1) The Atlantic Ten.  Good luck figuring this league out.  There are now nine teams within two games of the lead.  No one wants to pull away.  Last night's results:  LaSalle winning again, Charlotte beating Butler, UD losing (as predicted) to a dreadful Rhode Island team, and Xavier moving to 7-3 in the conference by taking care of business against Fordham. 

Other leagues are as jumbled - nine team are within a game and a half of the lead in the Big East, and no one seems to want to win the Big 12 - but few are as unpredictable, and as fun to watch as the A-10.

2) Semaj Christon.  When you watch the Muskies in person, you're drawn to their best player.  Semaj Christon, albeit on an undermanned team that was playing a pretty bad Fordham team, stands out the minute he walks on the floor as the most physically gifted guy in the gym.  But you're also seeing a freshman who looks more comfortable than he did four, six, weeks ago.  You see him putting people in spots, and you see him making better decisions than he was making weeks ago, and you see a guy whose game is starting to sharpen.  Last night, he made free throws, (at times an issue this season) he found guys for open looks, and he took smart, open shots by combining aggressiveness and patience. 

There are times when watching XU can be maddening, and given how difficult the schedule will be down the stretch, getting back to the NCAAs feels like a longshot, but even in what's often felt like a lost season, watching Christon's game develop has to make Muskie fans excited about the future.

3) Leadership.  I've never played on a professional baseball team.  Chances are, I never will.  So I'm not the most qualified person to talk about how much a team is affected by leadership, or lack thereof.  But I kinda think it's overrated.

We heard it a lot with Scott Rolen, how he'd be worth bringing back because of his leadership capabilities.  Since he isn't returning, apparently that mantle has to fall to others.  Sean Marshall will be one of those people, according to Dusty Baker.  But Sean Marshall can lead all he wants, and if he doesn't get lefties out, if he doesn't protect leads, if he gives up soul-crushing homers, then how much does anyone care about how he leads?

How does a baseball leader lead?  In John Fay's Marshall piece, Dusty Baker talks about Derek Jeter leading the Yankees....

I remember one time we were playing the Yankees and it was time for stretch. (Derek) Jeter came up and told the guys let's go. They cut off their conversations and stretched."

So they just need a guy to tell the others that it's time to stretch?  What else does the leader do? Ensure that every player has brought their glove to the ballpark? Remind players of what time the games are?  Begin the phone chain in case of a rainout? 

We had a team mom when I played in little league.  She was in charge of water, orange slices, and collecting the money from when they'd make us stand in front of seedy liquor stores begging drunks for cash so we could pay for satin team jackets.  Do the Reds need a team mom?

There are lots of variables that will determine how successful the Reds are this season.  Among them are health of key players, the success of the Chapman transition, how they maximize Votto's capabilities, whether Ludwick regresses after a bounce-back season, how Choo handles the move to center, whether the bullpen is as good as last year.  If those things work out in the Reds favor, who the leader is and how he leads won't matter all that much. 

And if they don't, it won't be because someone failed to lead.

4)  Johnny Cueto and the World Baseball Classic.  Johnny wants to pitch in it.  Dusty Baker doesn't want him to.  I blame neither.  This is why I don't like the WBC.  Not that it isn't a compelling event - actually the baseball is quite good - it's that it has the potential to put teams at odds with their players and franchises at odds with the league office. 

I understand why Johnny would want to represent the Dominican Republic, and I certainly understand why the Reds would prefer that Johnny stay with the team in Goodyear. The problem is that such an entity exists that presents such difficult decisions to players and teams.  I'm sure Cueto feels an obligation to play for his country, but he has an obligation to a team that's invested millions of dollars in him.  That push-pull, and the hard feelings that it could create, shouldn't exist.

5)  Pete Rose gets snubbed by Topps.  Major League Baseball still recognizes the exiled Hit King as the well, the hit king.  Apparently, the baseball card company does not.  Who knew that they were the ultimate keeper of baseball records?

...But Wait, There's More....

-Kate Upton trying to rap.....

-Re: The Jordan/LeBron debate that's been simmering for the last couple of days: When LeBron James has prevented six Hall of Famers from winning NBA Championships, call me.

-The big fat end of a vibrating toothbrush....

-I have to go prepare for an award-winning radio show.  More later.  It's Valentine's Day, so here's a crazy woman.