Quick Hits #5

The Details Behind "The Decision"
Almost a year has passed since LeBron James made his free agency decision to take his talents to South Beach and team up with Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami as part of a made-for-TV event in primetime on ESPN entitled "The Decision".  I always wondered why LeBron did it the way he did and how it all came together.  Zach Lowe of SI.com addresses all of my curiosities as he provides the behind-the-scenes details of  "The Decision" here.  Very interesting read.

Little did LeBron know how much impact his few
minutes in Greenwich, CT would change his
image forever.

It actually portrays LeBron as almost an innocent bystander who was only in it for the kids.  It's incredible to think about how many careers and reputations (right, LeBron?) were altered by the decision to produce "The Decision".  I'm sure Dallas is glad it played out the way it did.

Interleague Play Has The Brewers Bummin'
Every year since 1997, baseball teams from the American League and National League have squared off in approximately 15-18 regular season games.  Major League Baseball introduced interleague play as another way to generate fan interest still trying to recover from the 1994-95 strike that eliminated the 1994 World Series.  Several interleague matchups are highly anticipated because of the geographic proximity of the "rival" teams (Mets-Yankees, Cubs-White Sox, Giants-A's).  The American League has dominated the win-loss record over the years with the National League only winning more games than the American League in 4 years ('97, '99, '02, '03).  Sure, it may only be 15-18 games, but  what happens when scheduling of interleague play significantly affects the divisional races in each league?

Prince Fielder and the Brewers will not be sending
a "thank you" card to Major League Baseball for
giving them one of the toughest interleague schedules.

For example, the Milwaukee Brewers are contending for the NL Central divisional title this year; however, their interleague schedule has the Red Sox and the Yankees on the road, while taking on the Rays at home.  Milwaukee went a combined 2-7 against these perennial AL East powers while completing a three-game sweep by the Yankees today with a combined score of 22-4.  Although the Brewers get the injured and struggling Twins twice this year, the Brewers' competitive rivals, the St. Louis Cardinals, play six games against the Royals and six more games against the AL East bottom-dwellers Baltimore and Toronto.  Even though you still have to beat the team you are scheduled to face, it will be difficult for the Brewers to understand the fairness of the schedule if they happen to lose to the Cardinals in the division by a close margin.

Kings On The Move
With the NBA closing in on a potentially long and painful lockout which will begin tonight at midnight, many teams are scrambling to pull off some last minute deals.  My new second-favorite team (thanks to Jimmer), the Sacramento Kings, have traded small forward Omri Casspi and a future first-round pick to the Cavaliers for versatile forward JJ Hickson.  This is yet another move that indicates the Kings' eagerness to start the Jimmer era in Sacramento.  By unloading a player in Casspi that thinks "shoot-first" and picking up a much-needed "big man" presence in Hickson down low to accompany Demarcus Cousins, the Kings create more space at the small forward position with John Salmons, Francisco Garcia, and Donte Green already on the roster.  So far, so good, Kings.