Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook are among the top combinations in the NBA, and they’ve led their Oklahoma City Thunder team to first place in the Western Conference. Each finds himself among the league’s best in many statistical categories, but is it fair to select one over the other as league MVP, or is their respective success due as much to the other as it is to themselves?

As has become tradition, The Good Point decided to skip the border and travel south for coverage of the Grapefruit League. It was a long and tiresome trek from the snow-soaked streets of Ontario, but one as worth it as ever. I actually type right now from the over-air conditioned confines of a Barnes & Noble cafeteria in Clearwater, forcing down the remains of a slice of cheesecake left to stagnate behind the counter late into the night.

“The Glory of their Times” by Lawrence Ritter recounts baseball’s early days, from its speculative origins to the formation of the first professional leagues to the mid-1950s, when decades of tradition established the game as America’s pastime. Through exclusive interviews with players, Ritter gets first-hand accounts of baseball’s past and criticisms of where it’s gone since.

It’s the perfect time of year; when all the baseball players congregate in Florida and Arizona and the fans get first-hand reports on their teams’ entire organizations. It’s the best time of year to debate who should make the MLB teams, who needs more seasoning in the minors and who will emerge as the surprise stars.