The most wonderful time of the year.

Honestly, screw Christmas. This is, by far, the most wonderful time of the year. NBA finals are closing in on us, and it's starting to look like we might have a repeat of last year. Kobe Bryant and his Lakers are 8 games up on the competition, with a 4-game winning streak. I'm not a huge Lakers fan, but when they're on a roll...you know. The Celtics are looking at a killer chance to up Cleveland by half a game tonight over Denver. But, at this rate, even if they manage to claw their way back into the finals, I think the end result is already apparent. We'll see what the coming weeks bring the NBA. Boston needs to sharpen up some tools a little bit. Call me crazy, I'd kind of just like to see Kobe eat it a little bit. That ego isn't going to fit in this city if we let it grow any further.

March madness is on it's way, and this is absolutely the best thing since sliced bread for me. I get two solid weeks of white knuckled distractions, lots of reasons to hit up the local brew spot with the guys, and before it's even all said and done, we get baseball. While most polls have their money on Connecticut right now, all four polls I've been keeping my eye on (AP, ESPN, RPI, and our very own Yahoo user's poll) have Oklahoma in second. UNC is taking third across the board, while Pittsburgh (ranked #1 by the Yahoo users), Louisville (go Cards! yes, I'm biased here), and Duke seem to be the three teams we'll be seeing fighting for their spot in the final four. As we know, anything goes at the beginning of this tournament. I'm thrilled to see who takes over my brackets.

With Manny Ramirez screwing with every team in the league, I'm curious to see where he ends up reporting for spring training. Although negotiations have intensified with the Los Angeles Dodgers, it's quite possible that his adamancy for a high ticket salary could leave him watching from the sidelines if he doesn't pick a dugout. Realistically, he'll end up somewhere. The question is where, and moreso, for how much.

The Boston Red Sox are weighing the strength of their team as they start training for their first full season without the powerhouse who managed to average a .396 in 187 at bats during 53 games after coming to the Dodgers mid-season through a three-way trade with Pittsburgh to give Boston left fielder Jason Bay. Although the Boston camp is talking optimisitcally, it will be interesting to see how the team fares without their wacky slugger.

(image via Yahoo! Sports)

Down in Florida, everyone is making a big deal out of a pulled hamstring. According to sources, New York Yankees short stop, Derek Jeter, was complaining about a sore right hamstring Sunday after drills. Jeter told press that "it's no big deal," and will continue training Monday. CC Sabathia, who apparently lost the right to have punctuation in his acronymic first name, also missed out on a day of training due to the flu. However, the left handed pitcher threw 40 pitches to teammates at batting practice the following day. The left-handed pitcher and batter is expected to open the Yankee season on the mound. Let's hope that $345 million infield proves to be worth all of that dough.

There will be much more said as the spring training games start rolling out, and we'll see how well these teams really work together. I'll be making some pretty happy travels out into the desert to check out some of these re-worked rosters as we make our way into the season in April.