Lakers’ Bryant Won’t Let Injuries Slow Him.
Sports Fan
Lakers' Bryant won't let injuries slow him
By GREG BEACHAM, AP Sports Writer 2 hours, 6 minutes ago
LOS ANGELES (AP)--Kobe Bryant(notes) hasn't been trapped in a fancy Los
Angeles building and surrounded by vicious enemies led by a brilliant
German since the last time Dirk Nowitzki(notes) and the Dallas Mavericks
visited Staples Center.
Still, the Los Angeles Lakers' unbreakable star was only half-joking
recently when he said he was Bruce Willis -- you know, the "Die Hard"
star famed for playing action heroes who can't be stopped, no matter the
odds or injuries stacked against them.
With a broken index finger on his shooting hand, a strained elbow and
several additional woes that have come and gone this season, Bryant is
persevering through an uncommon spate of significant injuries without
missing a game for the defending NBA champions.
In this photo taken on Dec. 22, 2009, Los Angeles Lakers' Kobe
Bryant(notes) grimaces after he came down on his knee during the second
half of their NBA basketball game against the Oklahoma City Thunder in
Los Angeles. Bryant likens himself to actor Bruce Willis, the action
hero who can't be stopped, no matter how many injuries. The only time
Bryant's broken finger, injured elbow and other maladies appear to slow
him is when he's asked about them.
"Injuries don't affect me," he said. "I'm not going to sit here and say
I've got a (bad) knee, I've got a (bad) finger. I'm fine. I'm more than
fine. I always keep playing."
Bryant's season-high 44-point performance in a 124-118 victory over the
Golden State Warriors on Tuesday night propelled him past Denver's
Carmelo Anthony(notes) into the overall NBA scoring lead with 30.4
points per game. He has averaged more than 38 points over the Lakers'
last five outings, starting with a win over Oklahoma City last week in
which he was elbowed in the jaw before coming uncomfortably close to a
major knee injury and dropping 40 on the Thunder.
What's more, Bryant is doing all this shooting and dribbling with an
avulsion fracture -- a fragment of bone torn away by a tendon or
ligament -- in his index finger, the most important digit for
controlling his shot. He plays wearing a soft white protective padding
that appears to be one of Mickey Mouse's fingers, and he sometimes
resorts to left-handed shots in tough situations, using the ambidextrous
shooting skills he has practiced since childhood.
"I don't know how he does what he does," Lakers forward Lamar
Odom(notes) said. "I've never seen him have trouble adjusting because of
injuries. It's one thing to play through an injury, but to play at the
level he does with the injuries he has, it's crazy. We aren't surprised
by anything now."
Bryant's biggest worry about his broken finger was its effect on his
free throws, which rely most heavily on his touch. Yet he made 16
without a miss in the Lakers' win over Golden State on Tuesday night,
blowing away Warriors coach Don Nelson.
"That guy is amazing," Nelson said. "To be able to shoot like he did
with the finger problems that he has on his shooting hand, it's amazing.
I love watching him play, and it's always a pleasure to coach against
him."
Yet Bryant doesn't want to hear any praise or credit for his effort. He
rarely talks about his injuries except when pestered by the media, and
he reacts almost angrily to suggestions he's doing something remarkable.
"Man, stop asking me about injuries," he said with mock indignation.
"You think I'm not going to play? I'm fine. " It's just a different
technique to shoot the ball."
Bryant had two scares last week in that win over Oklahoma City, and the
elbow to his face from Russell Westbrook(notes) wasn't even the worst:
Staples Center went silent with fear when Bryant's left knee bent back
awkwardly on landing. The play worried coach Phil Jackson, who saw Karl
Malone get a serious knee injury on a similar play, yet Bryant came back
after a timeout and finished the game, attributing his ligaments'
survival to luck and a natural flexibility.
Bryant's most recent injury was a strained right elbow, which occurred
in the second half of a double-overtime victory at Sacramento one night
after the Christmas flop. He played through the pain of what he believes
was a stinger, but his entire arm below the elbow went numb in the
process, making his late-game 3-pointers to beat the Kings even more
impressive.
Bryant has done this before. He tore a ligament in his right pinky
finger in February 2008, but postponed corrective surgery until after
the Beijing Olympics, playing through the pain from that injury and a
dislocated ring finger nearly a year ago.
When nearly two years of basketball without a break culminated in the
Lakers' 15th title last season, Bryant finally got an extended rest
period -- yet he also carried the Lakers early this season with his
much-improved low-post game while Pau Gasol(notes) was sidelined by an
injured hamstring. He has done more scoring with jumpers and drives in
recent weeks, but has been even more offensively aggressive since
breaking his finger against Minnesota on Dec. 11.
His teammates are no longer surprised by their die-hard leader.
"It takes more than a broken finger to keep him out," point guard Derek
Fisher(notes) said. "A wide receiver in the NFL with that injury might
be out for the year. Kobe needs his fingers just as much, and he keeps
playing."
$Bill
If TWC drops FSNW and Prime Ticket, we may need a feed till things
get resolved or we can switch to another provider. Think you can
handle the feed for a bit ? Or is TWC there too ?
Sports Fan
I got fed up with TWC's nonsense and slow roll out of HD channels.
I kept their Internet connection, and that was it.
I am trying to get one of my workstations setup so that I can go back to
broadcasting the games.
I will let everyone know when that is up.
Thanks.
In article <hhgtkj$6ci$1...@news.eternal-september.org>
RzR
> http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=AomJIuP328gkdnndC1xK1xm8vLYF?slug=ap-lakers-diehardbryant&prov=ap&type=lgns
>
> Lakers' Bryant won't let injuries slow him
>
must not affecting him all that much since he continues to put up crazy
numbers
Sports Fan
"$Bill" <ne...@SPAMOLAtodbe.com> wrote:
I switched from Time Warner Cable to DirecTV 2 years ago.
I was fed up with their slow roll of HD channels and their service.
I am working to get one of my workstations back to go back to
broadcasting games.
I will let you and everyone know when that is done.
Thanks.
$Bill
> I switched from Time Warner Cable To DirecTV almost 2 years ago.
> I got fed up with TWC's nonsense and slow roll out of HD channels.
>
> I kept their Internet connection, and that was it.
>
> I am trying to get one of my workstations setup so that I can go back to
> broadcasting the games.
>
> I will let everyone know when that is up.
Thanks - what are you using for hardware and software to do your streaming ?
Terraholm
Will you be able to do so this year?
NBA has been really cracking down at ustream and JTV even on the private
channels...seems like the foreign based ones are the only ones that stay
up.
$Bill
It'll be harder if they don't know about it through the normal
channels. We can just keep it local here.
Terraholm
I think they have UStream and JTVs cooperation now.
VicXnews
@mid.individual.net:
Deadline looms for Time Warner Cable and News Corp.
The possibility that Fox shows could disappear from cable viewers' screens
increases as the media giants continue trying to hammer out a deal by
midnight on New Year's Eve.
By Joe Flint
December 31, 2009
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-ct-cable31-2009dec31,0,4266615.story
With only hours to go until their current contract expires, News Corp. and
Time Warner Cable Inc. were still trying to hammer out a new deal for the
cable system operator to carry News Corp.'s Fox TV stations and several of
its cable networks.
The likelihood of a new accord before today's midnight deadline appeared to
be quickly diminishing, and the possibility was increasing that millions of
Time Warner subscribers could see Fox shows disappear from their TV
screens.
On Wednesday, News Corp. President Chase Carey, in a memo to the company's
employees, said, "At this time, it looks like we will not reach an
agreement and our channels may very well go off the air."
A lot is on the line for both companies. Fox's ratings are likely to fall
and its advertising revenue decline without Time Warner Cable carrying its
stations. Time Warner Cable, on the other hand, may face a backlash from
subscribers threatening to disconnect and switch to satellite companies
DirecTV and Dish Network, or phone company Verizon's Fios.
Time Warner Cable has said it is willing to extend its current deal with
Fox past the deadline and enter into binding arbitration to resolve their
differences. Fox, however, has made it clear that it has no interest in
either. In anticipation of its signals going dead, Fox has been quietly
buying time on other media outlets in Time Warner Cable markets and plans
to unleash a campaign defending its action and encouraging viewers to
switch to satellite TV.
Besides Los Angeles, where Time Warner Cable has more than 1 million
subscribers, other cities that would lose the Fox signals include New York,
Dallas and Tampa, Fla. Locally, Time Warner Cable subscribers wouldn't be
able to get KTTV-TV Channel 11 and KCOP-TV Channel 13 as well as FX, Fox
Sports West and Prime Ticket. Fox News Channel has a separate agreement
with Time Warner Cable and is not affected by these negotiations.
Fox is asking Time Warner Cable to pay about $1 per subscriber each month
to carry its local TV stations. Time Warner Cable has countered with an
offer of about 30 cents per subscriber, people close to the talks said.
Under the agreement about to expire, Time Warner Cable does not pay
anything for so-called retransmission consent.
Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), chairman of the Senate Commerce Subcommittee
on Communication, Technology and the Internet, who has become vocal on this
matter, threatened to have the Federal Communications Commission intervene
if Fox's signal went off Time Warner Cable.
"If Fox believes that withdrawing programming . . . is its best negotiating
tactic, then I would ask the FCC to intervene and mandate continued
carriage," Kerry said.
So far, the FCC has stayed on the sidelines, and historically has not
involved itself in distribution disputes that often happen between cable
system operators and program suppliers. A spokeswoman for FCC Chairman
Julius Genachowski declined to comment on Kerry's statement.
Kerry issued his statement after News Corp.'s Carey sent the senator a
letter saying the company had no interest in extending the current contract
or entering arbitration.
"We strongly believe this is an issue that needs to be settled at the
bargaining table and that binding arbitration all too often looks to the
past, not the future," Carey wrote.
He added that Fox "needs to level the playing field" with other less-
watched cable networks that are able to command big subscriber fees.
Although such battles between content producers and distributors are
commonplace, the Time Warner Cable and Fox showdown has major ramifications
for both the cable and broadcast industries.
In previous negotiations over retransmission consent, broadcasters such as
Fox asked for more channel space on cable systems to launch new networks in
lieu of fees. But with TV ad growth slowing, Fox and other broadcasters
need new revenue streams and are counting on fees from cable and satellite
operators to make up the difference.
In his memo to employees, Carey said Fox's "requested compensation is about
equal to what Time Warner Cable pays TNT, a network with a fraction of the
ratings."
A Time Warner Cable spokesman said Carey's demands were "an extortion
attempt necessitated by a poor advertising market and an innate desire to
fatten his wallet at our customers' expense."
Although the rhetoric from the two companies was ratcheted up Wednesday,
executives from both sides continue to negotiate in an effort to reach a
new deal before today's midnight deadline.
Other media companies are paying close attention. On Wednesday, Walt Disney
Co., parent of the ABC broadcast network, swung its support behind Fox.
"Cable operators pay only about $25 a month for all of the programming on
the basic and expanded basic tiers, and they sell this to consumers for
some $60 to $70," Disney said in a statement. "The fact that cable
operators use these video offerings to sell even higher-margin broadband
and phone services, blaming the programmers for monthly cable bill
increases, is just plain wrong."
ABC's deal with Time Warner Cable for retransmission of its TV stations
expires late next year. CBS already has a deal with Time Warner Cable, but
if Fox strikes better terms, CBS has a "most favored nation" clause that
could allow it to demand an equivalent deal.
bozak
> Terraholm <terraholmSPAM...@gmail.com> wrote in news:7q42g5F2doU1
>
> With only hours to go until their current contract expires, News Corp. and
> Time Warner Cable Inc. were still trying to hammer out a new deal for the
> cable system operator to carry News Corp.'s Fox TV stations and several of
> its cable networks.
>
> The likelihood of a new accord before today's midnight deadline appeared to
> be quickly diminishing, and the possibility was increasing that millions of
> Time Warner subscribers could see Fox shows disappear from their TV
> screens.
good...
VicXnews
@d20g2000yqh.googlegroups.com:
NOT good...read that last line...faux news not included...
bozak
>
> - Show quoted text -
good... the less money those cretins make the better...
VicXnews
@f5g2000yqh.googlegroups.com:
> good... the less money those cretins make the better...
>
I'll bet they give faux news away for free
$Bill
>
> NOT good...read that last line...faux news not included...
> Locally, Time Warner Cable subscribers wouldn't be
> able to get KTTV-TV Channel 11 and KCOP-TV Channel 13 as well as FX, Fox
> Sports West and Prime Ticket. Fox News Channel has a separate agreement
> with Time Warner Cable and is not affected by these negotiations.
I don't see how Fox can stop you from re-broadcasting an over the air
channel (11 and 13). The rest are cable channels and I would guess
they could charge for them if they see fit. TWC on the other hand
should be charging next to nothing for all OTA rebroadcasting of
channels and only be charging a small fee for keeping the cable up
(after all you can always buy an antenna for a few bucks for the OTA).
The cable channels, on the other hand, are not OTA and I could see how
they could charge TWC to carry them and TWC can add on a fee to the
consumer to pay for the content and some minimal profit for both
parties.
But both of these groups raising fees during a recession isn't being
all that smart. Fox will lose watchers and people that don't want to
lose Fox will switch to Dish, FIOS or another cableco like ATT.
What I don't like is being left in the lurch on a given day with no
Laker TV. This should have been resolved one way or the other and
give us enough advance warning to react to it if we decide to.
Personally, I'm siding with the cablecos on this as long as there is
advertising on the channel - I don't want to pay for something with
continual ads barraging me in addition. And the cablecos need to
accept a reasonable profit instead of trying to get rich of the
consumer who oftentimes is stuck with a cable monopoly. Would be
nice if satellites could provide internet and would get rid of the
set-top boxes except for pay-per-view and prime programming so you
could just connect it direct to the TV and half the number of remotes.
VicXnews
september.org:
>
>
Fox, Time Warner Cable ink temp deal to avoid blackout
Yinka Adegoke
NEW YORK
Fri Jan 1, 2010 1:43am EST
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5BU2RX20100101
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Time Warner Cable and News Corp's Fox Networks agreed
to a brief extension of their current carriage contract on Thursday to
avoid a blackout that would have prevented 13 million U.S. homes from
seeing TV shows like "The Simpsons" and college and NFL football games.
The two sides continued to negotiate for a longer-term deal into the early
hours of Friday morning.
Time Warner Cable also agreed a short extension with Scripps Networks
Interactive's Food Network.
But another cable operator, Cablevision Systems Corp, which has 3 million
subscribers in the New York area, said early on Friday it had been unable
to reach a new carriage agreement with Scripps and dropped both Food
Network and HGTV.
It said in a statement it had "no expectations" of carrying Scripps
programing again.
The last-minute negotiations over how much cable operators pay networks to
distribute their programing are often contentious. In 2008 Time Warner
Cable went to the wire with Viacom Inc on New Year's eve in a similar
dispute.
In the last 12 months talks between cable operators and program providers
have become even more tense. Programmers have been seeking better affiliate
fees as they have seen advertising revenue hurt by the U.S. economic
downturn and remain uncertain about the future of TV advertising as more
marketers turn to the Web.
FOX VS TIME WARNER CABLE
The short-term extension between Fox and Time Warner Cable comes after a
months-long dispute over how much the second largest U.S. cable company
should pay for the right to deliver the free-to-air Fox broadcast network
to its subscribers in major cities like New York and Los Angeles.
News Corp, which is controlled by media mogul Rupert Murdoch, has been
targeting around $1 a month per subscriber, a sum which Time Warner Cable
has described as "unreasonable." Time Warner Cable executives have
privately pointed to deals with other smaller broadcasters for around 20-25
cents a subscriber.
The dispute has played out in the press and aggressive marketing campaigns
from both companies seeking support from the affected subscribers.
Neither side is well-positioned for a long standoff. Time Warner Cable,
which faces stiff competition for video customers from satellite providers
and phone companies, will be reluctant to lose popular shows like "American
Idol" which returns to Fox on Jan 12.
Meanwhile, the prospect of sports fans not being able to watch college and
NFL football games on Fox's free-to-air broadcast has attracted attention
from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julian
Genachowski, Senator John Kerry and some other members of Congress.
Fox will also be hurt by a loss in advertising dollars if more than 13
million homes are not able to see its shows.
VicXnews
september.org:
Fox, Time Warner: A Deal Is Done
http://www.thewrap.com/ind-column/fox-time-warner-deal-done-12422
By Josef Adalian
Published: January 01, 2010
Peace is at hand in the standoff between Time Warner Cable and Fox, with
both sides announcing a new carriage deal after marathon negotiations that
streched into the New Year.
No word yet on how close Time Warner came to meeting Fox's $1 per
subscriber request.
Here's the release just issued by both companies:
The Fox Networks Group and Time Warner Cable announced today that they have
agreed in principle to a comprehensive distribution agreement to provide
more than 13 million households with programming from Fox Television
Stations, Fox Broadcasting (FOX), Fox Cable Networks and Fox�s regional
sports networks. The deal also includes carriage agreements for Bright
House Networks� 2 million additional subscribers.
"We're pleased that, after months of negotiations, we were able to reach a
fair agreement with Time Warner Cable -- one that recognizes the value of
our programming,� said Chase Carey, Deputy Chairman, President and COO,
News Corporation.
�We�re happy to have reached a reasonable deal with no disruption in
programming for our customers,� said Glenn Britt, Chairman, President and
CEO, Time Warner Cable.
Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.