Only A Game Senior Producer Gary Waleik outlines the music heard in this week’s show.

Bill offers some holiday wishes to Only A Game listeners.

Watch closely. If you’re not careful, you’ll miss it. Bill Littlefield meets a group of competitors in Connecticut who, in a fast blur, stack, un-stack, and re-stack plastic cups in a discipline called sport stacking.

Only A Game analyst Charlie Pierce discusses: the NBA season finally begins, the Indianapolis Colts finally win, and a automotive reason to root for a Packers loss.

Our loyal listeners send us both praise and protests. Bill responds.

Bill is joined by New York Times sportswriter Jere Longman, whose recent Times column explores the various sports interests and unconfirmed athletic exploits of late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.

The 2011 edition of ‘The Best American Sports Writing’ is out. Each year Bill and series editor Glenn Stout discuss some of the most intriguing stories from the collection. This year they’re also joined by Chris Jones, whose piece about a free diver is titled ‘Breathless’. It originally appeared in ESPN The Magazine.

This week the NFL announced plans to assign a trainer to each team to identify players who may have suffered concussions during games. Bill Littlefield looks at the details of the plan, which was unveiled after Cleveland Browns quarterback Colt McCoy returned to a game on Dec. 8 with a concussion that was not diagnosed.

Many teams started NBA seasons with high expectations, but few have done it as publicly as the Miami Heat did in 2010. After losing to Dallas in the NBA Finals, the pressure to win it all is even more intense as LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and the rest of the Heat prepare to open their season. WLRN’s Phil Latzman reports.

The Los Angeles Clippers are getting a lot of buzz, but they’re not the only team ready to make a run at the title. Henry Abbott of ESPN.com’s “True Hoop” blog joins Bill to discuss the upcoming 66-game NBA season, which opens on Christmas Day.