The NBA announced today that they’re officially postponing training camp and canceling 43 preseason games. The news comes amid a labor strife that looks to have no end in sight.

We have regretfully reached the point on the calendar where we are not able to open training camps on time and need to cancel the first week of preseason games,” Adam Silver, the N.B.A.’s deputy commissioner, said in a statement. “We will make further decisions as warranted.”

The 43 preseason games were scheduled for Oct. 9 to 15. The rest of the preseason schedule could be wiped out if a new labor deal is not reached by the end of the month.

On top of that if no agreement is reached in the next two weeks, the NBA will then begin to officially cancel regular season games. So yea NBA fans, it’s not lookin good.

In somewhat related news, Kobe Bryant was offered a $6.7 million contract from Virtus Bologna in Italy today. He hasn’t responded to them before, but now with the NBA outlook bleaker and bleaker each day, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him make the jump.

N.B.A. Postpones Camps and Cancels 43 Preseason Games [NY Times]

The Utah Jazz forward just joined a gaming league that’s sponsored by IGN Entertainment. The name of his new game is StarCraft 2, and will be making his professional gaming career at a competition that runs between October 6-9 in Caesars Atlantic City. And what’s the size of the prize? $100,000. According to Hayward in a recent press release: “I’ve been playing video games for as long as I can remember… I’m a competitive guy, and I love the competitive nature of video games.”

He also states: “Pro-gamers are really sports stars themselves… The mental strategy that goes into planning your next move and what your opponent is going to do are skills you need to be successful playing basketball — and playing StarCraft II. If you want to be good, you have to put a lot of time and effort into it, just like with other sports. I’ve got the best of both worlds.”

IGN recently posted some videos in which he clarifies his potential new career…

Excuse my ignorance, but I have no idea who this guy is, and why he’s such a big deal, enough to warrant a cross-promotion of this kind. I obviously need to have a chat with our very own A. Isaac!

Anyhow, I stopped watching back when I was in high school, so the only names I really recognize are Michael Jordan and Shaquille O’Neal. The latter of whom wasn’t content enough to be featured in regular ol’ basketball titles, hence why he would later show up in a fighting game…

I was also into Charles Barkley back in the day, and was a big fan of his title Barkley Shut Up and Jam! Again, it’s a basketball title. Though even better was the unofficial sequel, a JRPG called Tales of Game’s Presents Chef Boyardee’s Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden, Chapter 1 of the Hoopz Barkley SaGa…

The gist: This is a salary cap league that you get one night to win. You use $100,000 of fake monies to build your team (best players cost more, scrubs cost less). The five players who build the best teams win straight cash.

How stats are kept:

Points Scored: 1 pt
Rebounds: 1.25 pt
Assists: 1.5 pt
3 Pointers Made: 1 pt
Steals: 2 pt
Blocks: 2 pt
Turnovers: -1 pt
Missed FG: -.5 pt
Missed FT: -.5 pt

Sign up here and enter to win. Get your team picked ASAP (deadline for entry is tomorrow (Friday) night before the games tip off).

This post is sponsored by DraftStreet.

It’s long been available for streaming on the Internet, it made its way to mobile devices recently, and now it’ll be available on Apple TV, as will NBA League Pass Broadband.

So sayeth the league themselves, who promise the usual “regular season features” like: HD Quality (where available!), LIVE and archived games, home and away broadcasts, quick navigation to run scoring plays or a particular at bat, and much, much more!

It’ll cost you $99.99 for the “regular” version of MLB.tv and $119.99 for the “premium.” Upgrades of the latter include live-game DVR controls (very cool) and PIP/split screen, which are both probably worth it for the full year, especially if you’re going to be that invested in your baseball watching.

Additionally, NBA League Pass is now available for Apple TV as well — it’s either $64.95 (pick seven teams) or $99.95 (all 30 teams) for the full season.

There are a few downsides, though. (Aren’t there always?)

First, you’ve got buy an Apple TV, of course, but that’s only going to cost you about $95, which isn’t horrible. And, you REALLY want to make sure you only purchase the second-generation Apple TV (it’s the black one), because the first one won’t help you, as they don’t update the software on those. (Side rant — this sucks because the first-gen Apple TV’s have tons of storage, whereas the second-gen’s don’t, but you can’t use Netflix on the former either, sigh.)

Secondly (and most importantly), is the fact that some games will still be blacked out. This is devastating for a pile of reasons, but usually because people who buy the league pass want to see their favorite team. And if you live near your favorite team, that might not be happening.

MLB on Apple TV – [MLB.com]

NBA League Pass on Apple TV – [NBA.com]

You may remember 6-foot-11 Rony Seikaly from his days as a center for the Miami Heat, Orlando Magic, and New Jersey Nets back in the 90s, but that’s not what he’s famous for now. Now he is blazing a trail in the world of mixing music as a DJ. No, really.

“I took a garage and turned it into my own little club,” said Seikaly, now 45. “I would save up money and I bought the record player, then a second record player, then a mixer. I built the whole disco myself, all the electricity, and I built all these kinds of colored lights and colored bulbs, and I’d make, like, a light show. I did that all myself.”

Is Rony married? I’d be shocked if he is.

“I’m not doing this to be a celebrity,” Seikaly said. “I’m not doing this to become famous. I’m doing this just to share the love, and to share the music.”

Well, that’s good. The part about him not doing it to be a celebrity I mean.

“The most important thing is to capture that moment where all of a sudden everybody is in a great mood, everybody starts dancing, and all of a sudden you feel it click between you and the crowd,” Seikaly said. “And as soon as that click happens, it’s not something that anybody else can feel except that person playing the music. As soon as you feel that connection to the crowd, then you know you’ve got them. And then you can take them on any journey you want.”

Didn’t he used to be married to a really hot model? Oh yeah, he was. I’m stunned they’re not together anymore.

“Into the ’80s, believe it or not, we listened to a lot of Julio Iglesias,” Seikaly said. “More Latin, more love ballads. That was in. If your parents were cool, they’d listen to Julio Iglesias. As genres changed, I changed with it, until I found my niche, which is house music.”

He’s serious about this, isn’t he? As the kids say, mos def. In fact, he has a Web site entitled “The official site of international DJ Rony Seikaly.” That’s right, international DJ, people.

Wow. Out of all the players to play in the NBA about the last one I figured would embark on a career as a night club DJ was the tall white guy from Lebanon. You just never know, I guess.

Former N.B.A. Center Plays to a Different Crowd [Times]

41

The Lakers Andrew Bynum will not be ready for preseason basketball. Instead of getting surgery on his ailing knee a week or two after the finals were over, Bynum wanted to go to the World Cup. The result? 41 days after he had won a championship ring, he finally went under the knife. For a man who has been injured pretty much his entire career, not exactly the best of decisions.

902

When you’ve won 902 games and spent the better part of 42 seasons coaching college basketball, you’re probably entitled to complain about the NCAA. So you’ll excuse Bobby Knight for going on somewhat of a rant at a speaking engagement in Indianapolis last night. “The NCAA is totally negligent not only to what would be best for the game”, said Knight. But the coach saved his most witty quip for the Fighting Irish. “There are some dumb Catholic boys up there”, said Knight when talking about Notre Dame not joining the Big Ten. Knight may be a lot of these things but shy with his opinions is certainly not one of them.

30

How lazy have we become as a society? Well, this could be Exhibit A at the “this is why you’re fat” hearing. You can now order food via an iPhone app at Citizens Bank ballpark in Philly. In 30 minutes or less, your order will be delivered right to your seat. I guess it’s not enough that vendors are walking around the stadium–now you don’t even need to stand up and reach for your wallet. It’s all part of the ballpark experience folks.

940

Number of suicides last year in the state of Colorado alone. “Around the Horn” personality and Denver Post columnist Woody Paige talked about his own struggles with depression and how he planned his own suicide. Undoubtedly, the best and most heartfelt column Paige has ever written.

40

Rasheed Wallace once picked up 40 technical fouls in one season–about one every other game. Good thing he’s pseudo retired now because these new rules would certainly wipe Sheed off the NBA map. Just a quick example: “excessive inquiries about a call, even in a civilized tone” and “body language to question or demonstrate displeasure” will not be allowed. The NBA folks, it’s fantastic!

55

The Red Wings’ Johan Franzen certainly knows about early season injuries. Last year, he tore his ACL and missed 55 games because of it. By the time he came back, the Wings were fighting for their playoff lives. Two nights ago against Pittsburgh in their first exhibition game, Franzen feared the worst when defenseman Brooks Orpik stuck his knee out as he skated past him. Luckily, it was only a charley horse but Orpik has become public enemy #1 for it in Detroit. “It might be the stupidest play I’ve ever seen”, said Franzen. And after seeing it myself, I indeed concur.

Former NBA player and humanitarian Manute Bol passed away this morning. Bol played for four different NBA teams in his 10 year career averaging better than 3 blocks a game. Of course, Bol is most known for his incredible height. At 7’7″, he was the tallest player to ever appear in a NBA game at the time he played. Later, Gheorghe Mureşan just edged him out at 7’8″.

After he retired, Bol spent much of time and money on humanitarian efforts in Sudan. He established the Ring True foundation which donated more than 3 million dollars to Sudanese refugees. Because he was Christian, Bol ran into many problems with the Islamic based Sudanese government. He was accused of supporting Christian rebels and was exiled to Egypt. There, he set up a basketball school in Cairo where NBA star Luol Deng began playing.

Recently, Manute ran into some health problems and had been hospitalized with kidney failure. He died at the age of 47.

Kevin Durant just found a #1 fan in me after hearing the reverence and maturity with which he spoke about his upcoming role in the 2010 World Basketball Championships as well as the importance he places on representing his country.

But one proclamation that may shock people is the one Durant made to a group of media, including myself, at the press event to promote the Festival. Durant said, “I’d rather win a Gold Medal than an NBA Championship.”

As for the event Durant was there to cover, the World Basketball Festival is a 4-day long (08/12-08/15) event held in NYC, the epicenter of basketball culture, leading up to the FIBA World Championships held in Istanbul Turkey.  It will be showcasing some of the most iconic venues in the world of basketball with exhibition games to be held at Madison Square Garden, Times Square, and the iconic street ball Mecca of Rucker Park (where the wonderful people of Nike were kind enough to let us bloggers showcase our substandard ballin’ skills).

Some words were exchanged and then DeRosa did something pretty odd. He threw the ball at him.

Under normal circumstances, I almost always side with the fans. But I also consider myself an astute judge of character. And from the looks of that guy, he does indeed look like a typical Florida douchebag. He has a gold bracelet for God sakes folks. That’s like a 10 on the choch scale.

I only wish DeRosa would have done us all a favor and directed the pass towards the guy’s head.

The suit claims that Wade’s 8-year-old son told a court appointed representative to put his father in jail so he wouldn’t have to go back to his house and that he calls the home, the house “where the woman kissing daddy lives,” according to the suit.

The suit also claims that his younger son nearly drowned while under the star’s supervision. Union’s attorney has claimed that all allegations against his client are completely false and that the these issues were addressed last month at a hearing in family court.

It’s hard to say what is going on here. These stories of sexual misconduct of famous athletes seem to surface every week. While it seems that Ms. Union is in the clear, it will be interesting to see if this has any effect on Wade’s free-agency status. It seems unlikely that this story will keep a new team from signing the shooting guard, but after seeing what has happened to Ben Roethlisberger over the past few months, it’s hard to say what will happen.

Dwayne Wade’s wife sues Gabrielle Union [Radar Online]

Whether or not this dunk had anything do with Milwaukee coming back in the series remains to be seen. But you can probably bet that Bango may be stepping it up a notch for the Bucks return trip in Game 6.

I’m not discounting a dunk from the rafters at this point.

Never A Dull Moment {Hot Clicks}

Considering David Stern’s history of suspensions in these situations, it would be shocking if Garnett didn’t receive at least one game for this. As for Paul Pierce’s “injured shoulder”, don’t fret Boston fans. It appears he made a miraculous recovery after being down several minutes in pain. Heat players, however, called Pierce out for his antics

“I was trying to get over there to take the ball out of bounds,” Richardson said. “I said to Jermaine, ‘He [Pierce] is OK,’ because I knew nobody touched him. Is he taking a break like he does so many times?”

And here I thought Dwyane Wade had a copyright on the flair for the dramatic. Well done Mr. Pierce.

Apparently hanging out with her boyfriend Rick Fox has had an effect on Eliza Dushku since the two of them took part in the Nautica South Beach Triathlon in Miami the other day. I’m not a big fan of triathlons now. I mean, I looked at like 100 pics of these two participating in this event and didn’t see much sexy about it. Nope, not a fan of triathlons.

And just like his golf swing, the whole scene was extremely awkward

Via LarryBrownSports

And while the middle finger was amusing the conversation that followed it with Charles and Ernie was hysterical.

Ernie: “Hey do me a favor, say April Fools”
Barkley: “Fool?”

Awesome

In an absolutely stunning move to GM Mike Dunleavy, the Clippers and Donald Sterling decided to part ways with his services just a month after he was let go as coach.

Mike Dunleavy still doesn’t know exactly what happened. Tuesday afternoon he got a haircut, packed for a scouting trip to the ACC tournament, then went out to a local golf course for a couple hours.

Unbeknownst to him, and still unexplained to him as of late Tuesday night, during that time he was being fired as general manager of the Clippers….

Barely a month after Dunleavy relinquished his head coaching duties to focus solely on being general manager, the team announced his departure in an e-mailed statement. Assistant general manager Neil Olshey will take over Dunleavy’s job.

I truly believe that Donald Sterling is playing the NBA version of chatroulette with the entire Clippers staff. The man seemingly doesn’t care about anybody or anything. Dunleavy said he just had dinner with him this week and that nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

Mike, buddy, there’s a reason that the Clippers are a terrible franchise. It starts and ends with Donald Sterling. I’m certainly not saying that Dunleavy is worthy of the Clippers job or any job for that matter. He seems to be more of a product of the NBA good ‘ol boy network than anything. But finding out from the caddy on the golf course you got fired is a crappy way to go out. Might as well have screamed “Noonan” in his back swing.

This little stunt along along with that other little one (you know, the one where he pulled a gun on a teammate) got Arenas an indefinite suspension from the NBA yesterday.

You’d think Arenas would try to lay low for awhile, stay out of the spotlight. But in pre-game against the Sixers on Tuesday night, he gestured with his fingers as if pointing a gun.

With the league trying to clean up its image, David Stern had enough and gave him the boot.

You can expect Arenas to be out for the remainder of the season, however, teammate Javaris Crittenton isn’t exactly free of guilt here.

A Washington Post story today had this account

The two players had been arguing during a card game on the Wizards’ flight back from Phoenix Dec. 19, and the dispute spilled into the team locker room at Verizon Center before practice two days later. Arenas has acknowledged bringing his handguns to the arena and displaying them in the locker room that morning in what he maintained was a playful gesture aimed at his teammate.

According to two first-hand accounts of the confrontation, Crittenton responded to Arenas’s action — which included laying the four unloaded weapons in Crittenton’s cubicle with a note that read, “Pick One” — by brandishing his own firearm, loading the gun and chambering a round.

Two of the five people in the room that morning, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Arenas had originally not disclosed Crittenton’s action to protect the little-used guard from prosecution and had told Crittenton he would assume full responsibility for the actions of both players that day.

These two are quickly becoming the “Beavis and Butthead” of the NBA. Or is it Lenny and Squiggy?

Eh, whichever one is dumber I guess.