The NBA Lockout ended early this morning when, after months of lackadaisical negotiating, stalling, immaturity and ogre-like commissionership, the sides ground through a 13-hour bargaining session with Thanksgiving leftovers as sustenance and came to a handshake agreement likely formed over consensus that canned cranberry sauce is the worst.

There remains details to bang out, but the buzz is a 66-game schedule will begin Christmas. The Sixers' first post-Christmas game on the original schedule was a Dec. 26 game at Sacramento. That likely will be their season-opener. Because Pixar/Disney characters ABSOLUTELY MUST SKATE at the FirstStates Fargovia Center for a couple weeks between Christmas & into the New Year, the Sixers probably will play 6 straight on the road before opening at home, with that Jan. 6 game against Detroit seeming likely to serve as the home opener under the new ownership group.

The handshake agreement is tentative. It needs to be ratified with a dap, finger shake, rump bump & point to the sky, plus some other nonsense like legal perusals and union votes. As more details come, I'll keep you posted. We can talk NBA again, which is nice.