Sure, the WNBA brawl Tuesday was at the Palace in Auburn Hills, Mich.,
evoking memories of a kindred league's low point.  And no one really
wants to watch Candace Parker and Lisa Leslie mix it up regularly, nor
see Cheryl Ford injured.  But all things considered - or at least
considered by several columnists - the brawl between the Los Angeles
Sparks and Detroit Shock wasn't so bad.

"It was, in the classic sense, one of those things that occasionally
happens when highly competitive people want the same thing and one
can't have it, " Ray Ratto writes.  "Plus, actual hands were thrown, as
opposed to those grab-someone-and-stand-still moments which are
baseball's specialties.  And given that this was either the first brawl
in WNBA history or damned close to it, we can also see it as the
aberration that it was.  It was the stuff of stuff-happens, and to get
one's Under Armour in a bunch over it is exactly the wrong
overreaction.  But it was also a gender-neutral nostalgia-fest, a more
ground-bound Lakers-Pistons battle from the late '80s when the Lakers
were winding down and the Pistons were trying to overthrow the
established order.  It is, in fact, touching in a weird way that the
coaches were Bill Laimbeer and Michael Cooper."

Los Angeles Times columnist Helene Elliott focuses on the female
combatants and the marketing slogans they overturned.  "It forces us to
think about the ways we perceive female athletes - and the way female
athletes perceive themselves, " Ms. Elliott writes.  "The WNBA came of
age this week, during its 12th season, when the Sparks and Shock
displayed the raw passion that's usually ascribed only to men.  Give me
that emotion and drive any day, not the supposed ‘purity' and teamwork
the WNBA has promoted as its strong points."

USA Today's Christine Brennan cites Danica Patrick's fiery post race
comportment and fierce tennis serves as further evidence that the
daughters of Title IX play just as fearlessly as their brothers.
"Toughness truly knows no gender anymore, " Ms. Brennan writes.  "When
a soccer star shatters both bones in the lower leg in a violent
collision with a defender, you'd expect the player to writhe in agony,
at least for a few minutes.  There would have to be some tears, too,
male or female, right ?  Not necessarily.  Abby Wambach, the nation's
best player, calmly lay on the field after her gruesome injury last
week, helping the trainer and doctors while telling a teammate before
she was carted off to score the winning goal.  Never has an injured
athlete lost more - a trip to the Olympics - while looking more in
control.  Of course her teammate did exactly as told."

Five Sparks players and five Detroit Shock players, along with Shock
assistant coach Rick Mahorn, are suspended after on-court melee.

By Dan Arritt, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer July 25, 2008

The WNBA suspended five Sparks players, including Candace
Parker and Lisa Leslie, and five Detroit Shock players and assistant
coach Rick Mahorn Thursday for their involvement in an on-court fight
in Tuesday's game.

As a result, the Sparks were without four starters, including Olympians
Parker, Leslie and DeLisha Milton-Jones for their game against the
Connecticut Sun on Thursday night at Mohegan Sun Arena. The Sparks
lost, 87-61, to the Sun.

Parker, Leslie and Milton-Jones were suspended one game each for
throwing punches toward the end of a 84-81 victory over the Shock, and
starting point guard Shannon Bobbitt and reserve forward Murriel Page
were suspended two games for leaving the bench area and making contact
with Mahorn.

Page's suspension will begin tonight at New York. Shock forward
Plenette Pierson received a four-game suspension and Mahorn was
suspended two games for escalating the altercation.  Four other players
from the Shock were suspended one game for leaving the bench area.

"None of us can recall an incident like this, " WNBA President Donna
Orender said.

Said Parker: "It was just emotions spilling over and I was just happy
that we came out with the victory."

Sparks Coach Michael Cooper said, "You have to play the game by the
rules and anybody that came off the bench or threw a punch, you have to
live with the repercussions."

The skirmish began with 4.6 seconds left in Tuesday's game.  Pierson,
standing next to Parker as Sparks guard Marie Ferdinand-Harris shot a
free throw, forcefully slid her hip into Parker. They tangled arms as
they headed up court, causing both players to fall.  Pierson quickly
rose to her feet and stood over Parker, who then pulled Pierson to the
ground.

"[Pierson] was clearly the aggressor, " Orender said.

As both benches emptied, Leslie came to Parker's aid but was restrained
by Mahorn.  Leslie appeared to take a right-hand swing at Mahorn, who
put his left hand out, causing Leslie to fall.

Milton-Jones then slapped Mahorn in the back, and Bobbitt and Page
pushed him in the chest.

"As a team, we're incensed that Rick Mahorn was suspended, " Detroit
Coach Bill Laimbeer told the Associated Press.

Renee Brown, vice president of player personnel for the WNBA, said that
Mahorn was initially the peacemaker, but "he just took it a step too
far.  When he pushed Lisa down, it escalated the situation."

Shock forward Cheryl Ford re-injured her right knee while pulling
Pierson away from the fracas and suffered a season-ending torn
ligament.

Detroit, without its suspended players, lost to Houston, 79-61, on
Thursday.

dan.arr...@latimes.com

if that had been an NBA game, and a player would have puss'd out and
threw their girlie punches at the coach, he would have been gone for a
LONG ass time.

"As a team, we're incensed that Rick Mahorn was suspended, " Detroit
Coach Bill Laimbeer told the Associated Press.

STFU Bill.

(Not you, $Bill)