Daily Sports Recap, 12/22: Comedy in the NFC South, Rondo on the Move

Welcome to Monday's edition of the Daily Sports Recap, where I apologize profusely for missing my deadline on Friday and hope that these new security cameras in here are just for effect.  Let's get to all the news we missed over the weekend.

Celtics Trade Rajon Rondo To Mavericks

On Thursday afternoon, the Boston Celtics traded their All-Star point guard Rajon Rondo to Dallas for Brandan Wright, Jameer Nelson, Jae Crowder and a 2015 first-round pick, which is lottery protected.

(For those of you who don't know, pick protection in the NBA is the process by which a team retains the pick it gave up in a trade, provided the pick falls into a certain range.  A top-five protected pick is not surrendered if the team that gave it up lands one of the top five picks in the draft.)

For the Mavericks, this trade lands them a talented point guard who is one of the best in the league at facilitating his team's offensive stars.  The Mavericks have looked like a playoff team so far during the season, so losing a bottom-10 pick is hardly a steep cost.  For the Celtics, this trade represents the ultimate demolition of the Celtics team that won the Finals in 2008 and lost another in 2010, presumably so the team can bottom out and land the highest pick possible.

Tanking's not a problem in the NBA, though, according to commissioner Adam Silver.

Florida State Determines Jameis Winston Did Not Commit Student Code Violation

The former Heisman Trophy winner left his student hearing without being charged with a violation of Florida State's student code of conduct.  It was ultimately determined that there was not enough evidence to "satisfy the burden of proof" in Winston's infamous 2012 sexual assault case (in which the police also declined to charge him with a crime).

Now, while it's probably more responsible to say that Florida State officials carefully considered the facts of the case laid out in front of them, it's way more fun/satisfying to say that Florida State is just letting Winston off easy because Florida State is in the playoffs, they don't want to jeopardize their football team, and something about Criminoles.

So expect to see a lot more of that second one.

NFC South Winner Cannot Have .500 Record

In the latest development in the worst division in the NFL, the Carolina Panthers (6-8-1) have just moved ahead of the Atlanta Falcons (6-9) and the New Orleans Saints (6-9) to take first place in the NFC South, thus ensuring that the best record the division winner can have is 7-8-1.  Other possibilities include 7-9 (CAR loss, ATL win) and the horrendous 6-9-1 (ATL and CAR loss).  The Saints were mathematically eliminated after their loss to the Falcons since the Falcons own the head-to-head tiebreaker with one game to play.

Cowboys Clinch NFC East with 42-7 Victory Over Colts

With a resounding December win over the AFC South-leading Colts, the Cowboys have claimed the NFC East title.  Tony Romo played great football as the Cowboys rolled to an easy victory with only one game left to play.

In unrelated news, sale of canned non-perishable foodstuffs and panic rooms have skyrocketed since yesterday afternoon.

As always, thanks for reading, and have a great week!