Sadly, last night's brawl between the Los Angeles Sparks and the Detroit Shock will probably be the only storyline that puts the WNBA above the fold for the rest of the regular season. As far as sports melees go, it was monumental; it involved two of the leagues major stars (Candace Parker, Lisa Leslie) and, fittingly, former Detroit Pistons Bad Boys Rick Mahorn and Bill Laimbeer, who are now coaches for the Shock. Awful Announcing has all the all the giraffe carnage spliced-up for your enjoyment.
Mahorn's pimp shove of Leslie will be scrutinized the most, as the league tries to determine if he was protecting his players and acting as a peacekeeper (as he and many others involved claim) or if he became so caught up in the scrum that he actually purposely pushed the 36-year-old mother to the floor. It's doubtful those were Mahorn's intentions, but Leslie, immediately after the fight, seemed to think otherwise. In a statement after the fight, Mahorn said he was "trying to protect the integrity of the game" and insisted he "would never push a woman." Not on purpose, I guess.
Sparks' Parker at a center of late scuffle [LA Times]
Out of Bounds: Rick Mahorn: Will The Fight Between Candace Parker And Plenette Pierson Change The Scope Of The WNBA? [The Starting Five]