BASKETBALL

In the NBA, since Yao Ming is out of the Western All-Stars, they needed someone to start in his place.  Kevin Love took his roster spot, and now the Western Conference will start Tim Duncan in the middle.  Typically, this wouldn’t be relevant, but this year, the all-stars are expected to try.  Usually the all-star game is a defenseless overblown dunk contest for 2 hours.  But, the star caliber this year is through the roof, and since this has been such a competitive season, there is a lot of speculation that this game could be a throwback to the late 80s, early 90s when the teams were at each others throats to win.  Having Tim Duncan in the middle is a good move for the West, but expect to see Kevin Love in there a lot as well.

Elsewhere in the NBA, with most of the teams done for the All-Star break, the NBA still had one marquee match-up on the board — Chicago vs. San Antonio.  San Antonio is, record wise, the best team in the NBA.  But, they’re at the tail end of a 9-game road trip and some teams out there have truly exposed some of their weaknesses (namely shoddy defense against quick players).  Well, Derrick Rose certainly took advantage of that last night, putting on a pure highlight reel.  Rose had 42 points and 8 assists as they Chicago Bulls simply handed it to the Spurs.  Next up for Derrick Rose — a one-on-one match-up with Chris Paul in the All-Star game.  A match-up that could shed some light on the ‘Who Is The Best Point-Guard In The NBA Argument’.  Chicago 109, San Antonio 99.

WRESTLING

Finally, some very interesting news from the world of High School wrestling.  In Iowa, a female wrestler, Cassy Herkelman, made the State Championship.  She was set to wrestle Joel Northrup, one of the best wrestlers in the state with a 35-4 record.  However, instead of trying to win the championship, Northrup’s biggest dream, he instead opted to forfeit the match and not wrestle a girl.  Northrup cited that wrestling a girl is against his religion because women should be treated with the utmost respect.  He noted that wrestling is a sport that can turn quite violent at times and he wouldn’t feel right or comfortable harming a woman.  Some might be offended by this story (i.e. he should have wrestled a woman and treated her as an equal).  But wrestling is very popular in Iowa, and a mother at the tournament said they are trying to raise kids that are bigger than wrestling — to show them there is a lot more to life.  She said that he felt that strongly about his religion and moral code.