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Sunday smorgasbord: The NBA suspended Washington Wizards forward Nene for one game (Sunday’s Game 4 in their first-round Eastern Conference series). Meaning the Chicago Bulls should have an easy time evening the series 2-2. OK, a less challenging time. Nothing seems to be easy regarding the Bulls — well, other than speculating about next season.
Video of Liliana Matthaus is below for those who care (and even if you don’t).
* Speaking of the NBA (and possible suspension), Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling is under fire for racist remarks he allegedly made. Whether the NBA does anything about it is another story. Commissioner Adam Silver said the league will look into the matter. Guessing if the league office had to post a Facebook relationship status regarding Sterling, it would be: “It’s complicated.”
* Charlotte Bobcats owner Michael Jordan — the league’s only African-American majority owner — issued this statement Sunday: “I look at this from two perspectives – as a current owner and a former player. As an owner, I’m obviously disgusted that a fellow team owner could hold such sickening and offensive views. I’m confident that Adam Silver will make a full investigation and take appropriate action quickly. As a former player, I’m completely outraged. There is no room in the NBA – or anywhere else – for the kind of racism and hatred that Mr. Sterling allegedly expressed. I am appalled that this type of ignorance still exists within our country and at the highest levels of our sport. In a league where the majority of players are African-American, we cannot and must not tolerate discrimination at any level.”
* Miami Heat star LeBron James on Sterling: “No room for Donald Sterling in our league. As commissioner of our league, you have to make a stand and you have to be very aggressive with it. I don’t know what it’s going to be, but you just can’t have that in our league.”
* Any time White Sox manager Robin Ventura lets a pitcher throw 123 pitches (as left-hander John Danks did Saturday), the hurler better be working on a no-hitter in the ninth inning. And not someone giving up seven hits, four walks and four runs in 5 2/3 innings, as Danks did (with 63 pitches for strikes) in a 4-0 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays at U.S. Cellular field.
* The Cubs placed former closer Jose Veras on the disabled list because of a 15.88 earned-run average in six appearances, including blown saves in his first two chances. Uh, because of a strained oblique (which is a medical term for an inflated ERA, no?)
* Speaking of the Cubs, manager Rick Renteria offered these words after a 5-3 loss to the Brewers in Milwaukee for their fourth consecutive defeat in a 7-16 season: “There have been worse starts in the game of baseball.” Such a comforting thought for a team on pace for a 49-113 season.
* Still speaking of the Cubs, someone figured a way to have a winning home team at Wrigley Field — although Wrigleyville might find Northwestern University’s women’s lacrosse team less of an attraction that the big-league team (or unreasonable facsimile thereof that the Cubs are) that generally inhabits the ballpark.
* Ex-White Sox of the day: A.J. Pierzynski hit a grand slam in Boston’s victory 7-6 at Toronto. He is hitting .277 with four home runs and 12 runs batted in. A reminder that his successor Tyler Flowers is batting a team-leading .388 with one homer and eight RBI.
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