The NBA will be cancelling at least two more weeks of its season, according to a person familiar with the league's plans.
The source told the Daily News that the announcement will be made by the league on Tuesday.
With talks broken off between the owners and players, and the two sides far apart on major "system" issues, the cancellations are expected to total at least 102 more games, through Nov. 28. No further talks are in the works.
The league made its first cancellations, totalling 100 games and running from the Nov. 1 season opener through Nov. 14, on Oct. 10. Commissioner David Stern had said last week on WFAN that he thought that the league’s showcase Christmas Day games would be cancelled if a deal had not been reached by last Tuesday.
But even with the impasse at the bargaining table, the feeling is that the league still thinks it can get a deal and save its traditional Christmas games. Included in that is the Knicks-Boston game at the Garden. Locked-out NBA players say they want to return to the bargaining table, but that they are not going to accept the owners’ precondition of accepting a 50-50 split to be able to resume talks.
"I will call them to see if they want to get back together," Billy Hunter said on Bill Simmons' ESPN podcast Monday. "But if they still say they'll only meet if I accept their 50-50 (proposal), to me that's a non-starter. I can't agree to meet if I don’t know what is going to happen on the other issues. That is intolerable."
Owners and players have not talked since they left their last round of negotiations dug in on various "system" issues dealing with a new harder salary cap favored by owners and the preservation of the soft cap favored by players.
During the last session, owners rejected the players’ demands on the critical issue of "give-backs." For taking less of the split of $4 billion, and lowering their demands to 52.5% of the revenue, players wanted to use that to trade for more favorable features in the system.
"What we told the players is that we could not trade one for the other," said NBA deputy commissioner Adam Silver, after owners raised their offer on the split to 50-50. According to commissioner David Stern, it will take a month to put the new collective bargaining agreement in writing, conduct free agency for upwards of 150 players, and run a short training camp and an abbreviated preseason schedule. In the best-case scenario, Stern has said, it might be able to cut the start-up period to 28 days. Stern received a lot of publicity last week for saying that Christmas Day games would be lost if the two sides didn’t reach a deal as they met under the guidance of federal mediator George Cohen.
Stern missed the final session with Cohen due to the flu and has not commented since on the lack of progress or how many more games will be lost.
CLOUD OVER STARS
A six-game global tour of the NBA’s top stars, including Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony, might not be opening on Saturday in San Juan, as has been scheduled. The first game of the two-week tour has had trouble securing written commitments from several of the 18 players who had been promised by game organizers. If the game doesn’t come off, it could jeopardize the rest of the schedule, which includes stops in London, Macau and Melbourne. Bryant and James are among the players who are expected to pocket more than $1 million for their participation.
Monday, October 24, 2011
Back at Catcher, Napoli Puts Rangers on His Back
Mike Napoli’s pregame routine always includes taking a long hard look at the lineup posted on a wall of the Texas Rangers’ clubhouse. Before Game 4 of the World Series, he had extra reason to stare at where Manager Ron Washington had put him.
As the Rangers’ regular catcher, Napoli seemed to have his sense of order disrupted by a move to first base for Game 3. He committed a two-run throwing error and was embroiled in a blown umpire’s call of a tag he made on a runner — not to mention that he had to watch from an unfamiliar position as the St. Louis Cardinals pummeled his pitchers.
“It was behind me when I left the field,” Napoli said. “I knew we had to come here and get a win, so I came back and went through my routine and let it go.”
Sunday night, he was back behind the plate, dropped one spot to eighth in the batting order, and again sparked the Rangers at a critical postseason juncture.
Napoli broke open Game 4 with a three-run homer in the sixth inning as the Rangers tied the series at two games apiece with a 4-0 victory. After a pitching change, he blasted reliever Mitchell Boggs’s first pitch into the left-field seats, and became the first catcher to hit two home runs in a World Series since Mike Piazza of the Mets in 2000.
Perhaps more significant, Napoli steered his good friend and starter Derek Holland through a land-mine-laden Cardinals lineup that was coming off a 16-run, 15-hit performance. Holland fired a two-hitter and struck out seven in eight and one-third innings before Neftali Feliz finished off the shutout.
“His performance behind the plate gets overlooked because of the hit he got, but he kept Derek in an incredible rhythm,” second baseman Ian Kinsler said. “He made a couple of mound visits, kept” the pitching coach Mike Maddux in the dugout, “and kept Derek right on track.”
Washington said he didn’t want the left-handed hitters David Murphy and Mitch Moreland batting consecutively at the bottom of the order, so he inserted Napoli between them in the eighth spot. And with their bullpen in tatters, the Rangers desperately needed a lengthy quality start from Holland and for Napoli to guide him there.
“We both have a very strong chemistry,” Holland said. “He does a really good job of controlling my emotions, making sure I don’t get ahead of myself. A couple times tonight he was telling me to square up, especially in between innings.”
The plan, Napoli said, was for Holland to change speeds early to keep the Cardinals guessing and thus allow them more flexibility in calling pitches as the game progressed.
“We didn’t miss a beat; we were on the same page, and he was throwing strikes,” Napoli said. “Those guys are good hitters. They hit mistakes. You’ve got to try to be down in the zone. Derek did that tonight.”
Napoli has driven in 7 of the Rangers’ 15 runs for the series. His other homer was a two-run blast off the Cardinals ace Chris Carpenter in Game 1, and his pair of sacrifice flies in Game 3 brought home two runs. He’ll face Carpenter again Monday night in Game 5 here, and try to coax a strong performance from Rangers starter C. J. Wilson, who’s 0-3 with a 7.17 earned run average this postseason.
“What Mike Napoli has done tonight, we’ve seen him do before, so I’m not surprised,” Washington said.
Napoli’s instincts told him he should anticipate that Cardinals starter Edwin Jackson would be pulled for his at-bat in the sixth when catcher Yadier Molina made a mound visit. “I saw Molina walk out there, a kind of slow jog,” Napoli said. “I’m a catcher. I know what that means sometimes. I wasn’t sure if he was going to stay in or not. You’ve got to wait to see if (Molina) walks back out there. He did, and I got my mind set for Boggs.”
Napoli knew that Boggs had a strong sinker, but figured Boggs might try to blow a fastball by him for a quick strike to get ahead in the count.
“In that situation, he’s probably trying to get a double-play ball,” Napoli said. “I was looking for something up and kind of had an idea they were probably going to pound me inside, and I just got a pitch up that I could handle.”
As the Rangers’ regular catcher, Napoli seemed to have his sense of order disrupted by a move to first base for Game 3. He committed a two-run throwing error and was embroiled in a blown umpire’s call of a tag he made on a runner — not to mention that he had to watch from an unfamiliar position as the St. Louis Cardinals pummeled his pitchers.
“It was behind me when I left the field,” Napoli said. “I knew we had to come here and get a win, so I came back and went through my routine and let it go.”
Sunday night, he was back behind the plate, dropped one spot to eighth in the batting order, and again sparked the Rangers at a critical postseason juncture.
Napoli broke open Game 4 with a three-run homer in the sixth inning as the Rangers tied the series at two games apiece with a 4-0 victory. After a pitching change, he blasted reliever Mitchell Boggs’s first pitch into the left-field seats, and became the first catcher to hit two home runs in a World Series since Mike Piazza of the Mets in 2000.
Perhaps more significant, Napoli steered his good friend and starter Derek Holland through a land-mine-laden Cardinals lineup that was coming off a 16-run, 15-hit performance. Holland fired a two-hitter and struck out seven in eight and one-third innings before Neftali Feliz finished off the shutout.
“His performance behind the plate gets overlooked because of the hit he got, but he kept Derek in an incredible rhythm,” second baseman Ian Kinsler said. “He made a couple of mound visits, kept” the pitching coach Mike Maddux in the dugout, “and kept Derek right on track.”
Washington said he didn’t want the left-handed hitters David Murphy and Mitch Moreland batting consecutively at the bottom of the order, so he inserted Napoli between them in the eighth spot. And with their bullpen in tatters, the Rangers desperately needed a lengthy quality start from Holland and for Napoli to guide him there.
“We both have a very strong chemistry,” Holland said. “He does a really good job of controlling my emotions, making sure I don’t get ahead of myself. A couple times tonight he was telling me to square up, especially in between innings.”
The plan, Napoli said, was for Holland to change speeds early to keep the Cardinals guessing and thus allow them more flexibility in calling pitches as the game progressed.
“We didn’t miss a beat; we were on the same page, and he was throwing strikes,” Napoli said. “Those guys are good hitters. They hit mistakes. You’ve got to try to be down in the zone. Derek did that tonight.”
Napoli has driven in 7 of the Rangers’ 15 runs for the series. His other homer was a two-run blast off the Cardinals ace Chris Carpenter in Game 1, and his pair of sacrifice flies in Game 3 brought home two runs. He’ll face Carpenter again Monday night in Game 5 here, and try to coax a strong performance from Rangers starter C. J. Wilson, who’s 0-3 with a 7.17 earned run average this postseason.
“What Mike Napoli has done tonight, we’ve seen him do before, so I’m not surprised,” Washington said.
Napoli’s instincts told him he should anticipate that Cardinals starter Edwin Jackson would be pulled for his at-bat in the sixth when catcher Yadier Molina made a mound visit. “I saw Molina walk out there, a kind of slow jog,” Napoli said. “I’m a catcher. I know what that means sometimes. I wasn’t sure if he was going to stay in or not. You’ve got to wait to see if (Molina) walks back out there. He did, and I got my mind set for Boggs.”
Napoli knew that Boggs had a strong sinker, but figured Boggs might try to blow a fastball by him for a quick strike to get ahead in the count.
“In that situation, he’s probably trying to get a double-play ball,” Napoli said. “I was looking for something up and kind of had an idea they were probably going to pound me inside, and I just got a pitch up that I could handle.”
Friday, October 21, 2011
Said:The Sport of Football
Depending upon where you live in the world, the football sport can be played differently. Each way is going to have its own rules and regulations that the players will need to follow and it may even be played differently as well. Regardless of where you live, if you are a fan, you are going to follow your team and try to learn everything that you can about the sport. This way you can support them and actually enjoy the game and understand it when you are watching. You may even own a shirt to support your team as well.
If you follow the American football sport, you are going to find that the rules are completely different and the game is played completely different from anywhere else as well. With the rules for this game you actually need to pick up the ball and run with it in order to score a point. But, the other games you will find that it is more of a kicking game and pushing the ball around with your feet to score points but getting the ball into a net. The American game requires a touchdown without a net.
In America they have a game called soccer but if you look at soccer in another country you are going to find that it is called Association football. This gives the football sport a whole new way to play the game and it has an entirely different set of rules as well. You are also going to find that your feet are used to score points with the ball by kicking it around on the field and not by caring it the way that it is done in the American game. You really have to be coordinated to play this game.
Two other games that are played are Rugby and Australian rules. Both of these are going to seem similar to soccer but they are considered a part of the football sport as well. Depending upon where you live in the world it may seem confusing to you but once you get the hang of the differences in the games, you are going to find that they all can be a lot of fun no matter you live. You may find yourself following other teams from around the world so when your team is not playing you will have another one that you can follow.
If you go back in time and take a look at history, you are going to find that this is a game that has been played in one form or another since before we were born. Of course it evolved into what we know it to be today but the football sport is something that man has been playing for centuries and will most likely still be playing for many more centuries to come. Naturally things are going to change on how the sport is played but it will never go out of style and all ages can have fun.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)