Monday, August 22, 2011

Basketball's version of the Royal Wedding

By John McMullen

Philadelphia - The NBA lockout has claimed another victim -- yours truly.

Normally  this is the  time of year an NBA writer will start preparing for the upcoming  season, picking up the phone to interview various insiders about the moves that have reshaped things around The Association.

Not this year.

Both  sides seem  entrenched and hunkered down  for a serious fight over a new collective  bargaining agreement.  The owners  feeling they  have to  repair a "broken  system" with a Tea Party-like platform, rein in spending to allow the lesser franchises a better opportunity to compete both on the court and in the
financial ledgers.

The  players,  on the other  hand, not surprisingly  like the previous CBA and point  to  the NBA's  ever-burgeoning revenues  as proof  it works, claiming a tweak or two on the revenue sharing side and some common sense from the owners would cure all the league's woes.

The  2011-12  season is still  scheduled to tip off  a day after Halloween but most feel Kobe and Company will be home to hand out the Kit Kats this year. At least  the ones that aren't off in a far away land, moonlighting while waiting for common sense to take over.

That leaves scribes like me scrambling for story ideas and there are certainly worse things in the world than taking a look at Kim Kardashian.

Kim,  of course, is  one of those new breed of celebrities that are famous for nothing more than being famous and in her case, really, really fetching.

On  Saturday, Kardashian  and New  Jersey  Nets power  forward Kris Humphries officially  tied  the knot in  front of 500-plus  invited guests in a ceremony with a price tag of $10 million, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Of  course,  celebrity has its  perks and  much of that  cost was covered by a number  of side deals, including an exclusive contract with People Magazine to publish wedding photos, said to be worth $1.5 million.

Humphries has certainly come a long way since I first saw him play at Hopkins, Minn.  High  School back in  2002. The guest  list featured Demi Lovato, Avril Lavigne,  Lindsay Lohan,  Mario Lopez  and  George Lopez  while Wolfgang  Puck catered the lavish affair.

According  to  Usmagazine.com, the  couple  wrote  their  own vows  with  Kris "talking about how he loved Kim's hustle and work ethic."

Most  of us would have started the vows with one of her more famous attributes but I digress.

The happy couple is now off to Bora Bora for the honeymoon.

For  the  rest of  us Bora Bora  is a dream.  One that's  only a bit more far-fetched than NBA basketball right now.

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