National Basketball Association

Daily Buzz: Z-Bo's labor of love

Published Nov. 7, 2013 12:00 a.m. ET

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Sam Gardner

If you have Memphis Grizzlies forward Zach Randolph on your fantasy team like I do, you probably found yourself scratching your head Wednesday night at his curious stat line — two points, no rebounds and one assist with just 7:53 on the court.

But as it turns out, Z-Bo had a perfectly good reason for his paltry performance in Memphis’ 99-84 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans: He left midway through the game to attend the birth of his child.

At 8:44 p.m. ET Wednesday, less than an hour after tipoff, Ronald Tillery of the Memphis Commercial Appeal reported that Randolph had left the FedEx Forum because his fiancee, Faune Drake, had gone into labor.

The team then made Randolph’s departure official with a report given to the media:

Less than an hour later, the news came that Randolph’s son had been born:

On Tuesday, just one day before the birth of her son, Drake tweeted a photo of herself, along with Randolph’s two daughters, MacKenley and MaZiya, with the caption, "Team Us!! Girls Rule until Our Baby Boy Come!!!"

Well, that baby boy finally came, and it’s refreshing to see that his dad didn’t let a basketball game stop him from being there when it happened. Congrats to Randolph and Drake on their new little boy, and take all the time you need getting back. My fantasy team will get by.

Now, for some links:

• A Colgate freshman basketball player lost a year of eligibility over a church league game, but the NCAA has since reversed that decision.

• Miami Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria sold a painting for $32 million — or, about $7 million less than the Marlins' entire 2013 payroll.

• This Funny or Die skit on the Nets’ “Old School” approach is pretty great:

• A fan at the United Center stole Adam Pardy’s helmet after he was checked through the glass Wednesday:

• Want to buy some hair from Troy Polamalu?

• Hooters says it will throw a party for the middle school football team whose coach was fired for wanting to have a party at the restaurant.

• Yasiel Puig's reckless driving charge from April has been dismissed. He was accused of doing 97 in a 50-mph zone.

• I think he was expecting a different kind of Wizard:

• Barack Obama’s dogs posed with the Stanley Cup:

• If you are wondering what LeBron thinks about Rob Ford smoking crack — and I know you are — you can find the answer here.

• Stephen Drew's World Series win got the, um, seal of approval from the New England Aquarium.

• Tony Dorsett appeared on a New York radio station Wednesday and talked about his deteriorating quality of life.

• A little history lesson from Kyle Flood:

• David DeJesus’ wife has plans now that her husband has signed a new deal with the Rays:

• Dabo Swinney is one of a growing number of college football coaches to trademark his own name.

• Meet Southern Cal’s new hoops mascots:

• Elsewhere at USC, Ed Orgeron rewarded the football team with In-N-Out after it beat Oregon State:

• The Wilf family owes $15 million in legal fees stemming from their fraud case.

• A 17-year-old Texas high school football player was expelled from the school after sexual assault allegations brought forward by the parents of a 13-year-old girl.

• Florida's latest season-ending injury came courtesy of a scooter crash.

• Watch Aaron Rodgers surprise a young woman living with spina bifida:

• Nothing says “Gettysburg Address” like minor league hockey:

• A professional boxer is on life support after suffering a stroke following a Saturday fight at Madison Square Garden.

• A minor league hockey team's long-haired, redheaded star is tough to miss.

• Missouri’s offensive line dances to Christmas music on Thursdays, apparently:

• Lost Lettermen looked into the history of Alabama's little people football managers.

• The Philadelphia 76ers are completely retooling Nerlens Noel's shot.

• Pitt has an interesting strategy for getting ready for Notre Dame:

• Les Miles doesn’t have time for your red lights:

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