Garnett and Henry moving on

Thierry Henry's often rumored, never consumated transfer from Arsenal to Barcelona is reportedly finally happening, as he hits 30 and debt-laden Arsenal can't tie up resources on a player with his growing risk of injury. Coming off a rocky season with popular speculation that they may drop out of the Big Four who currently dominate English football (Chelski, Manchester United, and Liverpool) losing a player of Henry's charisma and mesmerizing ability is a serious blow. If the 16m pounds his sale is supposed to bring in goes entirely to paying off the stadium debt, the club may be announcing they want to give up on European ambitions, and settle firmly into the second tier of England with Newcastle United, Tottenham Hotspur, and other teams who previously couldn't stand up to Arsenal's reserves. On the other hand, maybe Robin van Persie (the Dutch striker who runs like a girl) will be back in form, Henry's sale to Barca and Jose Antonio Reyes' transfer to Atletico Madrid will buy RvP a strike partner, and some of the younger talent will break through. If they hang on to fourth place, make a decent showing in Europe, and challenge in the cups, it'll be a good year financially and stave off the collapse that the rest of England seems to be drooling for, and that'll be good for a few laughs.

While Henry has always been linked to Barcelona but nobody has been sure if Arsenal would pull the trigger, Kevin Garnett is definitely out the door for the Timberwolves, but the problem is nobody knows where he's going. All that's definite is he won't be in Minnesota, and apparently he won't be in Boston either, since he came out and said he won't permit himself to be traded to the Celtics. Wild theories abound, some have died down, like the talk that he would go to Chicago, and the favorites are the Phoenix Suns, who have plenty to offer, but pretty good reason to stand pat. This does speak to how terribly unbalanced the NBA has become though, since the entire Eastern Conference has been written off as junior varsity, too weak to be worth his time. Personally I'm rooting for the rumored huge multiple player trade to the Knicks where Minnesota gets horrendously overpaid players nearing the ends of their bloated contracts, so they can all be cut and the Wolves can basically burn the place down and start over, having wasted the bright future they looked like they had back in 1996 when they had a core of Kevin Garnett, Tom Gugliotta, and Stephon Marbury. Rest assured, I'll be ranting about any future developments.