News of Wilson Holloway’s death on Wednesday shocked and stunned many close friends.
One of those was former high school basketball teammate Blake Griffin, who was visibly affected after hearing the news following the Los Angeles Clippers’ win at Minnesota on Wednesday night.

ESPN.com reported that Griffin “had his head in his hands in the locker room after receiving a phone call that a friend from home had died.”

Griffin and Holloway were high school teammates at Oklahoma Christian School and won state championships in 2006 and 2007. They remained close after Griffin went to the NBA and Holloway was an offensive lineman at the University of Tulsa.

Holloway’s funeral will be at 1 p.m. Monday at the Memorial Road Church of Christ in Edmond. Arrangements are being handled by Temple and Sons Funeral Home.

Holloway died on Wednesday from complications of Hodgkin's lymphoma.

His loss was felt by his former schoolmates at OCS.

Former classmates Angela Patton and Laurie Allendorfer have helped plan a memorial candlelight service honoring Holloway. The service will be held on the OCS campus at 6 p.m. Friday.

“We’re expected between 200 and 400 people,” said Patton, a University of Central Oklahoma student who was a 2007 graduate at OCS with Holloway.

Patton said she last saw Holloway at the Saints’ homecoming basketball game last week. Holloway’s cancer had taken a toll on his body, but didn’t pierce his spirit.

“He looked like he was only 150 pounds,” Patton said, “We were all worried about him, but he remained positive.

He said ‘Guys, I’ll be fine and I’ll fight through it.’ “He was always just so positive.”

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Although the Albert Pujols negotiations have weighed heavily on our minds for much of the past week -- and probably longer for Cardinals fans -- it was impossible to analyze them because we just didn't know what was going on behind closed doors. Well, thanks to Ken Rosenthal's reports and ESPN's Karl Ravech, it looks like we know why a deal didn't get done. Rosenthal tweets that, according to a source, the Cardinals offer would only give Pujols the 10th highest salary in the game, somewhere around $19-21 million dollars per season.

The Cardinals had to know there was no chance that Albert would sign that offer. People are asking questions like“Is Albert Pujols Worth $40 Million Per Season?” and “Is Albert Pujols Worth 300 Million?", not whether he would sign for $20 million per year. Looking at some hard numbers, Gas House Graphs, an excellent Cardinals blog, comes up with a 10-year value for Albert at $260 million with some help from saberist wonder Tom Tango.

Using Rosenthal's numbers, we get a contract offer from the Cardinals of eight years and $168 million, nine years and $189 million, or 10 years and $210 million. By the Gas House Graphs numbers, the Cardinals are underselling Pujols by some $50 million even if they actually went out to 10 years, a length which the Cardinals seemed reluctant to offer.

It's certainly understandable that the Cardinals haven't come out and offered Pujols the fabled $300 million contract or some other such big deal. Although Pujols’ on-field value is currently untouched by any other player, that doesn't mean the Cardinals should simply empty the coffers in front of Pujols. After all, this is a business.

However, it's obvious that the team is in better shape with Albert on the team. The only way that they remain contenders, at least in the short-term, is with Albert on the team. Thenewly-released PECOTA projections have Albert worth 7.7 WARP -- wins above replacement player. The next best position player? Ryan Braun, at 4.9 WARP. Pujols so outclasses the rest of his position player colleagues that he is nearly three full wins over No. 2.

The Cardinals had a huge asset in their exclusivity to negotiate with Pujols. They could have been able to reach a deal with the superstar for under his market value, and any contract with Pujols will almost certainly offer huge surpluses in the first few years of the deal. The offer that they made, however, had no chance of ever being accepted, and I find it hard to believe that Cardinals management didn't know that fact themselves.

It's not over for St. Louis, though. They'll get another chance, even if it has to wait until after the season, assuming that the deadline set by Pujols actually means anything. If they want to get anything done with their superstar on the second go-round, they'll need to actually acknowledge his value. The Cardinals found out that their reportedly discounted offers just aren't going to fly. We'll see in about eight months if the Cardinals will open up the checkbook and pay Pujols what he's worth.

Actress Winter Ave Zoli arrives at the premiere premiere of FX and FOX 21's "Sons Of Anarchy" Season 3 on Aug. 30, 2010, in Hollywood, Calif

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Clashes reported in eastern city of Benghazi as security forces and government supporters confront demonstrators.

Protesters have clashed with police and government supporters in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi, reports say.
Demonstrators gathered in the early hours of Wednesday morning in front of police headquarters and chanted slogans against the "corrupt rulers of the country", Al Jazeera's sources said.
Police fired tear gas and violently dispersed protesters, the sources said without providing further details.
The online edition of Libya's privately-owned Quryna newspaper, which is based in Benghazi, said the protesters were armed with petrol bombs and threw stones.
According to the newspaper, 14 people were injured in the clashes, including three demonstrators and 10 security officials.
In a telephone interview with Al Jazeera, Idris Al-Mesmari, a Libyan novelist and writer, said that security officials in civilian clothes came and dispersed protesters by using tear gas, batons and hot water.
Al-Mesmari was arrested hours after the interview, unconfirmed reports say.
'Day of rage' called
Anti-government protesters have also called on citizens to observe Thursday as a "Day of Rage". They are hoping to emulate recent popular uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia to end Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's 41-year-old rule.
The rare protests reportedly began after relatives of those killed in a prison massacre about 15 years ago took to streets. They were joined by scores of other supporters.

Benghazi residents have a history of distrust of Gaddafi

The relatives were said to have been angered by the detention of Fathi Terbil, human rights lawyer and official spokesman of the victims' families, who was arrested by the Libyan security forces, for no apparent reason.
However, Terbil was later released, according to reports.
Twelve-hundred prisoners were killed in the Abu Slim prison massacre on June 29, 1996, after they had objected to their inhumane conditions inside the prison.
Those killed were buried in the prison's courtyard and in mass graves in Tripoli. The families of the victims have been demanding that the culprits be punished.
Mohammed Maree, an Egyptian blogger, said "Gaddafi's regime has not listened to such pleas and continues to treat the Libyan people with lead and fire."
"This is why we announce our solidarity with the Libyan people and the families of the martyrs until the criminals are punished, starting with Muammer and his family."
Libyan state television reported that rallies were taking place all over the country early this morning “in support of the rule of the people by the people”.
Signed statement
A group of prominent Libyans and members of human rights organisations have also demanded the resignation of Gaddafi.
They said that the Libyans have the right to express themselves through peaceful demonstrations without any threat of harassment from the regime.
 
The demands came in a statement signed by 213 personalities from different segments of the Libyan society, including  political activists, lawyers, students, and government officials.
 
Meanwhile, a local human rights activist told Reuters news agency that the authorities have decided to release 110 prisoners jailed for membership of banned organisation, the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group.
The prisoners to be freed on Wednesday, are the last members of the group still being held and will be set free from Tripoli's Abu Salim jail, Mohamed Ternish, chairman of the Libya Human Rights Association said.
Hundreds of alleged members of the group have been freed from jail after it renounced violence last year.