Hall inductees get rings

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LT believes he's done as Charger

LaDainian Tomlinson says he believes he has played his last game as a San Diego Charger.

The running back told The San Diego Union-Tribune on Thursday that he has thought for a while he would be let go by the Chargers.

His comments come after more than a month of saying he did not know what would happen.

Lockout would hurt free-agency system

Amid the excitement of the New Year is the NFL's stark reality that its labor peace is in serious jeopardy.

It's not a bluff that league owners and the players association are having difficulty resolving their differences in talks to extend the collective bargaining agreement.

Unless a deal gets done by March, the league will march into an uncapped season in 2010. Next after that, if the stalemate continues, could be a lockout of players for 2011 by owners.

4,500 lose power in Raleigh

About 4,500 Progress Energy customers in Raleigh lost power this morning after a safety mechanism cut power to the area around Hillsborough Street and Marsh Avenue.

Progress Energy spokeswoman Pamela Oakley-Lsik said the outage happened at 8:43 a.m. and was triggered by a "substation relay lockout," in which the power is cut in order to protect equipment after a problem is detected in the power lines.

So far, she said, the specific problem that was detected by the system is unknown.

The Canes' revolving door

The giant career recycling machine that is the Carolina Hurricanes reclaimed another player this summer when the NHL team traded for Aaron Ward, who left after the 2006 season.

Ward is the ninth player the Hurricanes have reacquired since the 2004-05 lockout, although only seven have had a second NHL stint with Carolina. That's more than two per season. The big question is, who is next?

Given that David Tanabe was ushered out in 2003 only to be welcomed back in 2006, anything is possible -- and those possibilities are Tuesday's Top Five.

San Jose Sharks (0-0-0) at Colorado Avalanche (0-0-0), 10 p.m.

The San Jose Sharks will begin defense of the franchise's first Presidents' Trophy when they visit the rebuilding Colorado Avalanche tonight at the Pepsi Center.

Tonight is also the night that the Avalanche will honor longtime captain Joe Sakic by retiring his No. 19 sweater in a pregame ceremony. Sakic, a virtual lock for the Hall of Fame, announced his retirement back in July after spending all 20 of his NHL seasons with the Colorado/Quebec franchise. He led the Avs to a pair of Stanley Cup titles and also won the Hart Trophy in 2000-01.

The Sharks finished the 2008-09 regular season with the best record in the NHL only to suffer yet another early-playoff exit. After losing in the second round in the first three seasons following the lockout, San Jose was bounced out in the opening round last year by eighth-seeded Anaheim.