Sox and Bulls win!

Sox win with a "spark" -

Hey, what's a battery for, even an old one, if not to provide a spark?

And so it was Saturday that 35-year-old Bartolo Colon and 33-year-old Corky Miller — both considered long shots to make the team in spring training — juiced up the White Sox in an 8-0 victory over the Twins.

It was about as unlikely a heroic pitching-catching duo as you could find to break a three-game losing streak, Colon coming back from off-season elbow surgery and Miller coming back from baseball's no-man's land.

DC will LOVE this!



Bulls win and now in the 7th spot -

On Feb. 10, fans booed general manager John Paxson as he spoke at the Johnny "Red" Kerr tribute.

Eight days later, Paxson pulled off the trade with Sacramento that netted the Bulls both John Salmons and Brad Miller.

Two months later, the Bulls are in the playoffs for the fourth time in five seasons and, after Saturday night's 113-106 victory over Charlotte, in sole possession of the Eastern Conference's seventh seed.

After last season's 33-victory train wreck and his negative reception, does Paxson feel vindicated?

Can't the Bulls beat (or at least scare) the Celtics? We'd have no chance against the LeBrons or the Magic, but we could give that Celtics team a a rough first round.


Not surprised, Rose will win ROY -

Many league observers from Vinny Del Negro, who's obviously biased, to Mike D'Antoni, who's not, have said it: Derrick Rose is the NBA Rookie of the Year.

Kevin Durant, last year's winner, joined the chorus in the latest issue of ESPN The Magazine.

But those voices, while obviously informed, don't decide who wins the award from an extremely deep rookie class. Writers and broadcasters do.

So the Tribune sought out voters to gauge what they are thinking. And while nothing is official, Rose's chances to win the award appear extremely strong based on feedback from roughly one-third of the 123 voters across the United States and Canada.

In fact, of the 42 people who revealed their balloting decision to the Tribune, all planned to vote Rose first. That's 210 points right there in a scale that awards five points for a first-place vote, three points for second and one point for third.