Starting Five

1. First, the good news: Through 12 games the Charlotte Bobcats had already registered as many wins (7) as they did all of last year’s 66-game season. Last night in Oklahoma City, however, they was ambushed. The Thunder were so hot (Tropic Thunder?) that at halftime the score was 64-24. The 40-point halftime advantage was the largest such lead after 24 minutes since 1991, when the Golden State Warriors led the Sacramento Kings 88-41 at the half. Our thoughts: Was a sideline reporter on hand and did he/she inquire about halftime adjustments with Bobcat coach Mike Dunlap?

Thunderstruck: OKC leads by 40 at the half en route to a 114-69 rout.

2. The attorney most responsible for the free agency era in baseball, Marvin Miller, dies at the age of 95. In 1968 Miller negotiated the first collective bargaining agreement in MLB history, raising the minimum salary from $6,000 to $10,ooo. That’s per year, not per game.

3. Bruce Springsteen begins one of his top five all-time tunes with the lyrics, “Lights out tonight/Trouble in the heartland”, but apparently, according to the USA Today, “these Badlands start treating us good.” Personal income is up in middle America since 2007, while it is down markedly on the coasts in that same period. Why? Booming gas prices and farm goods prices, while Wall Street tanked. Personally, I don’t know how you leave “Spiderman: Turn Off The Dark” out of this equation, but that’s just me.

4. The University of Chris Fowler Colorado fires football coach Jon Embree after two seasons and a 4-21 record. The Buffs were last in the nation in Scoring Defense and Passing Efficiency Defense this season and were next-to-last in Sacks Allowed and Turnover Margin. At his press conference upon being terminated Embree, who is African-American, noted that is hard for black coaches “to get second chances.” Ten years ago it was hard for black coaches to get first chances. Embree, a CU alum, has a point that white coaches have a better chance of failing and being hired somewhere else (Hello, Charlie Weis!), but a coach of any color would have been sacked after this two-year sample.

5. Reviewer compares “Liz and Dick” to a natural disaster: “As the Red Cross hands out coffee to survivors of this Lifetime flick…” As Jimmy Kimmel said, “It’s nice to see someone other than a parole board reviewing Lindsay Lohan.”

Reserves

The BrooklyNets beat the New York Knicks in overtime in their inaugural meeting as dual, dueling denizens of New York City (the game had been scheduled for November 1, but Sandy changed all that). The larger issue here is whether Brooklyn native and resolute New York Knick fan Spike Lee will cross over from the 212 (or 917) to the 718. Our opinion: New York has already lost Fireman Ed this week. We need something to hold onto. Lee did make the best film about Brooklyn — if not all of New York City — of all time with “Do The Right Thing.”

How long until they make a movie about Maria Santos Gorrostieta?

Tomorrow night’s Powerball jackpot is currently at $425 million and growing. Psst, Congress: Don’t raise taxes, just raise the price of a Powerball ticket.

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Thomas Ricks appears on Fox News, accuses it of “operating as a wing of the Republican Party” (that’s crazytalk!), and his Benghazi interview abruptly ends.

Notre Dame’s ticket office fields 2,500 phone calls on Monday. Scalpers rejoice.

The “Ten Wildest Led Zeppelin Legends, Fact-Checked.” Why, yes, I do have time for that (and may we recommend the book “Hammer of the Gods” to anyone who loves reading about rock and roll?).

“One in ten Mexican citizens lives in the United States…” Really?

The Heisman Pundit, alias Chris Huston, has Johnny Football leading the H race over Manti Te’o with one week remaining. Let’s have them debate!

“Now get your thimble off my schnauzer!” Your daily dose of The Daily Show…

Twenty-four years ago Steve Belles was a special special (redundancy intended) teams player for Lou Holtz on the 1988 Notre Dame national championship team who had the honor of playing for the national championship in his hometown. Last weekend Belles led Hamilton High School to its fifth Division I Arizona state high school football championship in the past seven years.