Built Ford Tough

In Duke's win over Michigan State tonight, Coach K suprassed Bob Knight as the most winningest coach in NCAA Division 1 history. Congratulations to arguably the best coach in all of basketball; college or professional. I'm not much of a Duke fan, but you can't help to respect the career that he has managed to put together. It was also nice to see so many of his former players, such as Grant Hill, Carlos Boozer, Shane Battier, Mike Dunleavy and Chris Duhon in attendance to witness this record breaking game.

A great way to wrap up the Tip-Off Marathon tonight. Game starts in about 15-20 minutes. Looking forward to seeing some of the Wildcats freshman, particularly Anthony Davis (who had an amazing debut) and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. It should also be an interesting dynamic seeing the relatively inexperienced Cats going up the experienced Hawks. Anyways, I'll likely be watching this on the computer while watching the Leafs game on tv. If anybody is interested in a link to watch it online, let me know and I'll post one, assuming I can get a good one.

Well, Miller basically just iced the game. Got a bucket to extend the lead to 9 points with just over a minute left. Time to switch over to Texas to get my first glimpse of Myck Kabongo in live action.

Baylor's lead got cut down to 6 at one point, but they brought Miller back in and it is now back up to 10 with around 5:30 left after a Miller layup. I just started watching so I can't really comment on much, but I don't understand how this game is even semi-close. SDSU is shooting below 30% from the field, have 3 second chance points to Baylor's 12 and Baylor has 16 points off of turnovers. Just looking at the numbers, this game should be a blowout, but SDSU is hanging in it.

10 minutes left in the 2nd half. Baylor is up 50-39. Quincy Miller has around 14 points and 5 rebounds so far for the Bears. He is playing the 4 for them, rather than his natural small forward, due to the absence of Perry Jones III. If anybody is interested in watching, you can watch it here: http://atdhenet.tv/41265/watch-san-diego-st-vs-baylor

It is also less formal and legitimate than a true decertification that requires a full players vote and 45 days. It is also much more likely to be called a sham and be used against the players than if they had gone on to decertify. So no, it is not the same thing. Hunter went this route because he knew that if he tried to sell the players on decertifying that there was a very good possibility that it would be shot down and if that happened, he would have no choice but to accept the proposal and give in to Stern. His ego won't let him and he has to come out of this with the idea that he "beat" Stern (Stern likely has the same opinion when it comes to Hunter). By doing this, he also manages to preserve his $2.5M salary as opposed to decertifying, which would result in him losing his entire salary, something that he would never do (as Shane Battier called him out on in June or July).

Except they aren't the same thing. Yeah, the union is disolved, but a decertification and a disclaimer of interest aren't the same thing. The players (all 450 some odd) have to vote for decertification in order for it to go through. There is also a 45 day period after the petition is filed before it is official. A disclaimer of interest doesn't require a vote from all players and takes effect immediately, which is exactly why they went this route. Hunter knew that if he went the decertification route there was a very good chance that the players would vote it down. This ESPN article explains the difference much better than I could ever dream of, so rather than making an ass out of myself, I'll leave it to people who actually know what they are talking about. http://espn.go.com/espn/commentary/story/_/page/munson-111114/questions-answers-nba-players-announcing-disclaim-their-union

The current deal was basically the exact same as the CBA that just expired for the next two seasons. It wasn't until the 3rd year of the CBA that any of the real changes kicked in, such as the increased luxury tax. They wouldn't have to blow anything up for at least another 2 years, by which point they would've had enough turnover (whether it is from trades, signings, expirings, etc...) that it likely wouldn't even have been an issue. Even then, the Lakers are a perfect example of why the CBA that just expired is broken. They have a payroll that is nearly $20M more than the 2nd highest team in the Orlando Magic. Having a payroll that is nearly $40M over the "salary cap" is an absolute joke. Nobody is stopping them from continuing to have an outlandish payroll, either. If owners like Arison, Buss or Cuban want to, they can continue to spend as much money as they want. It is just going to cost them more than a lousy dollar for dollar tax. The owners got absolutely bent over backwards in the previous CBA negotiations and they were just looking to get on a more even playing field. As far as I am concerned, the system is broken when you have teams spending $30-40M over the cap, players forcing their way out of their current teams like Anthony did to Denver and so on and so forth. Are the owners being greedy in their own right? Absolutely. They may very well regret not giving into the players a bit, but considering how badly they had it in the last CBA negotiations, I can understand where they are coming from. I can also understand why the players are so reluctant to accept this deal considering how great they had it over the duration of the previous CBA. That doesn't mean I don't think they aren't idiots for accepting this deal because it certainly wasn't terrible from everything I have heard and read about it.

Why would the owners let them if that is the case? If I was an owner and the players came crawling back to me wanting to accept this deal, I would tell them to get bent. They had the chance at having the soft cap, 50/50 BRI split and all of the salary cap exceptions, but now I would push for a hard cap, a BRI that favours me and all the other things that they wanted at first. EDIT: Realized I forgot to actually answer your question, haha. The answer is yes, they can. They won't, but they can.

Because the talent is clearly there. He has had stretches where he has looked like a number one goalie in his career, but his confidence is absolutely shot and the Leafs play like garbage in front of him because they have no confidence in him. If he gets in the right system, I think he could become a starter. Put him on a team that isn't a complete disaster in their own end or on the PK, doesn't give up 5 breakaways a game and get him with a goalie coach who actually lets him play his game, rather than having somebody like Allaire force his style on him and I think he could be a starter. Clearly I'm not saying that he is going to be a top 10 goalie or anything, but I don't see why he can't become a Jose Theodore like goalie and play in a 1A/1B type of tandem. He has his flaws, but he is also very talented and maybe getting out of Toronto would help him with his mental state. Much less talented goalies than him have been able to become decent starters in the league, so its not like it is laughable to think that he can be a 50 or so game goalie on a team like Ottawa, Florida, Columbus etc...

No suspension for Lucic for his hit on Ryan Miller the other night. Don't really think I agree with the decision. I'm not like one of those idiots calling for a 10 game suspension or anything, but he easily could've avoided hitting Miller but instead absolutely leveled him. You can't even call it incidental contact or anything like that either, since he clearly meant to hit him given his post game comments and the smirk he had on his face afterwards. I think he should've got a game or two, but I'm not up in arms over him not getting suspended.

Season is done. It isn't official or anything, but Stern and Hunter have basically both said as much. Also, Stern seems absolutely pissed during his press conference right now. Kobe looked like he wanted to strangle every single player on the stage with him during the players press conference.

This face has to be on the banner. http://www.nationofblue.com/content/attachments/1767-anthony-davis2011_150a.jpg

Honestly, I think the players made a gigantic mistake by doing this, unless it is just a negotiation ploy on their behalf to try and get the owners to give in a bit more (which is moronic in its own right, since many owners were against this deal in the first place). Even if that is the case, it is a huge risk to take as I fully believe that the owners won't have any problem with letting this get taken to court. I certainly believe that if it does go that far, the owners will win if it goes to court and the players will end up getting a much, much worse deal than what they would have gotten had they simply accepted the offer today. If the court rules in favor of the owners, the players could wind up getting absolutely obliterated in the next CBA as they will pretty much be forced to accept a hard cap, less than 50/50 BRI split and basically, take a giant dong up the ass. Of course I could be completely wrong and the players may have a great case and it will be the owners who get screwed. I don't claim to be an expert on this by any means.

After meeting earlier today, the owners' latest proposal was shot down by the players, which means the lockout will continue. They also are going to be filing for a Notice of Disclaimer, which means that there is no more NBPA, the players will be forming a trade association and will be suing the NBA either today or tomorrow. Basically, it sounds like this is now out of the players and owners hands, and will be settled in court.

I heard that the Dark Brotherhood quests were a bit of a let down in Skyrim compared to Oblivion. Is this true? I certainly hope not as the DB was without a doubt my favourite part of Oblivion. That one quest were you were locked in the house and had to kill the other guests without anybody knowing was easily my favourite quest in the entire game. I really hope that the DB isn't a let down in Skyrim. I picked this up after work yesterday, but I haven't played it yet so I can only go off of what I have read.

Not really. From what I have read, last week at a meeting the player reps were given a powerpoint presentation of the owner's proposal. After the presentation was over, some players asked for a hard copy that they could go back and give to their teammates, but the NBAPA denied their request and wouldn't give them a hard copy. If that is true, this just seems like Stern is taking matters into his own hands this time and ensuring that any player who wants to see the entire proposal has the opportunity to.

It is a shame that the Ben Henderson/Clay Guida fight wasn't televised. That was an awesome fight and really showcased how entertaining MMA can be. On another note, after Alistair Overeem pummels Brock Lesnar into retirement in December, it is going to be a war between him and JDS. Arguably the best boxer in MMA against the undisputed best kickboxer in MMA? I can't wait for that fight to happen.

Juinor Dos Santos has absolute dynamite in his hands. Holy shit! Guy is an absolute animal. Dropped Cain with a huge right to the temple and absolutely swarmmed on him to put him away and become the new UFC Heavyweight Champion. EDIT: Wow. I just realized I used "absolute(ly)" 3 times in about 3 sentences.

Big John McCarthy as the ref? I'm getting flashbacks back to the Sylvia/Arlovski days of running through the heavyweight division.

Amazing fight between Henderson and Guida. So excited to see Bendo vs. Edgar for the title. That fight is going to be absolutely unreal. That is going to be one very, very fast paced fight.

Bozak finally puts one in the back of the net after an amazing play from Lupul to stay onside. He pretty much did the splits to get his skate on the blue line. It was also a pretty nice shot from Bozak, who has looked pretty good on the top line this season, in my opinion.

The other day (Wed I think) he had probably his best game of the season. 22 points, 9 rebounds and 3 blocks on 8/9 shooting and 6/6 from the line in 33 minutes against one of the better teams in the Lithuanian league. Then he followed it up with an even better game that saw him put up 25 points, 12 rebounds and 6 blocks on 8/10 shooting and 9/9 from the free throw line Highlights from the 25 point, 12 rebound game: Not much in terms of Valanciunas, but I guess it is better than nothing.

There was never actually a deal (and for good reason, that is awful for the Jackets). It was just a rumour and people ran with it after the Jackets/Blues trade of Russell for Nikitin, which is true.

Who cares that an assistaint coach of a well respected university was committing sex crimes against young boys and members of the universty basically covered it up? Are you really this stupid, or is it just an act?