February 13th update

NBA Eastern conference review

The NBA season is only 30 games old, but since this year is being shortened due to the lockout, we're near to the halfway point and now's as good a time as any to review the season so far, by conference. East today, West on Wednesday.
• Derrick Rose and the Bulls have picked up where they left off last season, compiling a 23-7 record so far, best in the East. Close on their heels are the Miami Heat led by the triumvirate of James-Wade-Bosh (or the duo of Wade and James if you feel as many around the league do).
• The biggest surprise however, is that the Philadelphia 76ers, not the Magic or the Celtics, seem to be the next in line. They sport a balanced squad that has 8 players scoring 9 points per game or more and their stifling defense is #2 in the NBA.
• The Atlanta Hawks are still around and the Indiana Pacers are playing better than expected after a hard fought first round playoff loss to the Bulls last year, but the team everyone's talking about is Jeremy's Lin's Knicks, who would not be in the playoffs if the season ended today but have won 5 straight and are gaining confidence by the day.
• At the other end of the spectrum, the Washington Wizards have only won 6 games but have some hope for the future with John Wall, Jan Vesely and Javale McGee while the Charlotte Bobcats have only won 3 games and are rumored to be asking Cam Newton to start playing for them now that the Carolina Panthers' season is over (OK, not really).


Lefty Surges Late

• Phil Mickelson won the Pebble Beach Pro-Am tournament this weekend, storming ahead of Tiger and a few other big named golfers to take a $1.1 million dollar purse.
• Woods shared the lead going into the last round on Sunday, but Mickelson shot 8-under par while Woods struggled with his worst round of the tournament to finish in a tie for 15th.
• Woods is still looking to regain the Tiger dominance that was a staple of the PGA tour for much of the 2000s. He seems to be getting closer and closer after winning his first tournament in over 2 years in December. Woods has been in contention in every other tournament he has played but has failed to capitalize on some great performances.


Pitchers and Catchers Start to Report

• Pitchers and Catchers reporting is the official start to the Major League Baseball preseason schedule. Teams generally have these two positions come to camp before the rest of the team to help build rapport and learn each other's tendencies.
• The Seattle Mariners were the first team to have their players begin to go to camp (in Arizona) because they are one of the first two teams to begin the regular season, in Tokyo, on March 28. This was a big story as Hisashi Iwakuma joined the Mariners for his first season in the Major Leagues. Iwakuma was a prized free agent from Japan so it's a bit ironic that he will begin his MLB career in the country that he's played his entire career anyway. The Mariners were able to land him to help strengthen their grip as the favorite MLB team in the Japanese market, a position they have held for many years as they are the home team of former Japanese superstar Ichiro Suzuki and the former home of All-Star reliever Kaz Sasaki.
• Pitchers and Catchers reporting is one of the first signs of spring, and a welcome sign to those of us who missed baseball. Other teams will begin to report over the next few days in preparation for the mainstream Opening Day which is March 31st.