Huge news for New York Knicks fans, along with the Rangers and Buffalo Sabres hockey teams:

You can actually see Jeremy Lin play!

Governor Cuomo came out with a press release announcing the deal after a major financial squabble that started after the Time Warner deal expired on New Year's Eve.

Even FBN showed the financial disparity, considering Lin's $800,000 base salary is $300,000 more than Earvin "Magic" Johnson's rookie salary with the Lakers way back in 1979 (but that was a lot of money back then before inflation ran the country amuck).  Free agent acquisitions Carmelo Anthony and A'mare Stoudamire make over $12 million this season alone.

Big time move for the New York City economy (along with jersey sales, ticket sales in opposing arenas along with hotel and restaurant sales spiking on game nights).  With the Knicks fighting for a playoff spot in the lower rungs of the Eastern Conference--I bet there will be more people watching than the casual fans on TNT, ESPN, and especially ABC on Sunday afternoons.

In other news...

Congress finally passed the payroll tax cut bill, but narrowed down the number for those having unemployment job benefits to 79 weeks.

No news from Greece, even with Germany's Chancellor abruptly calling it quits.

Another Veteran's Committee vote is gone as baseball loses Hall of Fame catcher (and overall nice guy) Gary Carter, who succumbed to brain cancer on Thursday.  The 1986 World Series champion with the New York Mets who spent a bulk of his career with the former Montreal Expos was 57.

And finally, the Dow finished with a nearly 50 point gain at 45.79 but finished short of the 13,000 plateau.  It rests for the President's Day holiday weekend at 12,949.87.  Oil continues to spike (so look out for higher gas prices at the pumps again, ugh!) finishing up 1.19 at $103.50 per barrel.

These final two months will be very interesting for the NBA, but look out for any news from Europe--especially on the federal holiday come Monday.