In his ESPN SportsZone column, David Aldrige reported
on the recent resignations of some of the NBA's "top"
officials after they made deals with the government to avoid
prosecution on tax evasion charges. With this "PR
disaster," the NBA "will make absolutely sure that Dee
Kantner becomes the league's first women referee this
season." Kantner is "a rare bit of good news for the
league, and the NBA has never met a photo op it didn't like.
... Just as the league is searching for players to take over
for the Jordans and Barkleys ... so too will it need refs to
step in for the Kerseys and Mathises" (SportsZone, 8/8).
...In Denver, Michael Chambers wrote that based on MLS'
cumulative attendance during the start of the NFL preseason,
the league "believes its seeing definite signs of
solidification from bipartisan sports fans." Last year,
during the first week of August, MLS averaged 12,640 at the
start of the NFL exhibition season. Last week, MLS averaged
17,451, a 38% increase "under a very similar five-game
schedule" (DENVER POST, 8/7)....In the wake of the Allen
Iverson/Barry Switzer incidents, the gun policies of the
NBA, NFL, NHL and MLB are examined by Mike Freeman in the
N.Y. TIMES. Freeman writes the NFL "is the country's only
major sports league that has a specific and formal gun
policy." The NBA and MLB discuss the "dangers" of owning
guns to its rookies, while an NHL spokesperson, where guns
"have not been a problem," said players are expected to
comply with "all appropriate laws" (N.Y. TIMES, 8/11).