NBA star (and one-time rapper) Kobe Bryant is the latest sports star to take a firm pro-gay stand publicly.

It's Labor Day. Here's a video of dogs playing basketball.

NBA legend and star of the 1996 film Kazaam Shaquille O'Neal received his doctoral degree in education this weekend from Barry University, a private Catholic school located in Miami.

Maggie Meier, who went into a coma after suffering a seizure in 2008, was somehow still able to shoot a beach ball through a hoop while in her, to use a Margaret Atwood-ism, fallow state. Meier had played basketball for years, and doctors believe that the motion of shooting a basket was so deeply ingrained in her that she was able to do it without thinking.

Outside her New York hotel today, a smiling Sarah Palin proved that she has finally conquered her possibly crippling fear of Asians. Jeremy Lin for leader of the free world.

Allison Samuels is a senior writer at Newsweek. Shaquille O'Neal is a very large former basketball player. Together, they are: super friends!

Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts thought it would be a good — again, that's good — idea yesterday to ramble for 10+ minutes yesterday on the Senate floor about his fantasy game of basketball with President Obama, during which they would discuss policy. This is the only way to get the president's attention, he larfed. Hehe, yesiree. What?

Ron Artest is sick of his name. (Wouldn't you be? Does he look like a Ron? Rons work in accounting, they aren't star forwards for the Lakers.) The LA Times has copies of the legal paperwork filed to officially change his name to "Metta World Peace."

Back in February—when he wasn't cozying up courtside to Rihanna—Justin Bieber participated in the NBA's Celebrity All-Star Game. It seems like SNL's Jason Sudeikis wasn't impressed with Bieber's skills considering he had this to say about his teen opponent on tonight's Jimmy Kimmel Live!: "I didn't even know it was him for the first two quarters, I thought it was a Make-A-Wish situation." [via Vulture]

After he was slapped with a technical foul during a LA Lakers game last night, Kobe Bryant directed a homophobic slur at the referee who made the call, shouting "fucking faggot" at the ref from the bench.

Congrats to the UConn Huskies, who trampled the Butler Bulldogs beneath their powerful paws to take their third NCAA Championship title. The final score was 53-41. Exchange monies accordingly. [SI.com]

During a time out during yesterday's match between Richmond and Morehead State on CBS, commenter TVGenius noticed something funny playing in the background—Rebecca Black's now-infamous "Friday." We're unable to tell which band was playing the tune, but well played to whichever team it was!

Brandon Davies, star center for BYU's nationally-ranked basketball team, has been suspended for the rest of the season for breaking the Mormon school's honor code by having pre-marital sex. Davies apologized to his team this week. But the only thing he has to be sorry about is that he didn't pick a better school.

Students at a college basketball game took to the floor in a mass pillow fight during halftime. Why? Because they're crazy college kids. Looks like some of the participants got a little overzealous though.

This must be every basketball payer's worst nightmare. Hopefully, this guy wasn't seriously injured. But lying stunned on the floor, covered in shards of glass might affect his dunking skills for a while.

Last night was an inspiring night in basketball, even if you don't care about basketball. Caltech, a Division III school, ended their 26-year, 310-game losing streak in a defeat over Occidental College. The game ended at 46-45. Go Beavers!

Basketball games are among the best places for spotting celebrities in the wild. Since the famous folk frequent court side seats, the view is often unobstructed; the lighting is good; cameras are welcome; and, due to the magic of assigned seating, they often end up interacting with unexpected members of their flock. Case in point: At last night's NBA All-Stars game, Justin Bieber sat next to Rihanna.

A basketball player gets some applause after breaking a backboard with a slam dunk, but after such a nasty drop those men should have risen to their feet to see if the player needed help.

12-year-old basketball prodigy Jordan McCabe brought his impressive ball-handling skills to the hallways of ESPN the other day... and no one really cared. For a network dedicated to watching sports, they are surprisingly uninterested.

Meet Wild Bill, a staple at Utah State games who happens to be a big a Disney fan. Here he dresses up like Mrs. Potts from Beauty and the Beast and gets the crowd to distract the opposing team by singing "I'm a Little Teapot" from the stands.