Christmas Special

After much anticipation, the NBA season finally kicked off Christmas Day with five star filled match ups. Here are the scores and key facts from each game.

New York Knicks 106

Boston Celtics 104

Key Facts:
Celtics All Star small forward Paul Pierce was out with an injury
Carmelo Anthony led the Knicks with 37 points and 8 rebounds
Rajon Rondo played fantastic in a losing effort with 31 points, 13 assists and 5 steals
Kevin Garnett missed a jumper in the final seconds that would have sent to game to overtime

Miami Heat 105

Dallas Mavericks 94

Key Facts:
The Heat lead stretched to 35 point in the 3rd quarter
Lebron James played fantastic scoring 37 points
The Mavs looked very sluggish coming off a NBA title

Chicago Bulls 88

LA Lakers 87

Key Facts:
The Lakers offense looked off all game
The Bulls came back from nine points down with only a few minutes remaining
Bulls point guard Derrick Rose scored with four seconds left to put his team up by one
Kobe Bryant game winning shot got blocked on the last play of the game

Oklahoma City Thunder 97

Orlando Magic 89

Key Facts:
The Thunder defense held Orlando star Dwight Howard to 11 points on 4 of 12 shooting
Thunder's Kevin Durant led all scorers with 30 points
James Harden came off the bench for the Thunder and scored 19 points

LA Clippers 105

Golden State Warriors 86

Key Facts:
In his debut, Clippers all start point guard Chris Paul had 20 points and 9 assists
Clippers center Deandre Jordan had a career high 8 blocks
Warriors star Monte Ellis only had 15 points on 6 of 19 shooting

Yu to America

Announced Monday Night, Japanese star pitcher Yu Darvish was acquired by the Texas Rangers after their bid of  $51.7 M. That tops what the Red Sox gave Daisuke Matsuzaka in 2007. For those that do not know Yu, he is half Japanese half Iranian. Last season in the Japanese league he went 18-6 with a league best 1.44 ERA and 278 strikeouts. In his seven year career in Japan, Yu went 99-38 with a 1.99 ERA. He is known as the best pitcher in Japan and he is only 25 years old. Some may remember him from the 2009 World Baseball Classic or the 2008 Bejing Summer Olympics.

Yu will be walking into a team with already five starting rotation pitchers; Colby Lewis, Derek Holland, Matt Harrison, Alexi Ogando, and Neftali Feliz. This will make it very interesting for the Rangers who really don't have a number one pitcher due to the departure of last year's ace C.J. Wilson. The signing of Yu will also help gain Japanese fans for a team that already has a giant fan base in Texas. This team has lost back to back years in the World Series and they are hoping this signing will get them over the hump.

Chris Paul to LA

In the end, Chris Paul will play this NBA season in Los Angeles, but it won't be for the Lakers. Thursday afternoon Paul shocked the basketball nation when he signed with the Los Angeles Clippers. Trade talk between the Clippers and Hornets started shortly after the Lakers deal for Paul was vetoed by the league. Talks between the Clippers and Hornets had seemed to die down earlier this week. For some reason, the trade was brought up again yesterday and the two teams finalized the deal today. The trade will send Eric Gordon, Chris Kaman, Al Faruq Aminu, and Minnesota's first round pick to New Orleans in return for one of the most dynamic point guards in the league.

This trade is very good for the Clippers but they did lose a lot of their depth. Eric Gordon was a rising star as he had a fantastic season last year at the age of only 23. Aminu also rose up in his rookie season as a great man off the bench and Kaman was of course an all-star two years ago but, the Clippers realized landing Paul would bring excitement to the fan base and draw other free agents to come play with the team.

Now the question has been brought up, which LA team is better, the Lakers or the Clippers. The Lakers for so many years have dominated the city. Even though they play in the same arena, the Lakers have always had a gigantic fan base compared to the Clippers since the Clippers moved up from San Diego in 1984. As you compare the two starting lineups, the Clippers definitely look like a more dynamic team:
                       Lakers:                           Clippers:
Guard-           Derek Fisher                    Chris Paul
Guard-           Kobe Bryant                    Chauncey Billups
Forward-       Metta World Peace          Caron Butler
Forward-       Pau Gasol                        Blake Griffen
Center-          Andrew Bynum                Deandre Jordan

Whoever you think is better, the teams are definitely closer skill wise then they have ever been. This will bring new excitement to Los Angeles and it will be interesting to see if any Laker fans jump on the Clippers bandwagon.

Confusion for the Lakers

As the start of the NBA season slowly starts to creep up, the LA Lakers are hoping it doesn't come too fast as the team appears to be in disorder right now. It all started out last week when their deal for Chris Paul got called off by David Stern. The deal looked like this:

Lakers get:

Chris Paul

Hornets get:

Lamar Odom, Luis Scola, Kevin Martin, Goran Dragic, first round pick

Rockets get:

Pau Gasol

All three teams had happily agreed to this deal and sent it to NBA commissioner, David Stern, hoping for approval. To many people's surprise, this trade was vetoed because Stern pointed out that he didn't want bigger market teams (Lakers) picking on smaller market teams (Rockets, Hornets). The Lakers thought they had landed NBA superstar Chris Paul but instead they were left with an unhappy Lamar Odom who felt disrespected that the Lakers tried to trade him. Odom didn't show up to the Lakers first day of training camp and a few days ago he demanded a trade. Sunday afternoon Odom got his wish as he was traded to Mavs for cash and a 2012 first round pick. Laker fans were stunned to find out one of the best players on the team was traded to the NBA champion Mavs for literally nothing. Sources say this move could help the Lakers get Dwight Howard because they were able to shed salary but either way, the Lakers lost the 6th man of the year to their rivals. In an interview today, Kobe Bryant was very upset and disappointed to lose one of his closest friends on the team. He made it clear that he would speak to the team's president and figure out what direction the team is going in.

This has been a very tough week for the LA Lakers as they prepare for opening day on Christmas. They need to start going for free agents because a roster with Derek Fisher as your starting PG and a weak bench does not look very intimidating to other teams.

Lamar Odom played seven seasons with LA, helping them to two championships.

A Revamped Baseball Team

The Marlins is a baseball team that are typically quiet this time of year. They never tend to sign free agents as they usually wait until the off season. This year is totally different as the owners of the team are trying to build back up this depleted franchise.

It all started with the team deciding to build a new stadium. It is located in downtown Miami and is set to open on the first day of the season. They used to play in the Dolphins football stadium as they rarely filled up 15,000 seats. This season, they are hoping to sell out every season as the high tech stadium is supposed to be very fan friendly.

  

(below) Along with the new stadium came brand new jerseys!

                                                             

Not only have they changed their stadium and jerseys but their roster is now completely different. After signing new manager Ozzie Guillen, they went out to get the top free agents on the market. Some of these names include Jose Reyes, Mark Buehrle, Heath Bell and sources say they could sign pitcher C.J Wilson as well. There were reports that Albert Pujols might join the team but with all these signings, the Marlins just don't have the money to match the St. Louis Cardinals offer of 10 years, $220.

Either way, this team has dramatically improved from last season and people are starting to consider them contenders. It will be interesting to see how they compete this year against their division rivals such as the Phillies and Braves. All in all, this team did what it had to do so that baseball can become relevant again in Miami.

Bowl Mania

After much anticipation, all of the bowl games became public Sunday afternoon. Here is at look at the six major BCS bowl games.

Rose Bowl: #5 Oregon Ducks vs #10 Wisconsin Badgers
Both teams are on a high coming off league titles in the Pac-12 for Oregon and the Big-10 for Wisconsin. Watch for this to be a very high scoring game as both teams rank in the top five in scoring. Wisconsin running back Montee Ball has 38 total touchdowns on the year and will need just two more to break Barry Sanders record for the most touchdowns in a season.

 Fiesta Bowl: #3 Oklahoma State Cowboys vs. #4 Stanford Cardinals
Oklahoma State and Stanford had a shot of making it to the national championship but tough losses to Iowa State and Oregon respectively ruined those dreams. Both teams have elite quarterbacks as Oklahoma State has Brandon Weeden (4328 yards and 34 TDs) and Stanford has the well known Andrew Luck (3170 yards and 35 TDs).

 Sugar Bowl: #11 Virginia Tech Hokies vs. #13 Michigan Wolverines
In his first season as head coach, Brady Hoke led Michigan to a 10-2 record and a birth at a BCS bowl game for the first time since the 2007 Rose Bowl. Virginia Tech also had a great season but got blown out in the season finale versus Clemson so they will be determined to end their season on a winning note.

Orange Bowl: #15 Clemson Tigers vs. #23 West Virginia Mountaineers
West Virginia ended up tying two other teams for the Big Ten title but won the BCS automatic bid because they had the best BCS rank out of the three. Clemson is coming off a high after demolishing Virginia Tech in the ACC Championship so they will be confident going into this game.

Cotton Bowl: #6 Arkansas Razorbacks vs #8. Kansas State Wildcats
Kansas State played above everyone's expectations this season going 10-2 and amazingly 7-2 in a loaded Big 12. They will be looking to snap a three game bowl losing streak. On the other hand, Arkansas played really well this season with losses to only Alabama and LSU and both those teams are in the championship game. Arkansas should be really proud especially after losing their star running back before the season even started.

 BCS National Championship Game: #1 LSU Tigers vs. #2 Alabama Crimson Tide
Whether you like it or not, these two teams will meet for the second time this season. On November 5th they played in a classical SEC game as LSU came out on top 9-6 in overtime. Alabama will be looking for revenge against their SEC rival. Watch for this game to be another tough, low scoring contest.