Artful Dodger

Stephen Fife made his major league debut with the LA Dodgers last night, pitching six innings. Fife only allowed one run, but the Phillies got two more in the 8th to defeat the Dodgers, 3-2. Fife got his first start and his first strikeout, but he will have to wait for his first W. Although he performed well in spot duty, he will likely be sent back to Albuquerque. Watch highlights here.

Olympians

Michael C. Lewis wrote a nice piece on Utah's 2012 Olympians: Kim Smith, Shona Thorburn, and Michelle Plouffe. The two former Utes and one current Ute are members of Canada's basketball team, which qualified for the 2012 London Games. Read the article in today's Salt Lake Tribune.

Changing of the Guard

This off-season has seen some veteran point guards change teams, with Steve Nash getting traded from the Suns to the Lakers and Jason Kidd leaving the Mavericks to join the Knicks. The Jazz traded their most recent point guard to the Hawks and brought back previous point man Mo Williams. But one wily veteran who has played for multiple teams is staying put: Andre Miller re-signed with the Denver Nuggets. Miller has made Denver his home since his first stint with the team, so he was willing to stay and the team welcomed him back. Miller led the team with 6.7 assists per game while playing with the second unit, and Coach Karl considers his leadership a tremendous asset to a young Nuggets team. Miller is 36 and played in all 66 games last season, despite separating his shoulder; in 13 seasons he has only missed 4 games due to injury. Denver has enough confidence in his durability to sign him to a multi-year contract on the first day of free agency.

It's not the off-season for the WNBA, where Leilani Mitchell starts at point guard for the New York Liberty (6-11). Mitchell is averaging 8.3 points and 3.3 assists in 29.5 minutes per game (second-highest on the team). Off the court Mitchell has been matched up with star point guard Derrick Rose of the Chicago Bulls.