BASKETBALL

In the NBA, a day of doom.  Yesterday, the NBA lockout was declared official.  Why?  Basically because the players and the league couldn’t agree on any terms.  They couldn’t even come close.  There were talks leading up to this strike, with the Lakers’ Derek Fisher representing the face of the players.  But they simply couldn’t make peace on anything.  There are huge disputes on player salaries, rookie wages, revenue sharing, etc… Pretty much any issue that has been festering as a problem the last few years has come to a fever pitch.  This recent season was a fantastic for the league — just amazing basketball all around, but the league also lost a lot of money.  The Thunder’s Kevin Durant said that the players will fight for what’s right and will not give in… no matter how long it takes.

But before the lockout began, there was one last free agent move.  Perhaps the last one we’ll see for a while.  The Cleveland Cavaliers sent their athletic young big-man J.J. Hickson (only 22) to the Sacramento Kings in exchange for Israeli Omri Casspi.  Hickson was once projected to be a serious powerhouse at power forward in this league, and the Cavs believed he could become a key franchise component.  But his inconsistent play and questionable conditioning drove the coaches crazy.  When the Cavs drafted Texas big man Tristan Thompson with the 4th pick, there was a major crowd at the power forward position, and someone would have to go.  They chose Hickson to leave town and received another promising player in Casspi plus a draft pick.  This now gives the Kings a very good prospect to go along with a bunch of other budding young stars (Tyreke Evans, DeMarcus Cousins, and now… Jimmer Fredette).

BASEBALL

Some interleague play for the New York Yankees, which featured a marvelous night from Yankees star pitcher C.C. Sabathia.  He struck out a career high 13 batters and looked nothing short of dominant on the mound.  Also, Mark Teixeira hit a home run blast to left field, giving him his 300th career home run.  The Yankees easily cruised to a victory, which makes it 5 straight for the boys in pin stripe.  The Yanks have some serious competition at the top of the AL East with the Boston Red Sox, but lately, New York has looked phenomenal.  It will be interesting to see which team wants it more post the all-star break.  NY Yankees 5, Milwaukee 0.