Pro Basketball Pistons fire Curry as coach after disappointing season The Detroit Pistons fired coach Michael Curry yesterday as the team started rebuilding from an unpopular trade, a sub-.500 record and an embarrassing first-round exit from the playoffs that ended its six-year streak of making it to the conference finals.
The Pistons went 39-43 and were swept in the postseason in four lopsided losses to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Joe Dumars , the team's president for basketball operations, said after that series that Curry would return, but changed his mind about the fate of his former Pistons teammate.
Pistons spokesman Kevin Grigg said the timetable for naming a new coach was up in the air.
¢ Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said that he won't ever be the coach of the Los Angeles Lakers.
Krzyzewski said he is "not going to the Lakers" and that he won't leave Duke "until I leave coaching."
Legal file Stallworth's 911 tape released; report links him to marijuana Cleveland Browns wide receiver Donte Stallworth said on a 911 call that the man he struck and killed while driving drunk came out of nowhere.
Stallworth is serving a 30-day jail sentence after pleading guilty to DUI manslaughter in the March 14 death of 59-year-old Mario Reyes in Miami. Stallworth will serve two years under house arrest after his release from jail and has been suspended indefinitely by the NFL.
Attorney David Cornwell, who is representing Stallworth, released a statement after the Miami Herald reported on its Web site, citing unidentified sources, that the receiver tested positive for marijuana after the accident.
Cornwell stated any facts surrounding the case that might soon become public were fully known by law enforcement officers, prosecutors, defense attorneys and the judge when the plea agreement was reached.
On the 911 call released Monday, Stallworth describes how the victim "just ran in front of my car."
¢ A judge sentenced Denver Nuggets guard J.R. Smith to 90 days in jail for causing an auto accident that killed his friend, though Smith will likely end up serving only 30.
Municipal Judge Debra J. Gelson suspended 60 days of the sentence so long as Smith performs 500 hours of community service.
Smith admitted driving an SUV through a stop sign and colliding with a car about 20 miles east of Trenton, N.J., in June 2007. Passenger Andre Bell later died of his injuries.
Colleges Ohio State places 10th in national rankings of athletic programs Ohio State finished 10th in the 2008-09 Directors' Cup standings, a ranking of the nation's most successful athletic departments.
Teams that qualify for NCAA championships earn points. Football teams earn points by how they finished in the USA Today poll. Stanford won the competition for the 15th straight year.
Tenth place was OSU's highest finish since 2004. The Buckeyes have placed in the top 10 four times previously: in 1997 (tie for eighth), 2001 (sixth), 2003 (third) and 2004 (fourth).
North Carolina was second behind Stanford, followed by Florida, Southern California and Michigan to round out the top five.
¢ The Ohio State women's basketball team will open its 2009-10 season with a preseason WNIT game against Eastern Illinois at 5 p.m. Nov. 13 in Value City Arena. The winner will move on to play the winner of Bowling Green-Chicago State on Nov. 15 or 16 at a site to be determined.
The Buckeyes and the other 15 teams in the tournament are guaranteed three games. Losing teams move into a consolation bracket. To play for the championship, a team must win four consecutive games.
Elsewhere New management team takes reins of IRL, Indianapolis speedway ¢ Tony George's tenure as the leader of U.S. open-wheel racing and its biggest stage, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, is over.
The board of directors overseeing the speedway and Hulman & Co. announced that a new management team will take over both entities beginning today. George is out as president and CEO of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and his family's business, although he will remain on the board.
¢ The Senate plans to hold a hearing next week looking into antitrust issues surrounding college football's Bowl Championship Series.
It will be the second hearing on the BCS held on Capitol Hill this year, after a contentious one in the House in May.
The Senate Judiciary Committee Web site says the hearing will be Tuesday in the committee's subcommittee on antitrust, competition policy and consumer rights.
-- From staff and wire reports