The 29th NBA Draft Lottery ping-pong balls will be bouncing behind closed doors Tuesday with 1,000 permutations in play and the top three picks in this year’s NBA Draft (Thursday, June 27) at stake. Ever since the New York Knicks won the lottery (and the opportunity to draft Patrick Ewing) in 1985, the process has been a magnet for conspiracy theories.

Labor disputes, strikes and lockouts happen in the billion-dollar business of pro sports. This year’s NHL season started in the second period. Last year’s NBA schedule didn’t tip off until midway through the second quarter. But sometimes, short seasons produce the craziest results. These are 10 of the best and worst historic moments from such seasons.

This year, countless Internet memes went viral. But the world of sports saw some of the best. Here is a rundown of the top 10 best Internet memes in sports in 2012.

Here's the Fab Five for Aug. 10, which will highlight NBC's prime-time schedule starting at 8 pm Eastern:

1. Women's 4x100m Finals
Allyson Felix and Carmelita Jeter will try to lead the U.S. to the medal stand and past those pesky, dominant sprinters from Jamaica. The U.S. women posted the second-fastest time in history in the semis, so they have to be considered a slight favorite in what will be a start-studded event.

Could the 2012 Team USA beat the 1992 Dream Team? Kobe Bryant thinks so, but Michael Jordan laughs at the idea. First things first, this year’s squad must win the gold medal — and do so in historic style — in order to challenge the throne.

Here’s a rankings rundown of the 16 USA men’s basketball teams in Olympic history:

Gold Standards 

Athlon Sports sat down with Kenny Smith, who covers the NBA on TNT — along with Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal, Ernie Johnson and Co. as a member of the Emmy award-winning Inside the NBA — as well as the NCAA Tournament on CBS. “The Jet” was a first-team All-American point guard under Dean Smith at North Carolina and a two-time NBA Finals champion with the Houston Rockets in 1994 and 1995.