The latest round of realignment started with the PAC-10 offering to invite UT and many of its rivals to create a PAC-16. It ultimately didn't happen, but I liked the boldness of it. In college football realignment, it's poach or be poached. Already there are rumors of the Big East teams getting invites (like Pitt to the Big XII). Why is the Big East standing still when it can run the same play that the PAC-10 used during the offseason?

The Big East should approach Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Kansas, Kansas State and Missouri with invites. That would bring the conference from next year's nine to the even 14 (for non-football it would go from 13 to 18). In fact, it would be best if the Big East could secure eight football schools in the Central timezone and eight teams in the Eastern timezone. Being the first or second to have 14 or 16 teams will make it less likely other conferences would poach the Big East or it would make the defections hurt less. For instance, if the Big East added enough teams to get to 14, but then lost two or three they could still have 12 (the option of moving Villanova up gives them a lot of flexibility) and be a safe league. Staying at 9 and losing two or three could be very problematic for the continued survival of the league.

I'm not sure how likely those five teams are to leaving the Big XII, but it doesn't hurt to ask. The Big East will be renogiating it's next TV contract soon and currently has some big media markets it can deliver. Adding those five would raise the price even higher, but of course you're dividing more of the pie. That ultimately is why I'm not sure it's in Oklahoma's best interest. I know Missouri wants to leave, but I don't think they will choose the Big East without it's former Big 8 brethren.The best chance the Big East has of getting Missouri (and the St. Louis and Kansas City markets) is to act now before the other conferences try.

Still, it's worth a shot. An aggressive posturing about expanding could change the perception of the Big East as the target. This in turn could portray the Big East as a conference schools should want to join.

P.S. While I'm not a TCU alumni, I am a season ticket holder. My wife and many of our friends graduated, so I've become indoctrinated in the cult so to speak. I've lived in Fort Worth since I was 10 so rooting for Fort Worth's team is very natural for me.

This title may be a little misleading since I am basing my opinion on what I think Cuban is doing. I think Cuban is setting up his cable channel, HDNet to have a sports package similar to WGN or YES. I initially figured Cuban would be more likely to make a bid on the Stars in order to get 100% ownership of the cash cow AAC. He looks to be going instead after the Rangers. Now we're seeing News Corp. step in as if it was threatened by Cuban's move, despite having existing television deals with the Rangers, Mavericks and Stars. This level of paranoia got me thinking that maybe there is more to the Rangers value than I thought.

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During the offseason, I wrecked my wife's car. When we bought a replacement car, she picked a used Lexus. Fortunately, the Rangers have Lexus as a sponsor and offer free valet parking if you drive a Lexus. Has anyone used the valet? If so, which valet stand do you consider the best and why? I'd like to find the one that's least used if possible so I can get home quickly. This of course may be impossible due to traffic, but I thought I would ask anyway.

Stein is reporting via twitter that Finley and Blount will be released by the Spurs and Timberwolves respectively. Dallas had some good times in the past with Finley, but I don't see any good times in the future if the Mavs get sentimental. DB.com agrees with me.

Blount on the other hand would be a better addition. He won't be expected to contribute much other than as a practice body. However, if the Mavs insist on filling out their roster, they could do worse than Blount. Today is the deadline to add players to the playoff roster, so you should see many players getting bought out, not just these two.

Update: It looks like Dallas is going as is with no roster changes. Gotta pray Damp gets back quickly.

A bunch of trades going down today. It looks like Houston is shipping McGrady to the Knicks and getting Kevin Martin from Sacramento. The reported trade doesn't to work as reported. It looks like the Knicks will have to add some filler to make it look like this. Nate Robinson is apparently heading to Boston but I can't seem to make the trade work in the Trade Machine. I'm not really sure how the Knicks are going to make those two trades work. Then again, maybe the waiving of Cardinal will alleviate the two discrepancies.

The Bucks and Sixers have a minor trade agreement. Rumors of Salmons and Stoudamire movement appear to be dying down. The McGrady/Martin deal is going to be the only other big deal to go down besides the ones Cleveland and Dallas made. The always unreliable projected PER of the trade machine put the Kings as winners on that one. The Kings could be an interesting team next year with Landry, Casspi and Evans.

Now that we are in the after glow of the World Series, the Yankees have to start to consider what to do with Johnny Damon and Hideki Matsui. John Harper of Newsday wonders if this is the last hurrah for Godzilla as a Yankee or could the World Series MVP be back in pinstripes again next year.

"I have no idea right now," he said with a smile through his interpreter after last night's game. "I hope so."

For weeks, even months, there have been whispers around the Yankees that there is no way the ballclub will bring back both Matsui and Johnny Damon, each of whose four-year contract is expiring.

GM Brian Cashman has made no secret of wanting to get younger overall, while also acknowledging a possible need to spread the use of the DH spot around, especially with catcher Jorge Posada turning 39 next season and Alex Rodriguez perhaps needing further hip surgery this offseason.

Of the two, Matsui always seemed more expendable because the condition of his knees has taken him out of the outfield and turned him into strictly a DH, one who doesn't run well anymore. Damon, meanwhile, can still be serviceable in left field, and, as we saw in Game 4, help win games with his speed as well as his bat.

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So the economy is pretty tough right now on everyone. Most teams' season ticket sales are slipping. Teams like the Jaguars are in danger of having the entire season blacked out. As the economy affects the season ticket holders, many don't renew their tickets.

Some have purchased multi-year contracts in the past to get better deals. If these unfortunates are now broke, they have to renegotiate or risk defaulting on their multi-year contracts. Most teams will simply write off the contract and re-sell the tickets. The Redskins unfortunately appear to be kicking their fans while their down.

Hill is one of 125 season ticket holders who asked to be released from multiyear contracts and were sued by the Redskins in the past five years. The Washington Post interviewed about two dozen of them. Most said that they were victims of the economic downturn, having lost a job or experiencing some other financial hardship.

I personally think the NFL should suspend their blackout rules during the recession. But I REALLY think the Redskins need to lighten up on suing these people now that they can't afford it. It just doesn't seem fair that the Redskins can sue the customer for failure to pay AND resell the tickets. If the contract being broken doesn't lead to a loss (i.e. the seats in question were resold and the team is still making money selling the seats) how can you sue for damages? Moreover, it just seems like they are finding new ways to screw their fanbase out of money (something with which Jones and Snyder seem to be very good at).

Fortunately, I don't think JJ and the Cowboys are doing something like this, mostly due to the timing of the new stadium and the economic downturn if nothing else. Plus JJ has his own PR problems with the practice facility crash to risk pissing off the fanbase.

Snyder and his legal team however, just seem to take their loyal fanbase for granted which is a real shame. I hate the Skins and their fans, but I wouldn't wish this on any fanbase.

Here's a list of trade ideas for the off season. I know that some of these are of questionable logic but I decided to have fun with ESPN's trade machine today.

1. Damp + Stack for Al Jefferson and Craig Smith and Madsen's corpse. Extra size = Mavs win. Minnesota gains a lot of roster room to re-sign their restricted FAs although they may not need any more now.
   
2. Damp + Stack + Wright for B. Haywood + Mike James + Caron Butler. Better center and Butler plays the 2 along with a backup PG in James. Pure salary dump for the Wiz. Substituting Jamison for Butler also works. I don't think the Wiz do either now after the Foye trade so how about number 3?
   
3. Damp for either Jamison or Butler straight up. The Wiz need more front court bodies after their Foye trade but still highly unlikely.
   
4. Stack + Wright +Williams for Kaman.
5. Stack + Williams for Camby. These two trades are similar and involve getting a center without trading Damp which I would only do if the Mavs trade Damp but don't get a center back like in number 3 above.
6. The obligatory Shaq for salary dump trade but I'm hoping the Suns throw in Tucker to help for depth purposes.

In Bill Simmon's latest 2 part podcast, he discusses fantasy baseball with Matthew Berry.  In his part 1 podcast they discuss the AL West (starting at the 28 minute mark) and spend a bit amount of time on the Rangers. They basically conclude (and I know this isn't rocket science) that Ranger hitters are going to be great for fantasy baseball. Simmons seems to think the Ranger's bullpen will be good as well and mentions Guardado, Wilson, and Francisco as positives.

In addition, Simmons actually bet money on the Rangers to win the West at 10-1 odds (supposedly).  Berry is an Angels fan and of course dismissed that possibility. I was struck with the amount of knowledge Simmons had on the Rangers minor league system. Apparently Simmons has a deep AL fantasy league that factors in minor league players and was able to name Smoak and Feliz as potential long shots to take a chance on late in the draft with a chance to contribute this year. Amazingly he didn't mention Holland.

This is a thread for any proposed trade ideas you can come up with and for discussion of said trades.  The goal is to come up with some reasonable trades (which is somewhat subjective) using ESPN's trade machine or RealGM's trade checker.  I personally prefer the ESPN one since it's a bit more user friendly.

Here's my proposed trade.  I am assuming Phoenix to be in a cost cutting move and will want to get back to the "Six Seconds or Less" offense with their new coach.  The Clippers have one too many centers and are looking to get value back.

Edit: If you want to link a trade using ESPN's Trade Machine, click the save trade button and it will show you the direct link.  Use the direct link in your post here. Otherwise it just takes you to the first page.  For RealGM trades, it will display a Trade ID number with a direct link to the specific trade.

Darren Eliot at si.com lists the Stars and Pens as two teams that currently sit out of the playoffs but that could jump in down the stretch.  Here's what he says about the Stars.

In the case of the Stars, their ability to scrap and claw into playoff contention will depend on how successful they are before the March 4 trade deadline. They currently trail Edmonton, Vancouver and Anaheim by four points, with one game in hand on the Oilers, three on the Canucks and four on the Ducks. The Stars must take advantage of that scheduling cushion.

The other side of that equation, of course, is that the Stars will have a more rigorous sprint to the end of the regular schedule. But beginning next week, their sprint to the deadline will include playing 11 of 14 games at home. For all of their ups and downs to this point, the Stars have been much stronger on home ice (11-6-4) than away (9-12-3). So the importance of the upcoming home sequence is obvious.

Less obvious -- and the danger in thinking that the Stars are a lock to ascend due to those home games -- is the manner in which those 11 wins in Dallas came about. Of the 11 victories, five were in shootouts. The Stars struck three times in the overtime period as well. That leaves just three home wins in regulation. Are the Stars' skinny margins a sign of fortitude or fortune? Time will tell and the time is now.