NASCAR driver Danica Patrick was asked about the success of NASCAR's Drive for Diversity Program, to which she said, “I’ve never benefited from NASCAR’s diversity program.” She added, "I wouldn’t think there needs to be a diversity program if I’m here and I didn’t get in. ... It wasn’t like they asked me to be in it. They didn’t give my team or me any money, they didn’t say, ‘We’d love you,’ you know? So I would say that you have to just make it. I’m not saying that being a girl hasn’t helped, but I didn’t need a program to make it happen.” NASCAR Senior VP/Racing Operations Jim Cassidy said, "We're very proud of the program, which also recruits and trains pit crew members, and remain more committed than ever to it" (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 10/25).
BURDEN OF PROOF: In N.Y., Larry Brooks wrote of the NHL suspending Kings D Slava Voynov within hours of his arrest last week on suspicion of domestic violence, "Swiftly, obviously. Prudently? That is yet to be determined. The presumption of innocence -- again, now narrowly defined as pertaining to the justice system, only -- no longer applies, at least not to matters that might inflame public opinion." Brooks: "The burden of proof is on the defense. Guilty until proven innocent. Allegations equated to facts." That is the "world in which the NHL and, presumably, all pro sports now live" (N.Y. POST, 10/26).
PICK AND ROLL: Celtics President of Basketball Operations Danny Ainge said, “If everybody were designing an NBA roster, I think they would probably suggest that you have three max (salary) players that are All-Star players like we’ve had in the past. Like Miami had, like Cleveland has now. That would be ideal because it’s pretty clear-cut who’s going to play and then you build players around them" (BOSTON GLOBE, 10/26).
