The NBA last night canceled the first two weeks of the '11-12 regular season "after failing to reach a new labor agreement" with the NBPA. The move came after seven hours of talks yesterday in a "last-ditch attempt to save the Nov. 1 scheduled start of the season." NBA Commissioner David Stern: "We remain very, very apart on all issues." Stern "hinted" that the owners' proposals "might only get worse so they can recoup losses incurred by the cancellation." The two sides "don't have any future meetings scheduled." NBPA Exec Dir Billy Hunter: "You can't say you're moving away from a hard cap, but then do everything else that brings about the same result" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 10/11).

NBA teams Monday night quickly deleted games scheduled before Nov. 15 from their websites (L.A. TIMES, 10/11). Rolling cancellations “are likely to follow, likely in two-week increments, which also are the increments that NBA player are paid. In essence, Monday's move by the league cancels the players' first paycheck of 2011-12” (SUN-SENTINEL, 10/11). This will be the "second time in the past 13 years" that the league will not have a full 82-game season (WASHINGTON POST, 10/11).

Many players immediately went to Twitter to express frustration on the move last night. Suns G Steve Nash: "Why are the owners unwilling to negotiate in good faith? As a player I apologize to the fans that we're in this position. ... The NBA has experienced over 60 yrs of growth with new growth projected using the current model." Heat G Dwyane Wade: "STERN's 'WORDS' 2day hurt the ppl who work at the AAA,other arena's,as well as local businesses &our fans. ... Those are the one's who are affected by STERN's 'WORDS' 2day..its a Lockout-NOT a Strike." Heat F LeBron James: "I wanna sincerely say sorry to all the fans! It's a sad day for all of us, especially u guys! There's no US w/o You."

ESPN's "MNF" telecast last night opened with an intro featuring Pro Football HOFer Barry Sanders in the spot that for the last 22 years had been occupied by Hank Williams Jr.'s musical intro. ESPN "showed clips of Detroit scenes – kind of reminiscent of Chrysler's Super Bowl commercial, without the Eminem soundtrack – and the Lions," while Sanders provided a voice-over. Sanders' vocal track featured the lines, "Right now for the Lions, life is good. But like this town, they won't rest. They'll work, they'll sweat, they'll fight" (DETROIT FREE PRESS, 10/11).
 
WWJ-CBS’ Tony Ortiz wrote, “The Barry Sanders/MNF opening gave me chills. Very well done by ESPN.” ESPN Radio 1050 N.Y.’s Bonnie Bernstein wrote, “@BarrySanders narrating ESPN's open for #MNF: Simple. Powerful. Classy. #HankWho.” SI’s Richard Deitsch wrote, “Attention, Jay Rothman and Norby Williamson. Everyone is saying this. RT @judybattista Much better opening, MNF.”

ESPN’s decision to fire Hank Williams Jr. took the better part of last week – the story broke on a Monday and he ultimately was let go on a Thursday. SportsBusiness Daily’s editorial team sat down with ESPN VP/Communications Mike Soltys to discuss how the company came to its decision.

Q: (The story) blew up on Monday. You decided to pull the open on Monday night. Then it took three days, which is 80 years in Twitter time, to let him go. Why the delay?

Soltys: The difficulty with Twitter and its influence is that there’s an expectation that everyone’s going to react as quickly as the Twitterverse reacts. When you’re dealing with personnel issues or important issues that come up, you want a little more time. The Twittersphere is very unforgiving on the time scale. They want action quickly. With it happening on Monday, and we have “Monday Night Football,” we realized we needed to do something at that point. But he’s been doing this for 22 years, it was a very important part of “Monday Night Football” for a long time, we didn’t want to react too quickly. We wanted to take the time to have a careful decision.

Q: What are you doing going forward with the opening to “MNF”?

Soltys: In the short-term, there will be more of a focus on the game and previewing the game. Next year, we have no idea yet.

For more of this conversation, see today’s issue of THE DAILY.

Meanwhile, Williams has released a song, available temporarily by free download, that takes shots at "ESPN" and "Fox & Friends." The song, titled "Keep The Change," includes the line, "You can keep 'Fox & Friends' and ESPN out of your homes too. 'Cause Bocephus and all his rowdy friends and his song is out of there" (REUTERS, 10/10).

MLB last night withdrew its effort to disqualify the Dodgers' current bankruptcy counsel. The league had made a motion that the club's two firms on the matter – Dewey & LeBoeuf and Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor – should be dismissed on conflict-of-interest grounds with regard to Dodgers Owner Frank McCourt. But Judge Kevin Gross of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware said during a hearing last week he "didn't think very highly of the disqualification motion, to be blunt."

The court-appointed mediator in the case, former U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Farnan, also suggested MLB drop the motion, the league said in its filing. The Dodgers had argued MLB's disqualification bid was a "blatant tactical maneuver" aimed at injuring the club's reorganization efforts. The league did reserve the right to re-file the disqualification motion at a later date, if desired.

U.K. Minister for Sport & Olympics Hugh Robertson today confirmed that the "Olympic Stadium deal with West Ham and Newham Council has collapsed." Legal challenges from fellow soccer clubs Tottenham Hotspur and Leyton Orient, plus an anonymous complaint to the European Commission, "have led to fears that court action could drag on for years while the stadium remains empty." The venue "will now remain in public ownership and leased out to an anchor tenant following a new tender process" by the Olympic Park Legacy Company (INDEPENDENT.co.uk, 10/11).

Manchester City announced that they are the first EPL club to sign a content deal with YouTube, allowing the club to control rights-owned or in-house created videos on the video sharing site. Man City also will be able to manage the advertising around its content (Manchester City). The deal is part of the team's "wider strategy to forge commercial partnerships with online and social media companies." The club "already had a YouTube channel," as do ManU, Chelsea and Arsenal. Rights restrictions "mean that match content cannot be uploaded" (MEDIAWEEK.co.uk, 10/10).

A group of former NHL players singled out for criticism by the CBC's Don Cherry will issue a release today "saying they don't accept any apologies issued" during Saturday's "Hockey Night In Canada." Sources said that Stu Grimson, Chris Nilan and Jim Thomson are "furious that their names were used by the controversial broadcaster and that an issue they feel is vitally important was trivialized by Cherry's Thursday screed." The trio will "call for increased research" into fighting, head shots and post-concussion syndrome (GLOBE & MAIL, 10/11).

The statement will come from Tennessee law firm Kay, Griffin, Enkema & Colbert, and "from the context it appears that they are threatening to sue Cherry and/or the CBC if Cherry does not issue a full apology" (Montreal GAZETTE, 10/11).

The IOC will host it biennial International Athletes' Forum today in Colorado Springs. During the event, which is being held in the U.S. for the first time, participants will be "examining athlete issues and exchanging ideas." IOC President Jacques Rogge is making a "rare visit" to Colorado Springs, where he has not been since '01. After arriving Sunday, he toured the USOC's new downtown HQs yesterday and "checked out the Olympic Training Center" (Colorado Springs GAZETTE, 10/11).

The Royal & Ancient has announced that St. Andrew's Old Course will host the '15 British Open. The 144th Open will take place July 16-19 and will be "the 29th time that golf's oldest major championship will be held on the Old Course" (PA, 10/11).

Jos. A. Bank has agreed to become a participating sponsor of the Ravens' Purple Friday apparel promotion. The clothier will become the men's corporate apparel destination for the promotion and will offer a selection of purple sportshirts, ties, sweaters and dress shirts (Ravens).

Edmonton Mayor Stephen Mandel and his staff will meet with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman in N.Y. today to discuss a proposed C$450M downtown Edmonton development that would include an arena for the Oilers (EDMONTON SUN, 10/11).

"I think any suggestion that there is widespread disagreement within the league and/or among the clubs with Brendan's standard and the discipline he has imposed to date is way off base and not factual" – NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly, via e-mail, on reports that a group of NHL GMs were upset with some of the suspensions handed out by NHL VP/Player Safety & Hockey Operations Brendan Shanahan (L.A. TIMES, 10/11).

"It's gotten complicated for a number of reasons, but I think it should come to the forefront in the next week to 10 days" – Houston businessman Jim Crane, on his attempt to purchase the Astros from team Owner Drayton McLane (MLB.com, 10/10).

"The real value of players has become completely inflated. There are clubs out there who are spending money that if they were in a real business they could not afford. That inflates it for everybody" – EPL club Queens Park Rangers Owner Tony Fernandes, who sees the current economic uncertainty as an opportunity to turnaround the team's finances (London INDEPENDENT, 10/11).

Bloomberg Television's Michelle Steele: "NBA players wake up this AM having lost first Nov 15 paycheck - $175m in lost pay, according to union #defactorollback"

Digital Royalty Founder Amy Jo Martin: "Social media has enabled athletes to become the media. Note the @SteveNash feed right now re: @NBA lockout. #StandUnited"

ESPN.com’s Bill Simmons: “What a cover by the Lions!!!!!! Screw the NBA, we can always gamble on football. Don't let the door hit you in the ass, NBA.”

Sporting News' Brian Straus: "Klinsmann: MLS players can't have more than 3-4 weeks off a year. MLS season is 'not competitive with the rest of the world.'"

If you see a tweet we will not want to miss, send it to us at editorial@sportsbusinessdaily.com.

Golfer Natalie Gulbis posted this shot of herself answering questions at a TaylorMade-adidas press conference in Malaysia.

Institutional Shareholders Services is advising that News Corp. shareholders vote News Corp. Chair & CEO Rupert Murdoch and 12 others, including his two sons, off the company's 15-person BOD "less than two weeks before the company's annual meeting." Murdoch controls about 40% of the voting shares of News Corp., "which is scheduled to hold its annual meeting Oct. 21" in L.A. (L.A. TIMES, 10/11).

Last night’s “Final Jeopardy!” category was “Revolutionary War.”

“He was executed in 1780 and buried in Tappan, New York; his remains were moved to Westminster Abbey in 1821.”

ESPN Radio’s Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic appeared on CBS’ “Late Show” last night and host David Letterman said to them, “I know you guys got to get up early in the morning to entertain and educate so it’s nice to you are here. I got a lot of stuff I need help with. The Big 12 has ten teams. The Big Ten has 12 teams. Help me.” Greenberg: “This is higher education in this country as we know it.” Golic said, “I'm the Notre Dame grad, I'll take care of the math. We're independent. We don't care.” Greenberg said, “What it really is, in all honesty, is an embarrassing moneygrab. All these guys who are protesting down at Wall Street should be protesting at the NCAA headquarters because these are -- theoretically -- institutions where their concern should be educating young people and all they care about is to make sure they don't get left out in this game of musical chairs and be left standing without one.” ... Greenberg said the Colts want to go 0-16 to have the chance to draft Stanford QB Andrew Luck, “which would wind up being the best thing that ever happened to them.” Greenberg said Colts QB Peyton Manning would try and comeback from his neck injury to play so they win a few games and can’t draft Luck. Letterman: “You’re saying that Peyton Manning is so calculating that he knows if he gets in and wins a couple of games they won't finish dead last, they won't have the chance to draft the kid out of Stanford.” Greenberg: “Yes, I am.” Golic responded, “Again, 20-hours a week I sit next to this idiot” (“Late Show,” CBS, 10/10).

MONOLOGUES:

CBS’ David Letterman: “Happy Columbus Day! Here in town all the potholes are filled with parmesan. … Governor Chris Christie, who is the governor of the Garden State right across the river down in Trenton, the capitol, you can almost see the governor from here. Today is Columbus Day. Listen to this: Chris Christie’s cholesterol is 1492. … Christopher Columbus, an Italian, moved to Spain and then discovered America, although many Americans believe that he was actually born in Kenya. … They’re playing a golf tournament, one of those big-time PGA deals. Tiger Woods is putting on the green. A guy charges the green and throws a hot dog at Tiger Woods. The guy was arrested and the fascinating thing about this, legally half that hot dog goes to Tiger's ex-wife. … Speaking of weddings, congratulations to Paul McCartney, married for the third time over the weekend in London. What a day it was. They had a beautiful reception. Paul smiled. He seemed to know where he was. He even had a little cake. This was so sweet: Paul actually carried his pre-nuptial agreement over the threshold. … How about the Yankees? Stinking up the joint, am I right? How about that Mark Teixeira, 0-for-8. Whew, boy. That's like me right now. The Yankees are blaming their poor showing on their team doctor, Dr. Conrad Murray. … Conrad Murray, I mean have you been watching the trial? Here's how it goes: They had the trial. Then they deliberate the verdict. Then the acquittal. Then, ‘Dancing With The Stars.’ … Happy Birthday to Bo, the White House dog, three-years-old, I think. Has the lowest approval rating of any White House dog going into an election year. Do you know the difference between President Obama’s dog and the economy? The difference is Obama fixed the dog” (“Late Show,” CBS, 10/11).

NBC’s Jay Leno: “Happy Columbus Day! As you know, Christopher Columbus discovered America while trying to find a shorter route to India. You know why he was trying to get to India? Tech support. There were no phones back then. You actually had to bring your computer to India. … Although he was Italian, Columbus was commissioned by Spain and declared America for Spain. Did you know that? If the British never came here, we'd all be speaking Spanish right now, as opposed to just half the country speaking Spanish right now. … Because of the holiday, all the banks were closed and I understand some of them are expected to re-open tomorrow. … Even though the banks were closed, BofA will still charge you the $5 debit fee. How many think they should change their name to BofA-hole? … The stock market skyrocketed today. See what happens when the banks and the federal government shuts down for a day? Good things happen! … Two Americans won the Nobel Prize today for economics. How crappy is the economy in the rest of the world if America is winning the Nobel Prize for economics? I don't know who the two guys were that won, but I think we can rule out President Obama and Timothy Geithner. … You see what the two winners did with the prize money? They bought lotto tickets. … The economy is so bad, Tiger Woods is playing golf just to get the free hot dogs. … That end of the world preacher Harold Camping -- remember the guy who said the world was going to end in May -- says the world is going to end two weeks from right now. You know what that means? We're all like the Yankees: None of us are going to make it to the World Series” (“The Tonight Show,” NBC, 10/11).

LATE NIGHT LAUGHS:

Last night’s Top Ten list was “Top Ten Things Columbus Said When He Arrived In America” (“Late Show,” CBS, 10/11).
 
10) “What should we do first: Unpack or hit the bar?”
9) “Who wants smallpox?”
8) “What do you mean the Pinta lost my luggage?’”
7) “One day they’ll name a whole country after me – or, at least, a city in Ohio.”
6) “Amerigo Vespucci can suck it!”
5) “I can see, like, fifteen Starbucks from here.”
4) “Mama Mia, that’s a spicy new world.”
3) “Where my dawgs at?”
2) “I hope I’m not too late to pre-order the iPhone 4S.”
1) “I wonder who Regis has on the show tomorrow.”

“Who was Major John André?”