NBA

Our parents biggest concern was whether their chosen career was vulnerable to outsourcing. Young adult sports fans may have to deal with talent going abroad for more lucrative job offers. Seriously though, the concept of outsourcing may finally strike a chord with Americans when their top talents no longer play for American sports teams.

Should we really be concerned? Not really. The only sport any foreign markets may have a shot at hurting would be basketball. The United States has a monopoly on baseball and football but that doesn’t account for the popularity of basketball. The NFL season only consists of 16 games that is heavily dominated by a male audience. Baseball on the other hand seems to go on forever and its audience is a more loyal niche group. Basketball on the other hand is a fast paced game that is easy to comprehend and its end goal is simple. This is a winning combination for old and new fans alike.  Read More »

With McGrady locked down, Alston steps up as Rockets take over top West spot - Rafer Alston scored 31 points and hit eight 3-pointers, both career highs, and the Rockets beat the Los Angeles Lakers 104-92 to stretch their streak to 22 and claim sole possession of first place in the Western Conference.

Historic agreement for Israel, Germany - Merkel and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert chaired a joint session of members of the two countries' Cabinets, at which both governments signed off on a range of projects, including in education, the environment and defense. The two sides agreed to hold such meetings once a year, alternating as hosts.

U.S. Markets Volatile After Fed Actions - Stocks got off to a rocky start on Monday as Wall Street weighed a stunning series of weekend developments that confirmed investors’ worst fears about the fragile state of the financial industry.

China Blocks YouTube After Videos of Tibet Protests Are Posted - Internet users in China were blocked from seeing YouTube.com on Sunday after dozens of videos about protests in Tibet appeared on the popular American video Web site. The blocking added to the Communist government’s efforts to control what the public saw and heard about protests that erupted Friday in the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, against Chinese rule.

US House passes surveillance law - The US House of Representatives has passed a surveillance bill that would allow lawsuits against phone companies. President George Bush has promised to veto the bill because it does not give immunity to companies that participated in a controversial wiretap programme. 

Who gets rich off $3 gas - who doesn't - Motorists may fume when forking over $3 a gallon at the local service station, but as it turns out, your local filling spot makes chump change from a gallon of gas. So exactly who is getting rich? The guy running the service station makes just a few cents, while crude oil producers take the biggest chunk.

Violence in Tibet as Monks Clash With the Police - Violence erupted Friday morning in a busy market area of the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, as Buddhist monks and other ethnic Tibetans brawled with Chinese security forces in bloody clashes.

U.S. Image Abroad Hard to Fix, Longtime Ally Says - Bernard Kouchner, the foreign minister of France and a longtime humanitarian, diplomatic and political activist, said this week that whoever succeeds President Bush might restore something of the United States’ battered image and standing overseas but that “the magic is over.”

EU-US agree on visa waiver talks - The EU and the US have agreed on a twin approach in their talks on doing away with visas for travel to the US. The US will negotiate with the 27-member bloc as a whole, but will also talk to individual countries.

Streak hits 21 with Lakers up next - Their run was in peril but they refused to let it end, driving themselves to a second-half comeback and an 89-80 victory over the Charlotte Bobcats on Friday night that pushed the Rockets' winning streak to 21 games, the second longest in NBA history.

I wanted to wait until the Houston Rockets set a new franchise record to post this. My Houston Rockets who are in a competitive Western Conference have been on a 16 game winning streak. They are 25-4 since the new year and had a perfect month in February. Even with such a great streak they are the fifth seed in the conference trailing the San Antonio Spurs by 2.5 games who coincidentally are on a 10 game winning stream themselves. In their division the Rockets are in third place and are playing catch up with the Spurs.

Tomorrows game is important since it can help the Rockets pull away from the Mavericks who they play in Dallas. Interesting enough they are going for number 17 against Dallas who was the last team to win 17 in a row last year. The Spurs most likely will win tomorrow but they field a more challenging opponent on Friday with the Denver Nuggets who are in dire need to win if they want a chance to overtake the Utah Jazz or more importantly be eligible for a playoff berth. Nonetheless, the Rockets can move up to be the third seed in the Western Conference if they can win the next two games. Not much to ask when they have already won 16 in a row.