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New York Knicks guard Pablo Prigioni will return to the lineup Tuesday for Game 2 against the Boston Celtics series after missing Game 1 due to a sprained right ankle.

Kobe Bryant already publicly vowed not to tweet during Game 2 of the Los Angeles Lakers' first-round playoff series against the San Antonio Spurs, but a certain teammate wants Bryant to keep on tweeting in the free world.

On the coldest day at Coors Field, the Atlanta Braves won a game between the hottest teams in the major leagues.

Baseball's hottest teams played in Coors Field's coldest weather.

College Football Playoff is expected to be the new name of the four-team playoff, which begins after the 2014 regular season, sources told ESPN.

Mike Brown and the Cleveland Cavaliers are currently negotiating a contract that will make him the team's coach -- for the second time, according to league sources.

One reason there has been so much debate about draft prospect Dee Milliner is that the former Alabama cornerback has undergone five surgeries, some not as major as others, per league sources.

James Harrison is bringing a healed body and his old No. 92 with him down the Ohio River. Next goal: Get a Bengals ring to go with all that Steelers bling.

Karen Forgus, Sr. Vice President of Operations for the Cincinnati Reds, joined Linda Antus, president & CEO, and Heather Kessler, director of marketing, both from the Cincinnati USA Regional Tourism Network at a panel discussion titled: “From Sponsorship to Partnership.”

The Cincinnati USA Regional Tourism Network (RTN) and the Cincinnati Reds are both in the “Experience Business.” The RTN, a destination marketing organization has been partnering with the Reds for the past six years in an ever-increasing relationship that has enabled the region to grow to a 22 million-visitor, $4.1 billion dollar travel and tourism destination.

Beginning in 2007, the Reds and the RTN had a purely media sponsorship which has grown into a 12-month partnership with the Cincinnati Reds, including paid and leveraged earned media, event marketing, community outreach and travel website package booking at the RTN website, CincinnatiUSA.com

The Common Ground is that the Reds and the RTN are both in the EXPERIENCE Business.

The Reds and RTN are partners during the 12-month destination marketing season and here’s how:

• RedsFest : The annual Fan Fest held over two days in December that attracts 20,000+ fans. The RTN is the Main Stage Sponsor and promotes its website portal and hotel packages around the theme: “Come for the Reds, Stay for More Fun”
• Reds Caravan: The annual caravan with players, broadcasters and front office leadership hits the road for four days to visit fans throughout Reds Country in four states with mall visits, radio promotions and community service efforts
• REDS on RADIO Network reaches Reds Country through its 92 radio affiliates. The RTN is a sponsor of the REDS on RADIO Network and this multi-tier partnership resulted in 2015 minutes of interviews with credible, personalities on the affiliate stations, as well as key interviews with Marty Brennaman, Jeff “The Cowboy” Brantley and Chris Welch during in-season home stand games.
• Fox Sports Ohio: FOX provides the regional TV coverage for the Reds throughout Reds Country. The RTN has leveraged its relationship with the FOX Sports Ohio Host Jim Day with “tour spots” and the live in-game interviews with Thom Brennaman and Chris Welsh.
• Ticket Packages: The Reds see the RTN as their outer market agents of tourism and Reds outer market fan base-building. The growth of the Reds ticket/hotel packages is over 56% of the bookings on the RTN website, resulting in a new co-branded Grand Slam Getaway, peak season package for 2013.

Common Objectives to Explore with a Marketing Partner

• Find shared objectives and common ground for attracting your target consumer
• Build programs that grow on the relationship year-over year
• Promote and advocate for the relationship in the community, and for the community
• Add additional stakeholder with common objectives, over time, i.e. other family attractions such as the Newport Aquarium

Mike Dunlap is one and done with the Charlotte Bobcats.

Nike and the Jacksonville Jaguars announced on Tuesday that the team will have new uniforms for the 2013 season.

Atlanta Braves right fielder Jason Heyward was placed on the 15-day disabled list on Tuesday after an appendectomy.

Indiana forward Paul George was honored Tuesday as the NBA's Most Improved Player.

Rolando McClain allegedly yelled obscenities at police officers Sunday as they were trying to disperse a large crowd of over 700 people at a local park after they responded to calls about a fight, the Lt. John Crouch of the Decatur, Ala., police said.

Chris Paul's running jumper with a tenth of a second left gave the Los Angeles Clippers a 93-91 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday night and a 2-0 lead in their first-round playoff series.

Carlos Boozer had 13 points and 12 rebounds, Joakim Noah gutted his way through a foot injury to make three fourth-quarter baskets, and the Chicago Bulls beat the Brooklyn Nets 90-82 on Monday night to even their first-round series at one game apiece.

“You’ve Got the Bid, Now What?” with Tara Green and Allison Melangton

Tara Green and Allison Melangton served as back-to-back executive directors at Super Bowls held in Dallas (2011) and Indianapolis (2012). Both co-presented during today’s program for Certified Sports Event Executives at the 2013 Symposium hosted by the National Association of Sports Commissions.

They shared a 13-point checklist that event planners can use in preparing for any event from a bowling tournament to the Super Bowl.

1)      Vision: Get everyone on the same page with 13 check points

Indianapolis realized a $371 million economic impact from hosting the Super Bowl, which was impressive but it wasn’t the #1 goal of the Host City. Their overall goal was to leverage the influence of the international media that comes with the game to improve their community imaging and branding.

Indy also wanted to use the Super Bowl to drive talent recruitment and retention to brand the city as a cool place to work, live and play. Rounding out the community objectives were to drive community spirit and create a “community group hub” while creating legacy projects within the community.

2)      Goals: Do you have the same goals: The Host City and the Event?

Some of the major goals, an event and the host city will want to consider include:

• Attendance Goals
• Revenue Goals
• Local Community Goals
• Media Exposure
• Economic Impact

A few goals that were met in Dallas include: the fund-raising of $38 million in two years to fund their Super Bowl with earned media impressions valued at $60 million.

3)      Expectations

What does the rights holder expect from your organization and your community? What does your community expect from the rights holder?

4)      Obligations: Understand all including gray areas!

Ask questions on the front end of the process. Don’t be afraid to ask questions, and no question is too small or silly.

5)      Responsibility for Event Success

It’s important to discuss responsibility early in the event planning process: Who is responsible for the success of the event? It is singular, shared or shared among groups.

This is important in sharing the success of the event or the challenges of the event. A shared approach is most commonly used among major events like the Super Bowl.

6)      Opportunities for Partnership:

Partnerships help increase the bandwidth and impact of programs, and engage community organizations based on their expertise.  

7)      Potential Partners

Identify needs of the event and seek qualified partners such as universities, downtown organizations, civic groups, etc.

8)      Key Constituents are Key

It’s important to determine and engage volunteers, CVBs, politicians, etc. early in the process. Provide a manageable project or task that they can complete and celebrate their accomplishment.

9)      Community Leaders

Think about how who they are (outside of sport), how to engage them, communicate with them and determine cross pollination among the groups?

10)   Community Engagement: Traditional or Non-Traditional.

How can you expand community engagement beyond football fans? How can you engage the community in advance of the event as well as your corporate sponsors with meaningful opportunities and benefits?

11)   Plan for Measuring Success

Clarity is very important in how you will measure success.

12)   Community Strengths

Celebrate your assets around the event. Also, address your weaknesses head-on with creativity.

It’s important to set community objectives that mirror those of existing objectives of interest in the community. In Dallas, the goal was to rally 4500 kids to do 4500 hours of community learning in the Dallas region around the Super Bowl activities. This effort engaged families but also created media opportunities to share the progress of the planning.

13)   Identification of Risks

Indianapolis used the Enterprise Risk Management approach in their planning which was led by a committee of local risk management experts to facilitate a plan to determine all of the potential risks and how to mitigate them. All in all, 274 major risks were identified by the Indy Super Bowl Committee and each was prioritized among the working leadership committees to determine mitigation plans for each.

The Atlantic Coast Conference presidents approved Monday a grant of media rights for the league through 2026-27, effectively halting the exodus of any schools to other conferences.

The Sunday night dinner meeting between Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert and Mike Brown went well, according to sources close to the situation.

The spokeswoman for Robinson Cano's foundation is listed as having been a client of the Biogenesis clinic last summer, although she denies having received anything from the clinic and says Cano "definitely never did."