Fast Break
NBA
Arenas scolded for bets with fans
Gilbert Arenas was admonished by the NBA for making $10 bets with fans during the Washington Wizards’ loss at Portland on Wednesday.
“We spoke to Gilbert and explained the issue to him,” NBA spokesman John Acunto said Sunday. “And he assured us he wouldn’t do anything like this again.”
Arenas made the bets as he bantered with fans throughout the Wizards’ 100-98 loss. He was booed during pregame introductions and whenever he touched the ball because he had promised to score 50 points against the Trail Blazers.
After the game, Arenas said he bet a fan $10 that he would make the game-winning basket. He missed badly – throwing up a shot that fell short of the rim – and finished with only 19 points.
NFL
Discipline key topic for league
Roger Goodell’s first full NFL meeting as commissioner is beginning with one item at the top of the agenda: a crackdown on players who get in trouble with the law.
The meetings formally begin today. Goodell is expected to announce, most likely on Tuesday, new and strengthened rules for discipline for what is perceived as an increasing number of players with legal issues.
The new discipline is likely to be harsher, with longer suspensions than the current two or four games, and punishment handed down more quickly.
NFL
League sets attendance mark
The NFL set a paid attendance record for the fifth straight season, surpassing 22 million for the first time.
Total attendance was 22,199,712, up more than 400,000 fans from the 2005 season. That includes playoff games; the regular-season numbers for 2006 were 17,340,879, another record.
The 12 postseason games produced sales of 775,551, including 74,512 for the Super Bowl in Miami.
CHESS
A Final Four for everything
The University of Texas at Dallas won the chess national championship Sunday.
UT-Dallas beat the University of Maryland-Baltimore County, Duke and Miami Dade College in a series of weekend games at a Fort Worth, Texas, hotel that included three rounds of chess with four games per round.
In the end, UT-Dallas came out on top with 10 1/2 points to claim the Presidents Cup chess trophy.
UMBC, winner of the past four titles, came in second, followed by Miami Dade and Duke.