Forget Afghanistan and health care. The big news out of Thursday's White House briefing involved ... basketball. The press secretary, Robert Gibbs, conceded that President Barack Obama had committed a sports faux pas by failing to invite any women to play in a game on the White House court late Thursday afternoon. 'The point is well taken,' Gibbs said, noting that the president, as a father of two daughters, has more than a passing interest in women's equality on playing fields. Gibbs said Obama had played sports with women in the past, and would most likely invite women to the White House to do so in the future. Besides the president, the list of players includes Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and 11 members of the House of Representatives, but only two Republicans -- Jeff Flake of Arizona and John Shimkus of Illinois. Gibbs explained that the roster was drawn from a standing game on Capitol Hill. -- SHERYL GAY STOLBERG PELOSI TAKES ON GOP FOR 'IN HER PLACE' GIBE Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday smacked down the notion -- raised by a Republican statement -- that she needed to be put 'in her place' for her views on Afghanistan. At her weekly briefing, Pelosi, a California Democrat who has expressed a reluctance to approve sending more troops into the war there, said the National Republican Congressional Committee did not understand 'how inappropriate' its comments were. 'I'm in my place,' Pelosi said. 'I'm the speaker of the House, the first woman speaker of the House, and I'm in my place because the House of Representatives voted me there.' She also hinted that the Republican committee might be a little behind the times when it came to gender, reinforcing the opinions of Democratic women who have come to her defense. 'That language is something I haven't even heard in decades,' Pelosi said. The flap started earlier this week, after the committee released a statement calling the speaker 'General Pelosi' and accusing her of believing 'she is better suited to craft our country's military policy' than Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the top commander in Afghanistan. The committee drove home its point by asserting that 'if Nancy Pelosi's failed economic policies are any indicator of the effect she may have on Afghanistan, taxpayers can only hope McChrystal is able to put her in her place.' The committee stood by its earlier statement on Thursday. 'The last time Americans saw this type of outright contempt directed toward a four-star general is when this same San Francisco liberal attempted to undercut Gen. David Petraeus by declaring his successful surge strategy a 'failure,' ' said Joanna Burgos, a spokeswoman for the group. -- BERNIE BECKER 