For over three months the NBA lockout inconvenienced just about anybody associated with the game, and video game developer 2K Sports has been spared of no such hassle. With a non-existent collective bargaining agreement and little progress from offseason negotiations, 2K Sports has had to get creative with NBA 2K12. But how long will that last?

The Big Ten is a conference of tradition, a timeless source of the magic we have come to associate with good old American college football. While those around them realign and readjust, the inaccurately-named conference has stood pat since welcoming Nebraska in 2010, opting instead to focus on the charms that have long made it a national classic.

As several NHL franchises can attest, permanently shaking the “expansion team” tag is not an easy task. Fortunately for hockey fans in Tennessee, the Nashville Predators have battled valiantly to do exactly that. Reliable coaching, consistent player development and a disciplined management staff have put this team on the map.

Joe Savery may not win any MVP or Cy Young awards as a fringe Major League player with the Philadelphia Phillies, but he does have a rare ability that could help him – yes, him – change the way managers and executives look at their rosters. Can Savery, his respectable arm and serviceable slashline change baseball’s status quo?

The NBA lockout has waged on to the point where a sub-82-game season is a distinct possibility (if we see a season at all). Recently David Stern mentioned the possibility of pushing a full-length campaign into the summer if a resolution is met this fall, but while the commissioner was skeptical of the logistics of such an endeavor, it may just be the best idea they’ve had in months.

Lindy Ruff has been with the Buffalo Sabres so long that it wouldn’t be unreasonable to suggest that he might be the organization’s most recognizable icon. Having withstood three ownership changes to claim the title of the NHL’s most-tenured coach, he’s not going anywhere any time soon.

The St. Louis Rams may not have been pegged as early Super Bowl favorites, but coming off an impressive 2010 campaign and with Sam Bradford looking to follow up an outstanding rookie year, the 0-4 hole they find themselves in is unacceptable. TheGP Football’s Andrew Bucholtz, along with Ramblin Fan’s Justin Stine get to the bottom of it.

Rick Adelman has been there before. He’s led winners, losers and everyone in between, he’s developed youth, he’s channeled versatility and he’s been questioned along the way. Will his new gig with the Minnesota Timberwolves get him an NBA championship? Maybe not immediately, but the similarities between this Wolves team and the Adelman Era Sacramento Kings run deeper than you think.

It wasn’t supposed to be easy for Jim Harbaugh stepping in as the head coach of the disappointing San Francisco 49ers, especially not with the lockout-shortened offseason stunting his transitionary period coming over from nearby Stanford. How, then (at 3-1 and atop the NFC West), have they made it look so simple?

The most obvious contender in the Northwest Division is the team that made it to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final last June. We all know how that ended. Is this the year the Vancouver Canucks finally bring home a Stanley Cup or is a youth-inspired power shift brewing?