Jobless fans face Net losses

Times were already tough enough for the country's unemployed workers.

But now the New Jersey Nets have hatched a plan that will force out-of-work hoops fans to endure additional suffering -- they'll have to attend Nets games, where they'll be subjected to a sometimes frightening brand of basketball.

The Newark Star-Ledger reports the team will give unemployed fans who submit their resumes to the Nets Job Bank up to four free tickets, along with access to a Nov. 22 career fair at the Nets' home arena. The team also will distribute applicants' resumes to its sponsors.

"Hopefully they'll come out and experience the Nets, and then when times get better they'll invest in us, because we invested in them," New Jersey team president and CEO Brett Yormark said.

The Nets will make 300 tickets available for each of five selected games at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, N.J., for those who register for the program.

No word if any of the five unemployed Nets fans scattered across the country are planning to enroll in the program -- or form their own team to replace the current New Jersey squad.

• DON'T MESS WITH TEXAS TECH COACH -- Coach Mike Leach is quite the offensive innovator on the football field and, it appears, quite an offensive character off it.

Former Minnesota coach Glen Mason told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune about an experience he had with the Texas Tech coach a few years back during a trip to New York City:

"We had dinner at a very nice Manhattan restaurant the night before. Leach showed up in khaki pants, an Under Armour T-shirt and a sports coat," Mason said. "We walked around for an hour after dinner and were headed back to the hotel. Leach said he was going to stay out for a while.

"The next day, we get to NASDAQ, Leach shows up, and he's in the same clothes. I honestly think he had been out all night. We all were told to say a few words but keep it to no more than 30 seconds ... . (When) Leach gets the mike, he says, 'I don't have much to add, so as we say in Lubbock, 'Guns up!'

"He shouts it, and people on the floor hear 'guns,' and they are ducking for cover, and security is running around."

• LOW AND INSIDE -- The next time Lhyvann Felipe goes to a batting cage, he might want to wear a cup. Then again, maybe not.

A Miami-Dade jury recently awarded almost $1.2 million to the 21-year-old Felipe, who was hit in the groin by a batting cage pitch, the Miami Herald reported. The jury decided last week the Sluggers batting cage operation in West Miami-Dade negligently failed to properly supervise its employees.

Felipe, 19 at the time of the incident, was hit by a 60 mph pitch, said his attorney, Gabriel M. Sanchez, and was hospitalized several days later.

The ball struck Felipe after an employee asked him to go back into the cage to help pick up the balls. The machine, which had completed its cycle and did not have the pitch indicator light on, spit out the ball that hit him.

The judgment called for Felipe to be paid $160,000 for medical expenses and $1 million for pain and suffering -- which, most men would agree, was well-deserved.

COMPILED BY TODD DEWEY REVIEW-JOURNAL