Nancy Lieberman

Someone told the girl about Rucker Park in Harlem, told her that all the best players gathered there for pickup games. Harlem was two train rides and a long walk from her neighborhood in Queens, but she had fallen in love with basketball ? shooting hoops in the playground each afternoon until dark ? and nothing could keep her from having a look. Taking money from her mother's purse, she announced that she was headed for the park, neglecting to mention which park. She stuffed T-shirts into the shoulders of her coat along the way, trying to make herself look bigger.

Someone told the girl about Rucker Park in Harlem, told her that all the best players gathered there for pickup games. Harlem was two train rides and a long walk from her neighborhood in Queens, but she had fallen in love with basketball ? shooting hoops in the playground each afternoon until dark ? and nothing could keep her from having a look. Taking money from her mother's purse, she announced that she was headed for the park, neglecting to mention which park. She stuffed T-shirts into the shoulders of her coat along the way, trying to make herself look bigger.

Nancy Lieberman, the former Old Dominion All-American guard and 1976 U.S. Olympian, became the first woman to play in a men's professional basketball league game Friday, helping the Springfield Fame to a 135-115 exhibition victory over the Westchester Golden Apples. Lieberman, who announced last week that she had signed with the Fame of the 2-year-old United States Basketball League, a minor summer league, played the entire second and fourth quarters, scoring 10 points with 2 assists.

It was a November Saturday in Minneapolis and it wasn't snowing. What else did local sports fans have to do with their time than line up by the thousands for a Metrodome garage sale? With the Twins moving to an outdoor stadium in 2010, lots of merchandise at the Metrodome was priced to move. There were autographed baseballs, banners celebrating Kirby Puckett's entrance into the baseball Hall of Fame, life-sized cardboard cutouts of Kent Hrbek. Some fans arrived at dawn for an event scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. By the time the gates opened, the line of fans nearly ringed the stadium.

Nancy Lieberman, one of the best players in the history of women's basketball, has signed with the Washington Generals, the long-time foes of the Harlem Globetrotters, officials announced Tuesday. Lieberman, a former Olympic silver medalist and All-American at Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women champion Old Dominion, will join the Generals on their European tour against the Globetrotters. She is expected to match up against Sandra Hodge and Joyce Walker.

The casting call for the U.S. Olympic basketball team seems to have summoned the past, present and future of the women's game for a short, intense conference starting here today. The past? It's here in the form of 33-year-old Nancy Lieberman-Cline, an Olympian in 1976. Lieberman-Cline, basketball legend turned media celebrity, is inexplicably back for one more charge. Then there is Cheryl Miller, the other media celebrity among this field of 56 players.

It's nine men and Nancy Lieberman-Cline on the basketball court. Here she comes, gliding to the top of the key, pretending to see no one open. But only she sees the cutter on her left, breaking to the basket. She looks right and whips a behind-the-back bounce pass to the cutter, who scores an uncontested layup. He gives her a grin and a thumbs-up sign as the ball goes the other way. She is 38 years old. Comeback time.

Nancy Lieberman, former women's professional basketball star, announced she has married Tim Cline, her former teammate on the Washington Generals exhibition basketball team. Lieberman, who will be known as Lieberman-Cline, said she married the 6-foot 8-inch Cline on May 18.

Coach Tom Cable said Wednesday that he has spoken with Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis about allegations that Cable has a history of violent behavior toward women. "What we talked about is between us and we'll keep it that way," he said. Cable said the conversation came within the last two days and that his job status was not discussed. Cable said he planned to coach the team for the rest of the season. The Raiders are undergoing a "serious evaluation" of allegations made to ESPN by Cable's first wife, Sandy Cable , and former girlfriend, Marie Lutz , that the coach physically abused them at various times during their relationships.

Nowhere does the thought of school admissions raise more blood pressures or tingle more spines than in Manhattan: land of the rich, the competitive and -- as Nancy Lieberman's novel "Admissions" tells us loud and clear -- the corrupt. Nowhere does parental love and ambition collide more disturbingly, and nowhere do parents wear their kids' credentials like accessories more shamelessly.

It's nine men and Nancy Lieberman-Cline on the basketball court. Here she comes, gliding to the top of the key, pretending to see no one open. But only she sees the cutter on her left, breaking to the basket. She looks right and whips a behind-the-back bounce pass to the cutter, who scores an uncontested layup. He gives her a grin and a thumbs-up sign as the ball goes the other way. She is 38 years old. Comeback time.

As Cheryl Miller walked through the parking lot, a close friend shouted back at a group of reporters, who were in pursuit. "Let's just say it's good news," she said, smiling. "She'll talk to you tomorrow at the press conference." The friend was talking about today's news conference for the survivors of Saturday's first cut here at the U.S. Olympic women's basketball trials.

Five-year-old Kevin Charles Grentz has been doing some thinking about his upcoming summer vacation in Barcelona, Spain. He hadn't said much about it, though. Kevin knew that his mother was going to be working there during the Olympics. She is coaching the women's basketball team, and he and his brother Karl are going along. So Theresa Grentz was surprised when Kevin brought up the topic recently. "We don't talk about the Olympics a lot at my house," she said.

The casting call for the U.S. Olympic basketball team seems to have summoned the past, present and future of the women's game for a short, intense conference starting here today. The past? It's here in the form of 33-year-old Nancy Lieberman-Cline, an Olympian in 1976. Lieberman-Cline, basketball legend turned media celebrity, is inexplicably back for one more charge. Then there is Cheryl Miller, the other media celebrity among this field of 56 players.

It was hardly a rousing debut, but Nancy Lieberman became the first woman to play in a regular season men's professional basketball game Tuesday night as the Springfield Fame of the United States Basketball League beat Staten Island, 122-107. Lieberman went into the game with 3:40 left in the first half and the Fame leading, 54-40. Her one scoring opportunity ended in a turnover when she declined Staten Island's invitation to try driving the lane and tried unsuccessfully to pass off.

The United States is overflowing with talented women's basketball players, perhaps the world's best. But who are they? With NBA stars playing now in the Olympics, USA Basketball administrators are concerned that the gifted women will be overshadowed at Barcelona. Susan Blackwood, head of the Women's Games Committee, said the organization has addressed the problem, but offered no solutions. Nancy Lieberman also considered the situation. Her conclusions: "Men perpetuate men," she said.

Nancy Lieberman's indoctrination into international basketball went something like this: During a qualifying tournament in Hamilton, Canada, before the 1976 Summer Games, a sharpshooting Bulgarian guard was unstoppable, and the U.S. women were on the verge of losing an Olympic berth. In desperation, Coach Billie Moore sent Lieberman into the game with instructions.