“Everybody became inconsolable,” Ireland said on his radio show on 710 AM in Los Angeles. “Whole plane was crying, praying that we somehow had it wrong or, because we were in a confined space, that somebody was playing a very elaborate, well-executed practical joke.” It fell to Frank Vogel, the head coach, to tell the players, Ireland said. The rest of the long flight, he suggested, passed in an emotional daze.