Steve Blake, Shannon Brown the Opening Night Heroes for the Lakers

4:49 AM new trends , and media reports

LOS ANGELES -- Take a quick glance at the box score of the Lakers' 112-110 opening night victory over the Rockets, and you'll see familiar names jump out at you on the stat sheet. Pau Gasol led the team with 29 points and 11 rebounds, and Kobe Bryant followed closely with 27 points of his own, along with five rebounds and seven assists. Yet without the heroics of Steve Blake and Shannon Brown, we'd likely be talking about Bryant's and Gasol's efforts coming in a Lakers loss. "We just didn't seem to find traction until Shannon and Steve got in the ballgame and changed the contexture of that ballgame," Phil Jackson said afterward. "It was a great effort by those two. They gave us a big rally."   Blake's threes to end the third got things started, and Shannon's big fourth helped them...


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A Clear and Ppresent Danger To our Free Speech Rights

3:25 AM new trends , and media reports

Few things set my teeth on edge more than someone quoting Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes’ classic rhetorical overreach to justify squelching free speech, but there it was again today coming out of the mouth a former Supreme Court justice. Doug McMurdo’s story has retired Justice John Paul Stevens, right, arguing against a court ruling that upheld flag burning as protected speech, recounting the circumstances of Johnson v. Texas. Today’s story paraphrases Stevens, “As the flag burned, Stevens recounted, the protesters chanted, ‘America, the red, white and blue, we spit on you.’ ‘Those were fighting words. Much like yelling fire in a crowded theater that isn't actually on fire is not protected speech due to the harm it could cause, Stevens said the flag burning and chants certainly...


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Jon Kitna Replaces Injured Tony Romo at Quarterback for Cowboys

9:49 PM new trends , and media reports

The Cowboys' season is heading nowhere fast, and Jon Kitna is now the quarterback to take them there. The 38-year-old Kitna stepped under center for Dallas Monday night after Tony Romo fractured his clavicle, likely sidelining him for several weeks. Kitna, who has previously been a starter for Seattle, Cincinnati and Detroit, didn't look particularly sharp upon entering the game. And the Giants reeled off 31 unanswered points to take a 38-20 lead. Kitna managed to rally Dallas late, but the Cowboys still fell short, losing 41-35. Having said that, who exactly is Jon Kitna? Well, he was NFL Comeback Player of the Year in 2003. And he was last seen starting 6-2 with Detroit in 2007 ... before losing 7 of 8 to end that season. Then he lost the first 4 games of the Lions...


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Washington earns credibility in Texas the hard way

11:48 PM new trends , and media reports

Getting the Texas Rangers to play the game the way he did was never going to be an easy sell. Tougher still was how Ron Washington got them to play for each othe Back when he was still cashing checks as a player, Washington was a skinny middle infielder, with no pop in his bat, who learned to make the most of every opportunity. He was good with the glove, smart on the basepaths and stubborn enough to make every swing count, especially late in games. The Rangers are hardly a "small-ball" team, not with the kind of power that Washington could only dream about, sprinkled throughout the lineup. But the Rangers have used those fundamental skills — plus solid pitching — to offset the Yankees' edge in playoff experience and forge a 3-2 edge in the ALCS. I'm just a guy that loves to stress the little...


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