Greg in Sports!

At the start of the 2007-08 NBA season, nobody would have thought that the league’s greatest rivals would once again face off for the title.

The Boston Celtics had just acquired two future hall-of-famers in Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett. General Manager brought the two superstars in separate deals in a bid to help Boston’s long time star, Paul Pierce. A lot of people questioned whether the three superstars could co-exist and gel fast enough for the Celtics to become contenders. There was also the question of whether Boston had enough support around its three stars.

Out in LA, Kobe Bryant, arguably the best player in the game today demanded a trade in the off-season. Coming into the season, there were question marks about Kobe’s ability to lead a team on his own.

Once the season started though, it was evident that the Celtics were on a mission. They ran roughshod over the rest of the NBA to finish with the best record. The Lakers meanwhile started well, but became much better with the arrival of Pau Gasol mid-season. They finished the regular season strongly, and ended up on top of the West.

In June, it was time once again for the Celtics and the Lakers to face off for the biggest prize in the game: the NBA title. The Celtics would eventually win in six games, and claim its 17th NBA championship.

Now, both the Celtics and the Lakers are contenders for the NBA title again. Whether they collide in the Finals again is anybody’s guess.

David Beckham is coming to Milan. The LA Galaxy, Beckham’s club in Major League Soccer, has agreed to let Beckham go to Italian club AC Milan for a loan spell during the MLS off-season. According to Beckham, the move was done so he could keep fit even though the MLS is in its off-season.

He will join other superstars in Milan’s squad which include former FIFA world player of the year winners Kaka and Ronaldinho, as well as Milan legend Paolo Maldini.

Carlo Ancelotti, AC Milan’s manager will have a tough time choosing his squad with the arrival of Beckham. The midfield is already crowded with the likes of Clarence Seedorf, Andrea Pirlo, Mathieu Flamini, and the aforementioned Ronaldinho and Kaka.

Whether Beckham can have as big of an impact on the pitch as he has off the pitch remains to be seen though. Beckham is clearly past his prime, but he is still good a good enough player with a lot of experience and plenty of leadership.

With this move, Beckham can now say that he has played for the biggest clubs in Europe. He started out with Manchester United in England, before moving to Real Madrid in Spain.

2008 was the year when Roger Federer, men’s tennis’ world number one, considered as the best player of his generation, was supposed to make history. It was supposed to be the year when he would finally catch and ultimately surpass his former idol, the former king, Pete Sampras. Well, that wasn’t the case.

The past year has proved to be anything but great for Federer. He started the year by losing his Australian Open title to the Serbian hotshot, Novak Djokovic., He then went on to lose the French Open yet again, with Rafael Nadal giving him the beating of his life. It got worse, as two weeks later, Nadal beat Federer in an epic Wimbledon Final, a match many consider to be the greatest tennis of all time.

Soon afterwards, Federer lost his top ranking to Rafael Nadal after more holding it for more than four years. His gold in the Olympic doubles as well as his US Open Title, his 13th slam, were mere consolation prizes.

Fortunately for Federer, a New Year beckons, and with the New Year comes a new hope and a fresh outlook. Could 2009 finally be the year when Federer gets a 14th slam, or perhaps more, to separate him from Sampras once and for all?

The NFL allows coaches to ask referees to review certain plays using video. The NBA uses instant-replay to check whether a last second shot counts or not. Technology has helped officials in both leagues, and technology is now also helping officials on the tennis tour.

Hawk-eye, which was first used only unofficially during instant replays on the TV broadcast were certified for use in the professional tennis tour back in 2006. The 2006 US Open was the first Grand Slam tournament to ever implement hawk-eye, and though its use has been controversial at times, it has proven to be quite a success.

Hawk-eye uses at least four high-speed cameras placed at different locations around the venue, capturing and tracking the ball from different angles. All the data is processed using a high-speed video processor and a ball tracker.

Hawk-eye provides more accurate line calling that helps the umpire, the linesmen, and the players themselves. Like the NBA and the NFL, which restricts the use of instant-replay to certain circumstances, professional tennis also limits the number of times a player can challenge a call with Hawk-eye.

The Hawk-eye technology used in the professional tennis circuit is owned by Hawk-eye innovations Ltd.

The NBA is undoubtedly the top basketball league in the world, with the biggest stars and the best players from all around the globe. The NBA, unlike the NFL and the MLB, is popular not just in the US but all over the world as well. With superstars like Kobe Bryant and LeBron James who have themselves become global icons, its no surprise that the NBA has become the global juggernaut that it is.

As such, it has been attracting the best players from all over the world. Dirk Nowitzki of Germany, Manu Ginobili of Argentina, Tony Parker of France, all of them have gone to the US to ply their trade in the best basketball league in the world.

However, something unprecedented happened in the last NBA off-season. A player went the other way, and signed to play for a team in Europe. It’s not the first time this has happened, in fact, it happens a lot. There are only so many slots on NBA teams, so other players go overseas to play the game they love. What’s different about what happened last year was that the talent level of the players who signed to play in Europe is clearly the best it has ever been. The likes of Josh Childress and Earl Boykins, key players for their previous NBA teams, went to Europe mostly because of the money.

For now, money is the main motivation for players to sign in Europe, but in the long run, this could be good for basketball. It could finally become the global game that football has long been.