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Sports Briefs: Replacement officials don't concern Paul
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Published: September 22, 2009
Updated: 09/22/2009 12:55 am
Because of his size, many teams will always try to be physical with Chris Paul.
Yet Paul isn't worried about play getting out of hand if his games are being called by replacement officials.
"No, no," Paul said yesterday. "I don't worry about replacement referees. End of the day, you're reffing the game."
The NBA and its referees union have failed to reach agreement on a new contract and the league announced last week it will begin training replacement officials. Without a new deal soon, replacements will be used when preseason play opens Oct. 1.
The league hasn't begun a season without its regular referees since 1995.
"They probably won't know us as well and we won't know them on a first-name basis like we do the regular referees, but you've got to play the game," Paul said.
The 6-0 Paul is one of the NBA's shortest players, but his size has never stopped him. And he wants kids to know it doesn't have to stop them, either.
Paul was at the NBA Store reading in New York yesterday and signing copies of his new book, Long Shot: Never Too Small to Dream Big, a children's book Paul wrote about overcoming his height to try out and make a team as a youngster growing up in Lewisville, N.C.
More basketball
■ First- and second-round games in the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament will be played in Charlotte in 2011 and in Greensboro in 2012, the NCAA announced yesterday.
Other early-round sites in 2011 will be: Denver; Tampa, Fla.; Tucson, Ariz.; Washington, D.C.; Chicago; Cleveland; and Tulsa, Okla. Regionals semis and finals will be in: Anaheim, Calif.; New Orleans; Newark, N.J.; and San Antonio.
Early-round games in 2012 will be in: Greensboro; Albuquerque, N.M.; Columbus, Ohio; Louisville, Ky.; Nashville, Tenn.; Omaha, Neb.; Pittsburgh; and Portland, Ore., and regional semis and finals will be in Boston, Phoenix, Atlanta and St. Louis.
The 2013 sites are: Auburn Hills, Mich.; Lexington, Ky.; Salt Lake City; San Jose, Calif.; Austin, Texas; Dayton, Ohio; Kansas City, Mo.; and Philadelphia for the early rounds, and Los Angeles, Dallas/Fort Worth, Indianapolis and a site to be determined for the regional semis and finals. The Final Fours for the three-year period will be in Houston (2011), New Orleans (2012) and Atlanta (2013).
■ Gary Williams, the basketball coach at Maryland, has received a one-year contract extension that could keep him at the school into 2013. The contract includes automatic extensions if the Terrapins achieve benchmark standards in athletics and academics.
Williams is entering his 21st season as the head coach at his alma mater. The extension takes the term of his contract through June 30, 2013. He has 418 wins at Maryland, the most in program history, and 625 career wins in 31 seasons to rank sixth among active coaches.
■ Michael Beasley rejoined his Miami Heat teammates yesterday after a month-long stay in a rehabilitation facility to address substance abuse and other issues.
He went through a voluntary offseason workout and quickly drew rave reviews from coaches, many of whom were able to visit and work with him during the rehab stint. Head coach Erik Spoelstra saw Beasley three times in the past month, and someone from the Heat staff was with Beasley every day.
Beasley, the No. 2 pick in the 2008 draft, was not available for comment yesterday. No specifics of his treatment have been offered, with the Heat and those close to Beasley citing privacy concerns.
Miscellaneous
■ Patty Lynn Shoaf, Jim Lippard, Danny Lee Thomas, Harpo Withers and the late Bill Hall Jr. will be inducted into the Davidson County Sports Hall of Fame in ceremonies Oct. 17 at the J. Smith Young YMCA in Lexington.
Shoaf was a basketball and track standout at West Davidson High (1984-88) and currently competes in cycling and triathlon; Lippard played baseball at Lexington (1951-54) and had a long career in American Legion baseball, most recently as the state's Legion commissioner for 2008-09; and Thomas was a three-sport star at North Davidson (1970-72) and later coached at East Davidson and Ledford high schools.
Withers, originally from Greensboro, was a coach and the recreation director at the Baptist Children's Home in Thomasville and coached at Thomasville High; and Hall starred in golf at Lexington High (1959-63) and Pfeiffer (1963-65), had a short career on the PGA Tour and was the head pro at five courses in North Carolina.
■ Justine Henin, formerly ranked No. 1 in the world, will announce her return to competitive tennis today, according to two Belgian newspapers A spokeswoman for Henin did not return phone calls, and Henin's Web site had no comment on the rumors.
Henin, 27, shocked the tennis world last year by announcing her retirement while still ranked No. 1, and as recently as May, she said that the sport had left her with so many physical ailments that a return was unthinkable. She has started training again but has refused to comment on plans for a possible return over the past month.
■ The LPGA Tour has lost one of its top tournaments, with Anheuser-Busch announcing yesterday that it won't renew its sponsorship of the Michelob Ultra Open at Kingsmill, Va., after seven years.
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