Negotiations broke down again.

You read it, after a day of optimism about being able to save the entirety of the 2011-12 NBA basketball season, labor talks between the owners and the players broke down Friday, pretty much making sure that the league will have a shortened season for the second time in 13 years.

Too bad huh? NBA commissioner David Stern made it official, cancelling games through November 30. He said that, ”it’s not practical, possible or prudent to have a full season now.”

It turns out that the NBA owners and the NBA players still can’t agree on the idea of teams going over the salary cap and just have the option to pay for a luxury tax to be able to use the midlevel and bi-annual exceptions.

Owners believed the NBA players were prepared to take a 50-50 split on BRI if the system issues were agreed upon. Privately, league sources said most of the luxury tax and exception issues were resolved and the players wouldn’t move off the 52.5 percentage to which they had dropped.

There were still issues with tax-paying teams being allowed to use the midlevel exception, but owners thought there was still a compromise to make. Nevertheless, league negotiators privately said they went back to the bargaining table with the union, only because they believed that to be true.

Meanwhile, Players Association executive director Billy Hunter said…

This is definitely not the way Lewis Hamilton wanted to start in India heading to this weekend’s grand prix.

He may have had the pace in Friday’s practice in India as the 2011 F1 season continues to wind down but it proved to be too much, earning the McLaren driver a grid slot penalty.

You see, Lewis Hamilton was the man to beat in Friday’s first practice at the new Buddh International circuit as he posted a 1:26.836 to edge Sebastian Vettel.

However, almost immediately after, Hamilton was yet again in the stewards office receiving a penalty. This time it was for ignoring yellow flags warning him that marshals were close to the track when he posted his P1 time. The Brit was slapped with a three-place grid penalty for the 2011 F1 Indian Grand Prix.

“It hasn’t been the best of Fridays,” Hamilton said. “I’m a bit frustrated at myself, it’s my fault as usual so I just have to do what I can from wherever I qualify tomorrow.”

“I have no one else to blame, it’s only me driving. (But) it’s not the end of the world and I can still recover from it.”

And given McLaren’s times on Friday, Hamilton’s bravado is not misplaced.

He finished the day fourth on the timesheets, just 0.748s behind Felipe Massa, while his team-mate Jenson Button was…

And get this, if both sides reach a deal over the weekend, they might actually save the entire 82-game season.

How about that, I guess we’ll have the 2011-12 NBA basketball season after all. That is if they do get a deal done in the next couple of days. They’re in the final two minutes and they’re hoping they pull off a clutch performance out of their asses.

Both the NBA owners and the NBA players managed to agree on several important issues. They met for more than 15 hours, finishing past 3am Thursday and sources said talks centering on the system issues resulted in significant progress on one of the labor fight’s most vexing obstacles: the luxury tax teams would have to pay for going over the salary.

It was apparent that some NBA owners were really pushing to get a deal done sooner rather than later. So much so that maybe some of these guys are willing to fold just to get the players back on the court.

The reason? Apparently, NBA commissioner David Stern wasn’t happy with the implosion of negotiations with him home sick the last few days. According to rumors, he is determined more than ever to find a compromise.

”I leave these guys alone for a little bit of time,” David Stern said, ”and all hell breaks loose…”

They’re trying their best to keep you racing fans interested with a world champion already crowned.

Formula 1 makes its annual trip to a brand new track this weekend for Round 17 of this 2011 F1 season, the inaugural Indian Grand Prix. The Buddh International Circuit in Greater Noida, located about 50 kilometers south east of New Delhi becomes the fifth new Formula 1 venue in four years and it is one that teams and drivers are approaching with a great deal of anticipation.

Now I don’t know how can Sebastian Vettel remain excited about this after having already won the title but as far as other people are concerned, they are expecting this latest addition to the calendar to be something quite special. It is another Herman Tilke design, with sixteen corners and three long straights.

The lap is expected to be fast – second only to Monza – and with a width of up to 20 meters in certain areas, it should provide plenty of opportunities for overtaking and the possibility of some wheel-to-wheel racing. Yeah, Lewis Hamilton will have a field day with this.

Another feature of this new purpose-built circuit is some striking undulations. Apparently, more than four million cubic tonnes of soil have been moved to shape this landscape and there is a difference of 14 meters between Turns 1 and 3 alone. Drivers will have to contend with 8% downhill slopes and 10% inclines, figures of which Spa-Francorchamps would be proud.

And, of course, there is the unique challenge that every new track brings…

Jeez, there’s no pleasing these guys.

In what has been an ongoing saga that continues to put the 2011 NBA basketball season on hold, there’s a new wrinkle that came out lately that asks for the salary cap gone.

According to NBA senior vice president Mike Bass, executive director Billy Hunter wasn’t supposed to reveal the situation about the salary cap in his podcast. But now that it’s out in the open, let’s take a look what this new bullshit demand from these morons is all about.

According to Hunter, in yet another meeting that they were hoping could end the NBA lockout, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban proposed what he called a ”game changer,” and as it turns out, it was a replacement for the salary cap.

Cuban wanted to let NBA owners have whoever they want with the current salary cap system gone, but that would force these teams to pay a heavy tax for it. And surprisingly, some like the idea.

So much so that some NBA players were interested in discussing this new wrinkle further with some NBA owners excited about it. Could this actually salvage what’s left of the season?

”On behalf of the league, Mark Cuban proposed adding a new salary cap exception, not eliminating the salary cap,” Bass said. ”It was the union that, in response, proposed eliminating the salary cap, a proposal that was even worse for the NBA than the union’s prior proposals.”

As far as Hunter is concerned, he believes that…

Finally, something else will be ridden in New Jersey other than Snooki.

As the 2011 F1 season begins to wind down, planning for things to come for F1 in the next couple of years have begun and one of which is bringing the sport to New Jersey in 2013.

You read it, F1 is coming to New Jersey in 2013 after the United States’ very first F1 grand prix since 2007 in Austin, Texas next season.

F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone has long advocated for a race to be staged on the Northeast megalopolis of the US and his dream will be realized in two years after a consortium of investors and city and state governments reached a deal.

The race will run on the Hudson River shoreline just minutes from New York City and will take place on a four-lane highway, two lanes in each direction.

According to West New York mayor Felix Roque, the grand prix will give the area a massive financial boost.

”This is going to be an economic boom for this whole region. While political and public servants talk about creating jobs, the governor has put the pedal to the metal and delivered,” Roque told Reuters.

“This is the top of the line in motor racing, it’s…”

And by the looks of things, seems to me that Diaz would rather hump BJ’s leg.

In case you didn’t know, UFC 137 will be this Saturday as Nick Diaz takes on B.J. Penn. However, it seems Diaz don’t like the idea of fighting a guy he calls as his friend. Well, the fact of the matter is, Diaz and Penn are indeed buddies but Nick originally wanted GSP for this weekend’s PPV fight.

Yes, Nick Diaz was supposed to fight Georges St-Pierre for the UFC welterweight title. But because of Diaz’s failure to show up for the media, add that to GSP’s latest injury, that welterweight championship bout was scrapped and BJ Penn was put in place of the champion.

Of course, the idea of not fighting for the title this Saturday pissed Nick Diaz a bit. So much so that he’s letting everybody know that B.J. Penn is a better fighter than St-Pierre.

”I think B.J. is a lot better fighter to be honest with you, on a technical standpoint. He’s much better at jiu-jitsu, boxing, even on a physical level I wouldn’t count him out. I don’t think he should be fighting at this weight,” Nick Diaz said on a recent media conference call. ”I think he’s a much better fighter than GSP all-around.”

Diaz made it clear that he wasn’t happy about fighting Penn…

Chael Sonnen wants to get his hands on Anderson Silva again and we can’t really blame him.

Chael Sonnen, after a successful return to the Octagon at UFC 136, immediately called out Anderson Silva and challenged him to a rematch for the UFC middleweight title. But Sonnen went beyond the norm this time, naming the time (Super Bowl weekend) and adding ”loser-leaves-town” stipulations, saying if Silva lost, he would leave the middleweight division, and if Sonnen lost, he would never fight in the UFC again.

These demands Chael Sonnen made caused a fight that already would have a lot of interest to be taken to a new level. But in the big picture, the Oregonian’s self-imposed stipulations are not best for his long-term future.

The UFC traditionally runs a pay-per-view show the night before the Super Bowl in Las Vegas. It’s happened every year since 2004. While the UFC has not yet asked the Nevada Athletic Commission for a date on Feb. 4, 2012, UFC president Dana White has confirmed they are planning on keeping the ”Super Saturday” tradition going for the ninth straight year.

However, Silva’s people don’t like the idea of a rematch with Sonnen one bit.

”Let’s see what the big boss is going to do. My opinion is that he (Sonnen) had his chance and tapped, he should go back to the end of the line. The same thing is true with Vitor Belfort. They’re great fighters, but they had their chance,” Silva’s manager Ed Soares said. ”Sonnen would make a big fight, as would Dan Henderson…”

That is the sad news at this point in the NBA with mediator George Cohen giving up on both sides.

And if the first line of this article didn’t sink in with you yet, the entire 2011-12 NBA basketball season is on the verge of getting cancelled with no deal yet to end the lockout.

After last Thursday’s quite volatile negotiations to end the NBA lockout was done, both the NBA owners and the NBA players are still divided, now more than ever as both sides still failed to come up with a deal.

At this point, it’s just frustrating, so much so that mediator George Cohen has given up. While he managed to end the NFL lockout a few months ago, he learned that the NBA is just a different beast to deal with.

NBA owners are determined to reshape the league and create a system similar to that of the NFL or the NHL where spending is capped and small-market teams can compete with big cities like Miami, New York, and Los Angeles.

The problem is, the NFL is way more popular than the NBA and can afford such a system while the NHL had to cancel the entire 2004-05 season just to come up with a deal out of their asses. The owners, as well as the players, can’t afford to have the NBA lockout go on longer and the more games they lose in the season, the stiffer the deals will get on the negotiating table.

San Antonio Spurs owner Peter Holt, who happens to be the chairman of…

It seems he’s not done yet from bitch-slapping the rest of the field.

After securing the world championship with a few races to spare in the 2011 F1 season, Sebastian Vettel insists there is still room for improvement.

”It’s always a difficult question to know where to improve. I think, being 24, there are a lot of areas to understand, a lot of bits inside and outside the car,” Sebastian Vettel said. ”You always need to be ready to learn, and small steps can make the difference. When I look at Korea, we were able to learn from Japan – both the team and myself.”

”Only small things sometimes, but we addressed them and did a better job. You have to be open like that, always ready to learn and working always for the next race.”

”I put it this way – I care about the sport, I know its history and the numbers.”

”I like to see from time to time my name somewhere, but I don’t set myself targets about the number of wins or stuff like that. I’m not racing for statistics. I’m a big fan of the sport. I love Formula 1. I always did as a small kid and that hasn’t changed.”

Sebastian Vettel is contracted to Red Bull until 2014 and there are rumors that claim he’ll be heading to Ferrari once his time is up with the team. Of course, he played it down a bit, even hinting that he could stay for a few more years after his current deal expires.

”I think it has been an extremely successful year – again.” he said…