazing stuff!

Read more on the story here.

"My first shot was an air ball (missing the hoop), by a lot, then I missed a lay-up," McElwain recalls. "As the first shot went in, and then the second shot, as soon as that went in, I just started to catch fire."

"I've had a lot of thrills in coaching," Johnson says. "I've coached a lot of wonderful kids. But I've never experienced such a thrill."

UCLA vs West Virginia

# 12 West Virginia vs # 18 Bruins

I have a bet with John Cole. I'm a big UCLA fan so I say WV is going down. It'll be a tough game, but I'll take a half a box of Bahia Gold cigars if we win. UCLA finally has a coach in Ben Howland after the Steve Lavin debacle. The LA Times has a nice article up...

In honor of "Just Us Sunday II"

On H&C last week, Dobson came on the show so that he could clarify his remarks, or rather say he was misquoted again. Oh and "I didn't say that."

Original quote

Dobson: You know, the thing that means so much to me here on this issue [embryonic stem cell research] is that people talk about the potential for good that can come from destroying these little embryos and how we might be able to solve the problem of juvenile diabetes. There's no indication yet that they're gonna do that, but people say that, or spinal cord injuries or such things. But I have to ask this question: In World War II, the Nazis experimented on human beings in horrible ways in the concentration camps, and I imagine, if you wanted to take the time to read about it, there would have been some discoveries there that benefited mankind....

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Hannity does his best in the beginning of his questions to coach him but that's always an indication that Dobson didn't do so well.

Hannity: I'm pro-life , you're pro-life...