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The following post is reprinted in its entirety with permission by SarahSprague.com.

By Sarah Sprague

A few weeks ago, my husband and I were out walking the dog and discussing the NFL lockout. What we’d miss, how crappy it was to come back from the NHL lockout as a fan, what we thought was wrong with both the owners and the pla… No, just the owners side.

As we were talking I asked, “I wonder how much money we’ll save if there isn’t football this fall.”

“At least a thousand or so bucks,” Bry guessed.

So I decided to figure out the rough amount, based on our home viewing and entertaining, going out to the bar once or twice a season for a game, usually attending one road Steeler game if they’re on the West Coast, buying a few new t-shirts, headbands, novelties and so on.

$3,639.89 by my rough calculation, and I’m sure that amount is low (*cough* only $50 a week in snacks for us and our guests *cough*). That’s just an average season not including any playoff trips for us — don’t ask what that number was, nor does it include the value of the number of hours devoted to watching, talking about and writing about the NFL.

Some line items made our football experience pretty expensive. DirecTV’s Sunday Ticket sticks out as being a bit pricey, as does traveling to at least one game which means buying tickets on the overinflated secondary market. Our friend’s pick’em league is another, which in all these years we’ve never won. Really, the whole gambling section is a loss for us, but I am sure there are some who do much better than we do. Then again, we’re not season ticket holders and don’t have tailgating costs to think about, so I’m guessing our spending falls at the higher end of the middle-spenders.

Want to figure out how much you may save if there is an NFL lockout?
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Go to the story on my site, and scroll down to the spending graph. Select “Click to edit” and the tab for “Lockout Savings Blank Template” to enter your own spending habits. Use the average amount you spend on any one item and enter the number of times a season you spend that amount. I’ve also posted our spreadsheet data as a guide to follow if you need it.

I didn’t include items like a new TV which are often included in fan spending, mostly because I view electronics as a whole home purchase. That same logic lead me exclude our Sirius/XM subscription, which while is great for football, isn’t the only thing we use it for. But if you want to include those, feel free to add it in.

Don’t worry, I cannot see what you enter and none of this data is being saved anywhere. But please, feel free to say in the comments what your total savings came out to be and what you might do with your newly found money this fall if there is a lockout.

Me?

I’m thinking of Hawaii or maybe doing something responsible like putting it all into our retirement fund.

In two of their last three games the Kings have unwittingly been a footnote to history.
In losing last Thursday at Vancouver they allowed the Canucks to clinch the President’s trophy and top overall seeding in the playoffs. On Monday their 6-1 loss at San Jose allowed the Sharks to clinch a fourth consecutive Pacific division title.
Neither experience was a happy one for the Kings.
“It’s not fun at all, especially Vancouver. We’ve had a pretty good rivalry against them the last little bit,” forward Brad Richardson said. “It’s never easy seeing that team beat you or clinch the league.”
The Kings hoped to do some clinching of their own Tuesday night. To secure a playoff spot they need to gain two points or to have Dallas fail to get two points in its last four games, and the Stars are at home Tuesday to face the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Kings next play Wednesday, when they face Phoenix at Staples Center.
Goaltender Jonathan Quick, who gave up four goals on 16 shots at San Jose before being replaced by Jonathan Bernier, is scheduled to start against the Coyotes.
“There is no conversation. Quick’s our No. 1 goaltender. He’s the guy that we’re riding,” Coach Terry Murray said after the team practiced Tuesday in El Segundo.
“We get to the last two games here we’ll see how it is, but my plan going back quite a while was to get Bernier in one of those two games. We’ll see if I follow through.”
Murray tinkered with his defense pairs toward the end of Monday’s game but went back to pairings of Rob Scuderi-Drew Doughty, Alec Martinez-Matt Greene, and Willie Mitchell-Jack Johnson. He did swap right wings on two lines, putting Dustin Brown on the right with Ryan Smyth and Jarret Stoll and placing Oscar Moller alongside Dustin Penner and Michal Handzus.
While most players said they tried to forget Monday’s rout, Mitchell said knowing that the Sharks rejoiced at the Kings’ expense motivated him.
“If we want to take the next step as a hockey club to get to the next level and be one of those teams that are celebrating winning their division or the President’s trophy, we’ve got to find ways to beat those teams in a high-pressure situation,” Mitchell said.
“That’s part of developing, part of a young team getting older and getting more familiar with those games and being calm under pressure and not panicking, staying with your same game plan no matter what happens. Those are learning experiences and you don’t learn them without going through them in life and we’re going to use them to grow as a team.”
Mitchell said the Kings’ bench “started to get a little panicky” when the Sharks began flying in the second period, and must get better at maintaining its poise.
“It’s something that we’ve got to get out of that habit. Just because a team scores a couple goals doesn’t mean you have to panic,” Mitchell said. “We were playing pretty well at the start considering how hard they were playing. They came out playing really well.
“That’s part of growing, part of learning, but part of growing and learning is being aware of the game you played before. But you also have to realize it’s just kind of a hiccup over the course of the season and you get prepared and play the next one.”

It is obvious to all that the Minnesota Vikings need to find themselves a quarterback before the start of the 2011 football season. That is if they have any hopes of competing for a spot in the postseason.
But if Minnesota chooses to pass on a quarterback in the first round and wait for one with their second round selection, who might be available at that point.
ESPN.com’s Todd McShay has the Vikings selecting former TCU quarterback Andy Dalton with the 43rd pick of the draft. McShay says of Dalton:
“Height is concerning but adequate. Has a solid build and continues to put bulk on his frame. Timed speed is only decent but he appears faster on tape.”
Andy Dalton was a great college quarterback, don’t get me wrong. But it is hard for me to see his game transitioning well to the NFL. This is especially true if the Vikings ask Dalton to take over the quarterback position right away in his rookie season.
Right now, I would view Florida State’s Christian Ponder as the better second round pick here for the Vikings. Ponder will likely be a guy that will slip out of the first round and be available to a number of teams early on there in the second round.
If the Vikings pass on a quarterback in the first round, Ponder could be a good guy to target later on. Whoever it is, don’t expect him to come in and take this team to the playoffs in his rookie season.

So is the quickness, the strength and the breakaway speed that defined Robert Turbin in 2009.
Utah State is just two days into spring football practice. But already, Turbin and his teammates have seen all his important attributes return after the running back was forced to miss last season with a ACL tear in his knee.
This is Turbin’s first days since being cleared to return to football-related activities. And although he won’t participate in scrimmages or the Aggies’ spring game on April 23 out of caution, he’s back at practice — and back on the field with a helmet and pads, instead of on the sidelines wearing a sweatsuit.
“It’s the same old Robert Turbin,” said offensive lineman Philip Gapelu. “He hasn’t changed a bit, and we’re glad to finally have him back. We missed him, and we missed the presence he brought us last season.”
Turbin tore up his knee a little more than a year ago in winter workouts. Initially, it was thought that he would be back midway through the 2010 season, but he was pronounced done for the year in the weeks before the opening of fall camp.
His absence put a huge strain on Utah State’s offense. Two years ago, Turbin was arguably the second-best running back in the Western Athletic Conference, behind only current San Diego Charger Ryan Mathews.
He was a beast in between the tackles, but he was also able to stretch the outside and pull away from defenses. He also had the ability to catch the ball out of the backfield, which made him a triple threat.Without him, the Utah State offense struggled through a second consecutive 4-8 season, something that didn’t sit well with Turbin, a senior-to-be who is on track for a sixth season of eligibility, should he need it.
“It was frustrating for sure,” Turbin said. “We had a bunch of injuries this past season. Me, Stanley Morrison, Matt Austin, we had never seen anything like it. If we were all healthy, we would’ve been a lot better. Instead, we were 4-8, and that was frustrating to watch and not be able to do anything about it.”
Turbin says he’s 100 percent, that he feels no pain and there are no issues. And even though he wants nothing more than to play in the spring game, he knows where the coaching staff is coming from with the precautions they’re taking.
So we won’t fully know where Turbin is until he takes that first hit in fall camp.
“The important thing is that I’m back on the field,” Turbin said. “Of course, I want to play for real and go hit someone. But I trust my coaches completely. I’m happy to take another step in the process.”

The Chicago Bulls took over the lead in the NBA’s Eastern Conference by thrashing the Atlanta Hawks 114-81 on Tuesday, making it 10 wins from 11 games.Derrick Rose had 30 points and 10 assists for Chicago, who was able to rest its starters in the final quarter after setting season highs with 41 points in the second quarter and 72 points in the first half. Luol Deng finished with 27 points.
The Hawks were denied an opportunity to clinch a playoff spot and absorbed their first home loss to Chicago in four years.
Jeff Teague scored 17 of his 20 points in the fourth for Atlanta, which trailed 98-60 after three and also decided to rest its starters in the final period.
Lakers 139, Suns 137, OT
In Los Angeles, Kobe Bryant scored a season-high 42 points as Los Angeles snuck past Phoenix in triple overtime.
Ron Artest got five of his 18 points in the final 2 minutes of the third overtime to help the Lakers notch a 13th win in 14 games since the All-Star break.
Phoenix’s Channing Frye scored a career-high 32 points and hit three tying free throws with 1.1 seconds left to force double overtime.
Both teams traded improbable last-second heroics in what turned into just the fourth triple-overtime game for the Lakers since they moved to Los Angeles.
Trail Blazers 111, Wizards 76
In Portland, Gerald Wallace scored 28 points to lead Portland to an easy win over Washington.
LaMarcus Aldridge had 22 points before sitting for the fourth quarter for the Trail Blazers, who are jockeying for playoff position in the Western Conference as the season winds to a close. Portland moved within a game of Denver for the sixth spot, and a game up on seventh-place New Orleans.
Jordan Crawford had 12 points for the Wizards, who dropped their seventh straight on the road to fall to just 1-32 away from home.
Portland led by as many as 38 points, and the starting lineup scored all but 20 of the team’s points.

As Minnesota Vikings officials arrived Sunday to the NFL owners meeting, they found themselves at about the midway point of their offseason project to draft a franchise quarterback. Vice president of player personnel Rick Spielman suggested the team will devote multiple visits to at least six quarterbacks, and coach Leslie Frazier said he is starting to get “a feel” for how the team will stack its draft board.
Through various reports, five of those quarterbacks have been revealed: Missouri’s Blaine Gabbert, Auburn’s Cam Newton, TCU’s Andy Dalton, Washington’s Jake Locker and Arkansas’ Ryan Mallett.
“I’m trying to be open minded until we finish some of these private workouts,” Frazier said. “But it’s hard not to [get enamored midway through the process] when you watch a certain tape and go, ‘Oh man, this is the guy.’ Then you put on another tape and go, ‘Wait a minute. This guy…’ So you have to be careful and just go through the process. But each one of them, they all have good qualities of some kind. I do have to catch myself sometimes not getting biased before we finish this process.”
The Vikings are using the private workouts mostly to make social observations and to give Frazier and other coaches a chance for more personal conversation that can reveal character and leadership insights. To understand how important that facet of the scouting process is, look no further than the Vikings’ experience over the past four years with quarterback Tarvaris Jackson — an excellent athlete with a rocket arm who was more comfortable in a secondary locker-room role than as a leader.
“For me,” Frazier said, “the communication and getting to know them — sometimes in their environment, sometimes if it’s at the combine or if we’re going to bring them to our facility — that to me is as important as the mechanics and so on. I think we’ve got good people that are going to help them [in] their fundamentals and get them from a technique standpoint. But I’ve got to feel good that they’ve got the leadership qualities and can mesh with some of my thoughts on the quarterback position. My one-on-one time with them, and just being around them is as important to me as what they can do from a pro day or workouts.
“Sometimes you have to be careful about being too enamored with a pro day or that combine workout. … So I have to have a good feel for that person. The quarterback position is unlike any other person on the team. That guy, his mental is as important as his athletic ability. More important, in a lot of ways. Good athletes at quarterback don’t always become franchise quarterbacks. For us, we’re looking and hoping to find a franchise quarterback. For us, that’s what we’re looking to find. So my time with him is as important or more important than what we see on tape.”
I’m not sure if there is much to read into Frazier’s comments, although it might help explain why neither he nor Spielman attended Newton’s pro day. There aren’t many questions about Newton’s ability to throw or run; it’s his football savvy and leadership abilities that the Vikings no doubt want to investigate further.
My thoughts on this situation haven’t changed much since last week, when I suggested the Vikings aren’t likely to have either Newton or Gabbert available to them at No. 12 overall. They’ll have to decide whether they want to pay a steep price to trade up for one of them, or if they feel comfortable taking Locker at No. 12 or if they will target another quarterback lower in the draft.
I asked Frazier if he was far enough in the process to feel confident the Vikings will be able to draft one of the quarterbacks they like in this draft.
“I have a feel for it,” he said. “You’re guessing a little bit on what people ahead of you are going to do so you think you have a feel. But … you know [things] can change in a hurry. All of a sudden somebody you think wasn’t looking at quarterbacks jumps up to a spot and you go like, ‘Uh, oh.’”
The Vikings’ goal over the next five weeks? Ensuring that “uh-oh” never gets uttered in their draft room.

South Korea — The Asian Football Confederation is weighing its options to help Japan’s participation in Asia’s premier club competition as teams from the disaster-struck nation are forced to postpone home matches.
With Japan still coming to terms with the devastating March 11 earthquake and tsunami, two of its teams played away matches this week in the Asian Champions League, but home games are out of the question.
Tokuaki Suzuki, AFC director of competitions, told The AP on this week there are still possibilities for Japanese teams to complete their group matches by the scheduled end date of May 11.
“First of all, we have to express our sincere condolences to the Japanese people and the Japanese football family in regard to this disaster,” said Japanese-born Suzuki, who is presently based at the AFC’s Kuala Lumpur headquarters.
Suzuki said teams whose stadiums are damaged can play elsewhere in Japan, “but in Japan at the moment there is nowhere to play football.”
“According to our regulations, if the home stadium can’t be used, the host can nominate another stadium in Japan. If it can’t do that, then the AFC has the right to nominate a neutral venue,” he said.
“We would like to respect Japanese opinion and what they would like to do.” Two of the four Japanese teams scheduled to play home games this week — Nagoya Grampus and Kashima Antlers — postponed their matches.
Osaka clubs Gamba and Cerezo, who played away games in China this week, are both likely to postpone their home matches later this month.
“As of now, we know that they still are having severe problems including a lack of electricity and aftershocks,” Suzuki said. “Kashima’s stadium and clubhouse have been damaged. Every day we communicate with them to offer to help if we can, and also to start to discuss when we can hold the next match.”
Japan’s domestic J-League has cancelled all games for the month of March and the Japan Football Association has cancelled the March 25 international friendly against Montenegro.
“It may be difficult to have the matches in this month. Maybe in April we have to think about it,” Suzuki said.
Al Ain of the United Arab Emirates and Sydney FC were both due to travel to Japan this week but had to stay home.
“The opponents have been helpful,” Suzuki said. “We are grateful to Sydney FC, they quickly offered their condolences and offered to play their away game at home first. Sydney said it will follow whatever option Kashima feels is best.”
The two Japanese teams in action away from home this week were both defeated in China. Gamba Osaka lost 2-1 Tuesday at Tianjin Teda, who now have six points from two games.
Osaka coach Akira was aware of the significance of the game.
“This time we did not come (to China) as Gamba, our mission here is to represent our country and to show the strength of Japan,” Nishino said.
“We didn’t make good moves throughout the game,” he added. “I think we were unprepared for an intense match, in which Tianjin turned out to be very offensive and efficient Tianjin looked more powerful than other Chinese rivals that we have encountered in the previous two years.”
Cerezo Osaka lost 2-0 at Shandong Luneng on Wednesday.
It was the South Korean teams that stole the show, with three of the four representatives from that nation leading their groups after an excellent round of matches that saw four wins, 13 goals scored and only one conceded.
K-League champions FC Seoul have the maximum six points after a 3-0 win over Hangzhou Greentown of China, while Jeonbuk Motors also collected a second straight win with a 4-0 victory at the Indonesian home of Arema Malang.
Suwon Bluewings thrashed Shanghai Shenhua 4-0, while Jeju United won 2-1 at Melbourne Victory, the second defeat for the Australian team that fired long-serving coach Ernie Merrick a few days previously.
In the western half of the draw, Saudi Arabia and Iran boast two group leaders each. For Saudi Arabia, two-time champion Al Ittihad and Al Nassr are on top, while for Iran, 2010 finalist Zob Ahan and 2007 runner-up Sepahan lead the way.

Neo Sports will telecast live the Davis Cup Tennis World Group opening round 2011 matches featuring India and Serbia from March 4 to 6. India will face the defending champion for the first time at Spens Sports Center, Novi Sad, Serbia.

The telecast schedule is: March 4 (singles) 6.30pm, March 5 (doubles) 7.30pm, March 6 (reverse singles) 5.30pm, according to a media release.

India had qualified for the World Group by defeating Brazil 3 -2 at the WG playoffs in September 2010. The winning team will go through to the World Cup quarterfinals in July later this year. The loser willhave to play a World Group play off to secure their spot in the 2012 World Group.

The Serbian challenge will be spearheaded by two-time Australian Open champion and current world number 3 Novak Djokovic, apart from Janko Tipsarevic, Viktor Troicki and Nenad Zimonjic.

The Indian contingent will be led by non-playing captain S P Misra, the other squad members are talented Somdev Devvarman and Rohan Bopanna, the Grand Slam doubles performers Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi.

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Last year the Philadelphia Flyers needed a shootout win over the New York Rangers on the last day of the regular season to get into the playoffs. From there, they went on a surprising run as a No. 7 seed to the Stanley Cup Final where they ultimately lost to the Chicago Blackhawks in six games. It’s been a bit of a different story this season as they’ve been one of the best teams in the NHL from day one, and head into the week leading up to the trade deadline as the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference, in complete control for home-ice advantage in the Eastern Conference playoffs.
They have one of the deepest groups of forwards in the NHL (already four players with at least 50 points and a fifth, Ville Leino, with 40) and a strong defense anchored by Chris Pronger and Kimmo Timonen. The front office has invested large chunks of money in impact players, so the cap situation is going to limit what general manager Paul Holmgren can do to tinker with his squad.

Last year the Flyers didn’t make an in-season blockbuster move, instead only made a couple of minor moves that resulted in big gains. The acquisition of Leino was considered an afterthought at the time, but he proved to be a valuable postseason performer and has followed it up with a career-year this season. Michael Leighton, a midseason waiver wire claim, ended up starting 14 playoff games in goal, winning eight, including three shutouts.
NEEDS
Usually around this time of year we’re analyzing the Flyers overwhelming need for a goalie, and if this team has a weakness, that’s probably the one position you can point to. But it’s not so much of a weakness that it’s going to require a major move to get the team back into the Finals, mainly because the duo of Brian Boucher and rookie Sergei Bobrovsky has played quite well (and been an upgrade over the performance of last year’s goaltenders, which included Boucher, Leighton and Ray Emery).
Other than that, the Flyers are currently third in the NHL in goals per game, seventh in goals against per game, and eighth on the penalty kill. There’s not many weaknesses here, and with little cap space to work with, there’s probably not many moves to be made.
THE VERDICT
The Flyers have likely already made their big move of the season, acquiring Kris Versteeg from the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for a couple of draft picks. Anything else they do before the Feb. 28 deadline will likely be adding some bottom depth to the forwards or defense.

ORLANDO (Reuters) – The Orlando Magic snapped a four-game losing streak by routing San Antonio 123-101 on Thursday to snap the Spurs’ 10-game winning streak.
The Magic outscored the Spurs 30-2 on fast break points to win for just the second time in their last 10 games.
Dwight Howard led the Magic with 29 points and 14 rebounds, while forward Brandon Bass and reserve guard J.J. Reddick each added 17 points.
Howard, a four-time All-Star, hit 11 of 13 shots from the floor, seven of 12 from the line, and had three blocks.
Point guards Tony Parker and Gary Neal had 16 points apiece for the Spurs, who had eight players score in double figures.
Orlando led by just two points at the end of the first quarter but outscored San Antonio by 19 points over the middle two periods on the strength of 20 points by Howard to take command of the game.
The Magic hit 60 percent of their shots, including 13 of 25 from beyond the arc.
(Reporting by Mike Mouat in Windsor, Ontario. Editing by Steve Ginsburg)