Lockout

There are two sides to Michael Vick's athleticism. At times, his breathtaking talent conjures gains from thin air when the defense is closing in. But last season, Vick's unfailing belief in his own ability too often led to risky plays and game-changing turnovers. "He gets caught sometimes doing too much, trying to do too much, and that's where he gets in trouble," Eagles quarterbacks coach Doug Pederson said Monday in advance of full-team practices that begin Tuesday. "We eliminate those and keep him within our system, and positive things are going to happen.

Three thousand steel workers in Bucks County are entitled to unemployment benefits because the work stoppage at USX's Fairless Works is a lockout, not a strike, according to state officials. Yesterday's decision by James W. Knepper Jr., the secretary of Pennsylvania's Department of Labor and Industry, was good news for the members of United Steel Workers Local 4889. "We can stay out and have food on the table," said Local 4889 president Al Lupini. "I think U.S. Steel has no choice . . . but to open up the gates and keep negotiating.

Fred Slaughter thought he was just beginning to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement for the NBA's staff of 58 referees. He didn't anticipate what he terms a "take it or we'll lock you out" offer. But that's what the attorney for the National Association of Basketball Referees says he received last Thursday. And that is why the league imposed a lockout yesterday and began its annual training camp for officials with more than 40 replacements. Slaughter believes the replacements would work in two-man crews, rather than the usual three.

When the ballots are counted Tuesday in New York to determine whether NBA players want to decertify their union, there will be at least one fewer vote than anticipated. That is because Golden State's Rony Seikaly could not make last-minute flight connections that would have sent him from his native Beirut, Lebanon, through London to New York in time to vote Thursday afternoon. "He called to say that he had arrived at the airport in Beirut only to find that the flight had been oversold," said Steve Kauffman, Seikaly's agent.

A lockout of NBA players by the league's owners on or about Thanksgiving? In a pro sports world living uncomfortably with a major league baseball strike and the threat of a lockout in the NHL, what's one more dark, foreboding rumor in one more sport? Sorry, but even though no one professes to know the exact source, the dreaded specter of a lockout has begun to surface in pro basketball as well. And that's in a league that has never experienced a work stoppage, that three times has begun seasons without a collective-bargaining agreement with its players.

The lead negotiator and spokesman for the NBA's referees union said a lockout appears "imminent and unavoidable" following the latest breakdown in talks. Lamell McMorris said the officials made another $1 million in concessions in a proposal yesterday, but believes it's evident the league is not interested in further discussions. The officials then headed home after spending the last 24 hours meeting in Chicago. The contract between the NBA and its officials expired Sept. 1 and the sides have been trying to reach a new, 2-year deal.

The Chicago Blackhawks were sued yesterday by a season ticketholder who claims the team violated the Consumer Fraud Act by failing to give full refunds to fans after the NHL lockout. Darryl Taggart claims that at the time the Blackhawks were selling season tickets, team officials knew reaching a collective bargaining agreement with players was unlikely. The lawsuit, filed in Cook County Circuit Court, contends the Blackhawks have not refunded the $1,000 premium paid by season ticketholders in the "club section.

Paul Holmgren, the hockey coach, was as itchy as anyone to get the NHL lockout over and the season started. Paul Holmgren, the recovering alcoholic, found the lockout helpful. "It allowed me to get some days of sobriety under my belt, without having to deal with the grind of NHL life," Holmgren said yesterday, before his Hartford Whalers' 3-2 loss to the Flyers, the team Holmgren once played for, and then coached. "Each day I got a little stronger," Holmgren said. "It's an ongoing thing.

With talk of a possible lockout that could substantially curtail or even cancel next season, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman believes a work stoppage can be avoided. Bettman, speaking with reporters before the Rangers played the Capitals in Washington last night, said the expiration of the collective bargaining agreement on Sept. 15 gives the league and union an opportunity to fix the sport's problems. "I view September 2004 as an opportunity to go forward," Bettman said. "I'm optimistic.

CHANTILLY, Va. - The NFL and its players' union lurched toward a lockout Wednesday, adding to the tension around a sport that generates $9 billion in revenue and has established itself as the king of American sports, if not all entertainment. The collective bargaining agreement between the two sides expires at the end of Thursday, and despite another round of talks and meetings Wednesday, all signs point to the owners initiating a lockout when the CBA is up. That would inch the league closer to the fans' doomsday scenario: the delay or cancellation of regular-season games, a Sunday staple.

THE BLOOD HAS barely dried on the Flyers' season, yet so many questions remain after their shocking second-round departure at the hands of the New Jersey Devils. Here are answers to five burning questions: 1. Will Jaromir Jagr return? Judging by the way Jagr performed in the regular season, with 54 points in 73 games, the Flyers would love to have the No. 9 all-time point scorer in league history back for another campaign. Judging by the way Jagr performed in the postseason, with eight quiet points in 11 games, the Flyers could probably think of better ways to spend money in a salary-cap world.

NEXT TIME regulation ends in a Stanley Cup playoff game, don't change the channel or leave your seat to get a cold refreshment. You might miss the game-winner. In the playoffs, sudden-death overtime - especially in a series-clinching scenario - is the ultimate television reality show. It's just been a fleeting moment. Through 53 games, prior to Monday night's action, 18 games (34 percent) had gone to overtime. On average, overtime in those 53 games has lasted just 8:24. Overtime in eight of those 18 games (44 percent)

IT WAS like the Mayan calendar. The NBA knew exactly by what date it had to settle its differences with its players or face Armageddon for the 2011-12 season. That's why after weeks of no-contact between the two sides, a hastily called meeting in late November accomplished in 48 hours what couldn't be done in the previous 5 months. It wasn't a coincidence that the tentative agreement that effectively ended the NBA lockout was reached on Nov. 26, 2011. That left just enough time to get things in enough order to have the opening tipoff on Christmas Day. That timeline was the drop-dead date for resuscitation.

Lockout represents something new for Guy Pearce. And something old. New: In the Luc Besson-produced, sci-fi/prison-break/?space-rescue thriller, the Australian actor is a hard-boiled, against-the-grain antihero. He's the kind of guy who insults the mother of the mug who's tied him to a chair and is busy thrashing him to bits. In the face of great bodily harm, he spits out a snappy wisecrack or two. Old: see above. "It's absolutely out of an old Hollywood tradition," says Pearce about his tough-guy, Humphrey Bogart/Bruce Willis sort of role.

HOUSTON - They say that during an NBA season rookies will usually hit some kind of a wall. The schedule includes so many more games than they are used to, and all the travel and practice hits them like a Mike Tyson uppercut. That's normal during an NBA season. This is no normal NBA season, and that wall is smacked right up in the faces of 76ers first-year big men Lavoy Allen and Nikola Vucevic. In Tuesday's loss at Memphis, both players seemed to be a step or two behind the action not only with their feet, but also with their minds.

DALLAS - NBA commissioner David Stern opened his lockout-delayed season hearing boos from Mavericks fans. Stern was in Dallas for the NBA Finals rematch between the Mavericks and Miami Heat, and he was on the court for the start of the Mavs' banner-raising ceremony honoring their first title. The jeers came as soon as he started speaking, but turned into cheers after he congratulated team owner Mark Cuban. Cuban's often contentious relationship with Stern could have been as much of a reason for the boos as the lockout, which pushed the opener from Nov. 1 to Christmas and cut the season by 16 games.

NEW YORK - Even with a flurry of moves around the NBA, the focus remained on the deal that didn't get done. Chris Paul is still in New Orleans, and there's anger throughout the league about it. Instead of the immediate boost the league craved coming out the lockout with free agency and training camps opening, it found itself with another public relations disaster. "That's the first thing I thought. We just got done arguing for four or five months and everyone just wants to see basketball, and now this.

NEW ORLEANS - The NBA, owners of the New Orleans Hornets, refused yesterday to approve a three-team trade that would have sent Hornets All-Star guard Chris Paul to the Los Angeles Lakers. "It's not true that the owners killed the deal, the deal was never discussed at the Board of Governors meeting and the league office declined to make the trade for basketball reasons," league spokesman Mike Bass said. Yahoo Sports reported that NBA commissioner David Stern killed the trade after several owners complained.

NBA BASKETBALL is back, and commissioner David Stern insists better than before. Maybe it won't be noticed right away, but Stern said the "tortured journey" of this 161-day lockout will prove to be worth it. Stern announced that owners and players ratified a new collective bargaining agreement yesterday, the final step to ending the 5-month lockout and paving the way for training camps and free agency to open today. The 10-year deal promises owners savings of perhaps a quarter billion dollars a year but largely leaves intact the soft salary cap system that the players fought hard to maintain.