“He knows he’s a bully, ain’t no secret,” Williams told reporters Sunday, when asked about Stern. “I think everybody knows that,” Williams added.

D-Will was responding to a question regarding Stern nixing a three-way blockbuster trade. The Hornets would have received Lamar Odom, last year’s top sixth man, from the Lakers, as well as forward Luis Scola, shooting guard Kevin Martin, point guard Goran Dragic and a first-round draft choice from the Houston Rockets. And the Lakers’ Pau Gasol would have gone to the Rockets.

The Hornets are owned by the NBA, and Stern said more pieces needed to be added to make the deal acceptable. The Lakers eventually pulled out of the trade and moved in a different direction. Lamar Odom, so hurt by being included in the trade, so he requested to be traded. So the Lakers dealt Odom to Dallas Mavericks for an $8.9 million trade exception, as well as a protected first-round pick.

“You’re fighting a bully, man. David Stern is a bully,” Williams said. “You can’t really go up against him, man.”

“I think every owner of every big business is a bully,” Williams continued. “That’s how they become successful.”

Reports have surfaced, since the trade was denied by the NBA, that team owners were upset and had complained to Stern about the possibility of yet another small-market team losing an All-Star to a big market.

“I’m sure he’s probably pissed off and probably upset. It’s just a bad situation for everybody, all the guys involved in the trade thinking they’re gone and having to go back to their teams. It’s just a weird situation, I think.”

Williams has kept his mouth closed when asked about trade rumors surrounding the Nets and their possible pursuit of Howard. But this time, he didn’t hide his feelings about the possibility of teaming up with Howard to form arguably the most dynamic center-point guard tandem in the league.

“It makes me smile a bit,” Williams said before smiling.

Because they still have Gasol and 24-year-old center Andrew Bynum, the Lakers will be the Nets’ main competition for Howard’s services. That offer could trump New Jersey’s package, which is built around 23-year-old center Brook Lopez and two future first-round draft picks.

Read more basketball news at www.everythingbutbasketball.com

Whether Lesnar has lost his quickness and power remains to be seen against an elite striker in Overeem. Lesnar won the UFC Heavyweight title from Randy Couture in November 2008 and has defended the belt against Frank Mir and Shane Carwin. He has fought elite fighters in the promotion and has shown that he can mix it up with the best. However, Lesnar has had trouble with decent strikers like Carwin when he almost lost his belt in the first round but recovered in the second round to submit a gassed out Carwin.

Overeem comes in as a 9-6 favorite against the former WWE professional wrestler who has successfully crossed over to mixed martial arts. The Holland-based fighter is an excellent striker given his K-1 credentials. His Strikeforce Heavyweight title also proves that he is one the best heavyweight mixed martial arts fighters outside of the UFC back then. Overeem has the skills and experience to notch a victory over the one-dimensional Lesnar.

Still, there are fighters like Frank Mir who believes that Lesnar has what it takes to beat Overeem. If Lesnar can bring the fight to the ground with takedowns, then Overeem could be in trouble once exposed to the ground and pound game of the former UFC champion.

Lesnar would have to dictate the tempo of the fight and not wait for Overeem to score in the stand-up game. If he can score on takedowns, then it could be a short night in the main event of UFC 141.

“It’s the best Christmas gift ever!” says A. Castro, a businessman who’s into boats for sale in the Philippines and an avid NBA fan. Philippines is said to be one of the basketball fanatic countries wherein basketball courts can be found anywhere.

The ever favorite LA. Lakers get to play on the first 3-days of the season that made the fans more excited for the event. They begin at home against the Chicago Bulls at 5 p.m. eastern time on Christmas Day (Dec. 25). Then they will visit the Sacramento Kings the next day and return to their home court to face the Utah Jazz on Dec. 27.

All 30 teams get to play at least one game on the first-three game days. This season’s NBA is already 55-days late because of the 5-months labor dispute.

“The new collective bargaining agreement is designed to provide more competitive balance for our league, reward strong performances by our players and strengthen our game by improving its economics,” David Stern said in an open letter to fans last night.

During an interview in a local news program Bandila, Phil Younghusband, the Phil-Brit striker of the Azkals shared that the team will be employing a more defensive strategy for their match. “When you have such strong attack in players you have to have a defensive mindset,” he said.

The LA Galaxy team lead by Beckham arrive in the Philippines Thursday and held a press conference together with the Philippine Azkals. They had this ‘exchange-of-jersey’ moment as the conference took place. Their friendly match will take place Saturday, December 3 at the Rizal Memorial Stadium. There will surely be a live coverage.

“We expect the game here to be exactly the same [with the game in Indonesia]. We know that there’s some talented players here. We expect a very difficult game,” says Beckham.

Football fan Chris Bech would surely be watching the game. Chris Bech is big fan of David Beckham and even bought his son Beckham’s jersey for the holidays.

This fight will prove once and for all who among the two best fighters in the world is the better fighter. As per history from their previous games, the two fights resulted to a closed match and there is a big chance that the The Pacquiao vs Marquez live streaming will also be highlighted in some streaming sites. Trilogy or the 3^rd match could decided the strongest boxers among them. Will Pacquiao vs Marquez be considered as the great boxing trilogy in the history of boxing in the world?

The main event doesn’t only mean that Pacquiao will win the fight. There is a big possibility that Juan Manuel Marquez will thereof share its victories among his countrymen by winning the fighting match against rival Manny Pacquiao.

Hence, the Pacquiao vs Marquez live stream online will be available on the said date and time. Better come back here for the updates with regards to the fighting match results.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH LSU Tigers vs Alabama Crimson Tide Live Stream

Alabama and its impressive defense host LSU’s powerful running game in Week 10. These teams have split the last four seasons and have played some memorable games. Nothing compares, though, to Saturday’s showdown in Tuscaloosa. They’ve been the two best teams in college football all season, but only one will walk away unbeaten.

The Tide will have a distinct home advantage in a stadium every bit as loud as Tiger Stadium. The Tide is carrying the hopes of a storm-ravaged state much like LSU in 2005. That’s why Bama is the favorite. But LSU has lost only once this century at Bryant-Denny and sometimes the burden of expectation weighs heavily on the home team. This LSU team plays with a swagger not seen under Les Miles in his first six seasons. Still, home is home, and Bama Coach Nick Saban surely is burning from last season’s 24-21 loss. He’s 12-0 in rematch games when losing the season before since 2001.

On the other hand, Marquez’s trainers and coach, Nacho Beristain continues to hone and mold his boxers’ talents and jabs through continuous training and improved strategies. Beristain trains Marquez to target or sly away against the Pacman’s possible blowing punches that he did in his past two fights.

Back in 2004 and 2008, Pacquiao was less refined and undeniably throws punches like a wild cat. Beristain believes that although Pacquiao may be more refined now, that is still not a reason for them to be lax. Rather, he is training Marquez to target every punch that Pacquiao might throw his way and give back even harder punches like he’s never done before.

Both Roach and Beristain believe that their boxers deserve to win but when asked to comment about the competitors, they too, have nothing but positive words to say. Both coaches know each other personally and believe in each of the boxers’ talents. Thus, they are just looking forward to the best fight that will result to the best decision in their favor.

The year’s fight between Pacquiao vs. Marquez will be their third. In 2004, a draw was declared after a 12-round fight and in 2008, Pacquiao was declared title holder. This year, more is expected from both boxers to which both of them assure their fans that they would indeed see and experience even more than they have had before.

Swingmen Marcio Lassiter and Chris Lutz were originally ruled ineligible for the tournament, but after an appeal were reinstated in time for the Second Round, reinvigorating the team with their physical defense that eventually wore Japan down, and giving the Philippines genuine hopes of medal.

Philippines center Marcus Douthit led the way in dominant fashion with 25 points and 18 rebounds, while Lassiter and Jim Alapag each scored 15. Center Joji Takeuchi had 22 points and 8 rebounds for Japan.

Marcus Douthit was delighted after the game. “That win is huge!” he said excitedly. “That gives us an easier path to the semi finals. We’ll let other teams take the high road, we’ll take the low road and hopefully we’ll end up there in the end.”

The Philippines jumped out to a quick start with Douthit dominating the boards and Marnel Baracael and Kelly Williams scoring eight quick points between them for an 8-2 lead, but Japan came right back at them.

After clawing back the margin slowly, Japan connected on three straight triples bridging quarter time to go ahead 26-18. When Takeki Shonaki hit a three-pointer of his own four minutes into the second term the score was 31-23.

The Philippines answered, a sweet Chris Tiu-Lassiter fast break cutting the gap back to two points. But Koki Takeuchi responded immediately with a long range bomb, and when Tomoo Amino nailed a three from the corner the margin was back out to eight points just before half time.

A 10-0 run in the third quarter, capped by an off-balance Lassiter three-pointer gave the Philippines a 46-43 lead with 5:30 to play in the third period, and they finished the term with a stunning 8-0 run in 1:30 to claim the lead.

Japan closed to within five in the final term, but a three-pointer from Alapag and four straight points from Douthit, including a tip jam that brought the crowd to their feet, had the margin at 13 points and the contest appeared over.

Takeuchi didn’t think so however, scoring eight points in 70 seconds to bring the margin back to six. When he blew past Douthit it looked as if victory was possible for Japan, but he missed the easy reverse lay-up and the Philippines would hold on from the free throw line.

More basketball news at www.everythingbutbasketball.com

Young gun Rory MacDonald proved that he is one of the fighters to watch out for in the welterweight division by scoring a first round technical knockout victory over Mike Pyle.

Constantinos Philippou managed to get a split decision victory over Jorge Rivera with scores of 29-28, 28-29 and 29-28. Neither fighter really dominated the fight but they showcased their jiu-jitsu skills through three rounds.

Brian Ebersole was also impressive in his first roudn technical knockout victory over Dennis Hallman.

The biggest star of the night could be Vitor Belfort as he scored a knockout victory over tough Yoshihiro Akiyama in the first round.

Rashad Evans beat Tito Ortiz in the main event as expected, scoring a second round technical knockout victory.

MAIN CARD:
Rashad Evans def. Tito Ortiz via TKO (strikes) – Round 2, 4:48
Vitor Belfort def. Yoshihiro Akiyama via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 1:52
Brian Ebersole def. Brian Hallman via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 4:28
Constantinos Philippou def. Jorge Rivera via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Rory MacDonald def. Mike Pyle via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 3:54

PRELIMINARY CARD:
Alexander Gustafsson def. Matt Hamill via TKO (punches) – Round 2, 3:34
Chad Mendes def. Rani Yahya via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Ivan Menjivar def. Nick Pace via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Johny Hendricks def. Mike Pierce via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)
Mike Brown def. Nam Phan via unanimous decision (29-27, 29-28, 29-28)
Rafael Natal def. Paul Bradley via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)

Henderson seems to have some good things going for him. He moved to the UFC after the Zuffa purchase of PRIDE but failed to defend and unify his PRIDE Middleweight and Welterweight titles with the UFC Light Heavyweight and Middleweight titles respectively. Hendo racked up three straight UFC wins, the last one a brutal knockout of Michael Bisping at UFC 100 before signing up with Strikeforce.

Hendo failed to win in his bid for the Strikeforce Middleweight title against Jake Shields but he won the light heavyweight championship after knocking out Renato ‘Babalu’ Sobral in the title eliminator and knocking out then champion Rafael ‘Feijao’ Cavalcante in March 2011.

The most recent first-round knockout win over Fedor Emelianenko was Henderson’s last fight under his Strikeforce contract. With the series of fighter cuts that include Fedor, Alistair Overeem and most other Team Golden Glory fighters from Strikeforce, the salary cap may just work in favor of Henderson.

With Zuffa now the owner of both UFC and Strikeforce, Henderson can go either way.