The 1st Thread/The S-Thread Runthrough For 12/19/12: Tito Vilanova Steps Down As Barcelona Coach (2nd Version)

Tito Vilanova has relinquished his role as manager of Barcelona because of cancer (AP) 

Last year it was Eric Abidal, and today, it's Tito Vilanova dealing with a major cancerous situation.

Definitely major thoughts are with Vilanova and his family, friends, and colleagues, as this rough development came out of the blue. Thankfully, he is still alive to tell about it, and hopefully he will be alive to return to the thing that he loves, and that is coaching.

Now who knows how long his seemingly permanent absence will be, and an "interim coach" is still not coming up at the moment. No thoughts on whether it will mark a return of Pep Guardiola or someone else tailor made to the Barcelona system. But it certainly is a major development and damper on an otherwise strong last 6 months of the Catalan giants.


The Runthrough 

More on this later, but David Lee is just so under-appreciated in this NBA. Another great game in a terrific season for him and a superb first quarter of 2012-13 for Golden State.

Fine report from NFL.com's Aditi Kinkhabwala on fourth string running back Baron Batch and his amazing persistence in life.

The NHL is trying to seriously do a NBA of 1999. But if owners don't want to pay players because the league's declining popularity, then they might as well not be owners. They are too wealthy to be greedy. But hey, that's what they want to do now in the midst of their taxes going up.

(More from TWD, later....)