Time Warner Inc.'s Turner cable networks division is in talks to acquire sports-news website Bleacher Report, according to people familiar with the matter. [link]

I'm pretty sure I've seen no shortage of criticism from CHers about Bleacher Report's often lame opinionating and frequently insane rankings, so I thought I'd throw this out there to find out if you all think this is a good or a bad thing for Bleacher Report.

I vote bad, Time Warner never having touched anything it didn't eff up worse than it found it.

On a more promising front, I just picked up my first six-pack of Summit Saga with some Sierra Nevada Hoptimum (also new to me) and a couple of 22s of Hop Stoopid just in case. And, being an old man, that should get me through the long weekend (assuming I don't share, a safe assumption).

Just checked the TV guide. Habit. I knew the Wolves game wasn't being broadcast on local TV tonight but I checked one last time and now it's official: NOT ONE WOLVES GAME WAS BROADCAST ON LOCAL TV THIS YEAR. Not one.

George Mikan wept.

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If you're running OS 10.6, you've probably been hacked by Russians (if you watch on illegal feeds, the probability approaches 100%). Immediately download the new Apple JAVA update to fix this problem.

Computer giant Apple released a patch this week for its OS X 2012 and 10.6 operating systems about the same time a Russian security company claimed that up to 600,000 Mac computers around the world are being controlled by a piece of malware that sucks targeted computers into a “botnet,” or a makeshift network of computers controlled by cyber-criminals....

Over four million websites contained links to the Flashback loader files, Dr. Web said. Those websites, knowingly or not, helped spread the malware through the users’ Internet browser, where it exploits a weakness in Java to install itself to users’ computers. Approximately 56 percent of the infected computers are in the U.S., they added.

Yes, all that mystery activity on your modem the last several months has been for real. I upgraded earlier this week before reading this. Without knowing there had been a problem, I immediately noticed an improvement in overall performance.

Now, if I could just get my Apple TV to stop disconnecting itself every couple weeks....

It's been taken down, but for a while last night ESPN was running the headline "Chink in the Armor" under a picture of Jeremy Lin that linked to a story about the Knicks loss Friday night. Jim Romenesko has a screenshot here.

Sadly, this is just the racist tip of an iceberg of fatuous commentary about Lin. Friday morning's New York Times ran a David Brooks column on Lin that was so odious that Charles Pierce was moved to write an abrasive takedown of Brooks' bafflingly obtuse take on sports.

Unbelievable. To ESPN's credit, that headline got yanked. You can still find Brooks' blatherings in their usual repository at the Times.

Got worse examples? Link to 'em in the comments.

UPDATED BELOW!

Finally got an Apple TV (pretty #$%@! amazing) and am thinking about breaking down and getting NBA League Pass. So I started doing my homework.

For starters, NBA.com doesn't seem to have heard of Apple TV, but I googled the correct NBA.com page (it's my first resort, having learned that nothing on the NBA.com page is well designed or meant to help you get to where you're going resulting in Google knowing their content better than their own search engine does).

I don't know exactly how deep into the season we are, but they're not discounting yet. The cheapest option would be four payments of $29.95 which, for me, works out to $5.71 for each game watched. Somewhat pricey in my opinion but here's the math on that:

21 remaining road games (I live in the Cities so I can't watch home games)

$130 for the limited League Pass

Now if I paid it all upfront, it would be $109, or $5.19 a game. Am I nuts, or is that still a ridiculous price for a poorly developed product (League Pass, not the Wolves!)? In one sense, I can see it as a bargain, but on the other hand I'm paying for the broadband and the TV and the Apple TV and the modem wifi router and the computer that's processing all of this stuff. Bottom line? I've got several thousand dollars tied up into being NBA League Pass ready and the only thing League Pass is giving me is access to half the games I want to watch which means that in order to "legally" watch all the games I'd still have to plunk down at least $60 a month for a Comcast sports package. Call it $50 since we probably don't have any TNT or ESPN games left and that's another $100 or over $10 freaking dollars a game for the privilege of watching at home.

Don't get me wrong: I WANT TO SPEND THIS MONEY. I want to watch the Wolves in Hi-Def instead of 8-bit stream. I want to see all the action and not a laggy approximation of a game. I just don't like feeling like a chump, and the NBA's attitude towards fans and League Pass leaves me feeling about as wanted as a used rubber.

Is it just me, or is the NBA.com run by greedy bastards with no sense of proportion? Screwing old guys iike me is one thing, but how many kids never see games anymore because of the pay-per-view attitude of the League?

--

I don't know why I never think to check Wikipedia on sports stuff but I've been trolling the NBA.com site and literally could not figure out their blackout policy. Then I checked out Wikipedia:

Blackout restrictions

See also NBA blackout policy

If a local team is playing and the game is televised in the home market, the associated feed on League Pass is blacked out and unavailable for viewing.

Per the NBA.com website: “Games will also be blacked out when they are appearing on national television. This applies to games being televised on ABC, ESPN, TNT and NBA TV. You may view these games simply by switching to the designated channel.”

Although Charter Communications does not offer the NBA TV channel, NBA League Pass Broadband refuses to remove the blackout restrictions from these games. Creating a ticket requesting that the blackout issue be investigated using the league pass customer service website: (http://leaguepasssupport.nba.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=7801) does not allow the blackout to be removed. Using the chat function on the support site also does not remove the blackout restriction. In fact, NBA League Pass Broadband responds with a form email with the language above and claim that you actually do have the NBA TV channel available. As a result of this practice, paying for the full premium leage pass package will NOT get you the games you are promised. NBA League Pass broadband will not provide a discount to the services you are being provided even considering the fact that they are not providing the services they have agreed to provide.

So yeah, NBA League Pass is as useful for home team fans as tits are to a boar. Some day I hope to follow a sport where the people in charge make decisions based on what fans want, but until then I guess I'll just watch crappy 8-bit illegal feeds because I'd become a hockey fan before I'd give another dime to the rapacious, customer-hating bastards at Comcast.

None of us are perfect as I reminded myself earlier today when I overanalyzed Brad Miller's stat line and fabulized a brain teaser post out of it. Tonight, however, I saw near perfection at its most rock solid. CHers, I give you Pek's shot charts from tonight's game.

Pek's shot chart from the second quarter:

Pek's shot chart from the third quarter:

Pek's shot chart from the fourth quarter:

Pek is our Dragon Master, our tower of zen.

If he can't do it, no one can.

Gotta love this team.

UPDATE: Nevermind! (explanation below in the comments)

I grabbed this screenshot from a national sports website last night (no names so as to not embarrass the totally guilty). One of the numbers on it did not make any sense to me at all. See if you can spot what I'm talking about:

[click on the chart to see a bigger version of it]

The highlighted assists column is not a clue. Now I'll admit I'm not very good at interpreting statistics, but this error simply cannot be correct, at least not in a world governed by Newtonian physics (and I'm not talking Gingrich).

I'm sure there will be plenty of the usual snark, but this error is beyond snark and is just not humanly possible. I also predict that most of you will study the entire chart at least twice before spotting it.

No prize for being the first to spot the error other than bragging rights (which, on this site, can be considerable).

The Super Bowl is coming and our federal government has just seized several streaming sites in an effort to make damned sure you can only see the big game on NBC. Sites seized include:

• Firstrowsports.tv
• Firstrowsports.com
• SoccertvLive.net

Hmm, they left out . . . oops — almost violated SB Nation rules!

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NBA.com is running a poll on who's the most exciting player in the NBA. The poll is a ways down on their front page. As you can see, Ricky is holding his own against LeBron and Derrick and needs your vote. Won't you help? You're already at your keyboard. Just click on the NBA.com link (there, I gave it to you again) and then scroll down until you see the poll in the middle of the page. Vote your conscience but be advised that I will know if you vote for anyone but Rubio and will rat you out in a heartbeat to the entire Canis Hoopus community. Group sessions and reeducation will follow.

Vote, reboot your computer and vote again.

Immediately after the game that was, I grabbed a screenshot of this "Dewey Defeats Truman" commemorative front page at ESPN. We're so cool we're even making ESPN's blooper reel!

via norwegianity.files.wordpress.com

Check out the left bottom corner. Same picture as the It's All Love story but with a slightly different caption, "Clips Nip Wolves." You gotta Love it. (The bottom middle panel on Rrrookie Rubio isn't bad either.)

Let's face it, we're living in a Wolves Wolves Wolves World.

It's early in the season but I don't think it's too soon for us to acknowledge the enormous impact Rick Adelman has had on our team. The difference between Rambis and Adelman has been epic, if not world changing. Adelman is the one we have been waiting for. I would suggest that Canis Hoopus update its stylebook to acknowledge the degree of reverence and deference that should be accorded to our beloved coach.

Henceforth, when referring to Coach Adelman pronouns like He, His or Him should be capitalized. Coach Adelman's first name is Rick. Don't wear it out. Adelman or Coach Adelman or The Coach of Coaches should be the preferred usage. References to Coach Adelman's grooming and deportment should be respectful and admiring.

These suggested rules are mostly meant for the posters here, but regular commenters should try to observe these courtesies, especially those of you who genuflect before entering into the CH sanctum commentorum. In any event, when in doubt, consult the F.A.Q.

via www.clevelandfrowns.com

Scott Raab's "The Whore of Akron: One Man's Search for the Soul of LeBron James" is really mostly about what it's like to be a sports fan when your owner sucks and your team blows. Oh, LeBron James' name comes up often, but the real story is about the hell that Art Model and Dan Gilbert have put Cleveland sports fans through.

In short, it's great reading for Star-less Minnesota sports fans. Here's an example of why:

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I'm posting this gripe in the hopes that one of you will go to the NBA League Pass page and will find all the information that I can't seem to find, namely:

1. Will League Pass blackout Wolves games for local fans again this year?

2. Is League Pass still all about your cable package with broadband an afterthought?

3. Has the NBA hired people who know what they're doing this year? or are they still hiring their kids/grandkids to run the League Pass department?

Needless to say, I am pessimistic on all counts, but for cause. When I went to the NBA homepage I found that they still haven't fixed all the glitches that make their page load like crap in Firefox with links and text overlapping each other and page sections overlapping one another (seriously, even in the '90s most websites were better laid out).

So anyhow, leave a comment with a link if you can find the "rules" for this year's round of How the NBA Insults and Bleeds Their Fans for Every Penny They Can Get While Getting Us to Build Their Arenas and Subsidize Their Incompetence.

1. Shock and Denial. Been there, done that.

2. Pain and Guilt. This is the stage in which you use foul language but the moderators are too busy getting drunk to delete your comment.

3. Anger and Bargaining. Who deserves more blame: players or owners, Congress or Obama? Often characterized by long and nasty discussions of the economy and/or the personal hygiene of those you are arguing with.

4. Depression, Reflection, Loneliness. Videos of basketball greatness are embedded, leading to much wailing and gnashing of teeth.

5. The Upward Turn. What f**king upward turn? This s**t has gone to the courts and there is no chance of a season! WTF is wrong with people who think any of this will turn out well. Effing A g*ddamnit!

6. Reconstruction and Working Through. Also known as trying to watch hockey.

7. Acceptance and Hope. Accept that there is no hope, and that basketball as we know it is dead, dead, dead and never coming back.

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I am not under the impression that a majority of Canis Hoopers agree with my politics or my take on economics so I thought I'd dump a lot of thoughts into one post so my critics could have at me to their hearts' content.

Our pro-business community believes that cream rises to the top, and has no problem with CEOs who are disproportionately compensated, yet they think the NBA owners are entitled to cut the pay of their top players because that's a business decision they have chosen to make and which they are entitled to make.

Why are top NBA players any different than CEOs? CEOs are not owners. CEOs do not invest in their companies. CEOs make what the market allows, and that's a good description of NBA salaries. Because CEOs have been overcompensated, all the veeps down the line are now overcompensated, just like in the NBA. CEO's who screw up get golden parachutes, just like NBA players whose weight balloons in the second year of a five-year contract.

But here's where this analogy falls apart. The NBA is a little oasis sitting on top of the vast bubble that is amateur sports in America. Only the pros get paid in any meaningful way. In business, everyone gets a check (except for the unpaid interns who are getting the world's biggest shafting).

When you pay an NBA player, you're not just paying him by the hour or game. You're paying him for giving up his childhood to become a pro. You're paying him for cutting college tutoring sessions to get in extra gym time. You're paying him for a ton of sacrifices he made in the hopes of getting to the top but now, suddenly, being at the top of your game is just another job, and your pay should be cut because that's just the way it is.

We're not cutting CEO salaries. Not anywhere. Financial CEOs ran the international economy into a ditch and they're still cutting themselves bonuses. But somehow, that's different than the NBA where the players just keep getting better and better because they're working harder and harder.

What part of cutting the players' pay makes sense in a market economy like the one we've got? Without players, you have no game. Without owners, you have everything but the bullshit. Ownership is not a valid sports concept. Promotion is, and that's what the owners are: overpaid promoters.

Here's the employment roster for an NBA club:

• attorneys
• PR staff/media minders
• administrative personnel
• administrative support staff
• player support staff
• security
• facilities management
• schedulers
• coaching staff
• support staff for coaches
• players

The only hard jobs to fill on that list are coaches and players and maybe some very good trainers and scouts. Everyone else and I do mean EVERYONE else on that list is easily replaced. Doing things the way the NBA does them is not a business model, it's a license to exploit players. The only reason this isn't seen as an outrage is because the NCAA's plantation system is a thousand times a thousand times worse, which is no excuse.

That's my rant for the day. Respond to your heart's content.

The players have an opportunity to lock out the league, and I think that would be a good thing. Ownership makes no sense when you're talking about national sports leagues. Making cities the owners of the teams would stop all the greedy franchise moves and would tie fan turnout to community pride. Sports would again be about rivalries between cities and regions.

New teams, new gear, new excitement. A new league would be awesome. The biggest problem would be coaches since they're still under contract to the teams.

The real question is: what did the owners ever bring to the table? I would respond, not much. Starting a league is 90% of the work. Maintaining one is practically a clerical function. Why is the NBA so insanely complicated? Ask the owners whose greed and egos wouldn't allow them to honor their own salary caps.

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I'm guessing all our hosts are at Target Center tonight. Bob 106 FM has the game locally and firstrowsports.tv has a link.

GO LYNX! GO LYNX! GO LYNX! GO LYNX! GO LYNX! GO LYNX! GO LYNX! GO LYNX! GO LYNX! GO LYNX! GO LYNX! GO LYNX! GO LYNX! GO LYNX! GO LYNX! GO LYNX! GO LYNX! GO LYNX! GO LYNX!

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I was in northern Iowa this weekend for my 40th class reunion. Admittedly, I come from a wrestling town (Osage), and it's not exactly a hotbed of basketball fans but the Hawkeyes and Cyclones and Panthers all have winter followings and people do understand the game.

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