It’s not often you get rewarded in life for just showing up. But in hockey, you can find a nice little positive beside your name on the game sheet, even if you didn’t do a whole lot. Unfortunately, life on the ice is not always so kind, and often times you can play a great […]

In the first of a series about players who came up as top prospects in their organizations, Zach Sommers examines the early career of one Cameron Maybin: a Tigers draftee who found delayed success with the Marlins and now has a big-money contract with the Padres.

When the Toronto Blue Jays acquired Jeff Mathis from the Los Angeles Angels back in December, the catcher didn’t exactly represent the kind of blockbuster offseason acquisition that their fan base was hoping for. After all, Mathis, having long been criticized for his limited offensive skills, brought with him a career .194 average and .557 […]

The Ottawa Senators currently hold down seventh place in the Eastern Conference standings with a comfortable cushion over eighth. Arguably the most surprising team in the NHL – thanks in large part to defenseman Erik Karlsson – the Sens have reaped the benefits of the league’s sixth-best offense at 2.96 goals per game. As a […]

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.

Eli Manning might have screwed it all up – just as he’s done these past five years, New England Patriots fans would say. When the New York Giants beat the Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI, Eli won his second Super Bowl ring, which gave him twice as many rings as older brother Peyton. Does this […]

DIRK THE TV STAR If Dirk Hayhurst were a TV character, he’d be Abed Nadir from Community. Now before you go all Senor Chang on me, please allow an explanation. There are differences, yes. Dirk isn’t a film major at a community college, although perhaps an argument could be made that Community College are to […]