League Notes

KANTNER FIRED: In Sacramento, Ailene Voisin reported that NBA referee Dee Kantner, one of two female referees in the league, "was fired last week." Kantner "not only challenges the validity of an end-of-season ratings system that ranks her last, she refutes the notion that she's the league's worst official." Kantner: "I'm completely stunned. I had no idea I was in trouble. I would have expected management to have said something, yet there was nothing in any of my reviews." One NBA coach said if Kantner "files a lawsuit and I get subpoenaed, I'll support her all the way. This is just not right" (SACRAMENTO BEE, 7/15).

MLS: MLS Earthquakes F Landon Donovan: "I would love to commit myself to the MLS for a long time." MLS Deputy Commissioner Ivan Gazidis: "It was a massive statement for us. We've spent a lot of time trying to create an environment where guys can play here their whole careers" (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 7/15). Miami Herald columnist Dan LeBatard, on MLS: "Soccer is not going to catch on in this country. It's never going to happen. ... You could put (Lakers C Shaquille O'Neal) in the goal, you could throw (Packers QB) Brett Favre out there, you could throw our best athletes out there. We don't care" ("PTI," ESPN, 7/15).

NOTES: In Dallas, Tim Cowlishaw: "The Williams Sisters — The Greatest Story Ever Ignored. It's not as if no one noticed Serena and Venus meeting at center court at Wimbledon. But only tennis' miserable failure to promote its product has enabled this 'rivalry' from being recognized as the most amazing sports story of our time" (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 7/16)....In Toronto, David Naylor wrote that "in a perfect world, the CFL would like to have" a new commissioner by Labor Day (GLOBE & MAIL, 7/13).