I'm flipping around between the Wizards, Pacers and Bulls games (who wins and loses determines who will play where in the playoffs; basically, the Wizards are trying to avoid playing the Heat), and at halftime I hop online. And I see a story that, to be honest, isn't surprising and actually makes total sense on second glance, just not on first glance. Since the sexual assault scandal broke last month, Duke lacrosse gear is flying off the shelves at the campus store. "Three or four times our normal rate'' over the past month, says a campus store official. The gear is also still available on the school website.

Why not a surprise? The story gives some pretty logical reasons, including reasons why sales should not be restricted or halted at all, and an explanation why one national chain (with stores here in this area) pulled its Duke lacrosse gear from its local stores.

Plus, not to go back over well-trodden ground, but two years ago, you couldn't walk two feet without seeing someone with some kind of Kobe Bryant gear on, even while he was in the middle of his sexual assault trial. The NBA's official numbers said that Bryant's jersey sales fell precipitously, and they did by their calculations, which included sales at the Manhattan NBA Store and on league websites. But somehow, plenty of people got a hold of them (knockoffs, anyone?) and wore them proudly. In L.A. for the All-Star Game in '04, it seemed like every other person in town was wearing something Kobe. That included hometown fans, of course, but fans who traveled to the game. The reasoning then was pretty much identical to the reasoning given for those snatching up Duke lacrosse gear.

Want more? It's still not uncommon to see people wearing O.J. throwback jerseys, either USC or Buffalo Bills. There's probably a 49ers throwback around if you look hard enough.

So, again, not a big surprise whatsoever about the Duke gear. It would be interesting to know, though, where it's selling outside of the Durham area. Gotta figure there's some selling here, and in Long Island, upstate New York, north Jersey and Connecticut, the other lacrosse hotbeds. Who else around the country, especially in places where they had never thought twice about lacrosse until last month, feels strongly enough about this case either way to buy the gear for whatever reason? Just curious.

And on the other side of it ... is anyone buying up North Carolina Central gear?

Enough on that. The Wizards lead the Pistons in Detroit by 10 going into the fourth quarter. Looks like it's LeBron and the Cavaliers in the first round.