Midwest

It's customary for rookies to perform degrading tasks until they earn respect of a ball club. Although he's in his eighth season with the White Sox, Mark Buehrle has been ordered to carry the bags of recently-rich pitcher Javy Vasquez.

Last night the Bulls went into Miami standing tall, having won three games in a row and feeling confident they could repeat their opening-night historic win against the Heat and notch their fourth win in a row.

Usually when a goaltender makes over $6 million dollars a year, he gives his team at least a couple shutouts per season. That expectation is gone when you're the starting goalie for the Blackhawks.

Family and friends of fallen pop princess Britney Spears decided the star needed to enter a rehab facility after learning that she had gotten a White Sox tattoo.

In February, ex-Cub and current Angels outfielder Gary Matthews Jr. covertly received a box of illegal steroids that had been mailed to the home of a friend Matthews has known since grade school, and seemed to have gotten away with it. This week, however, a $15 rebate claim form bearing Matthews' name, signature and real address was received by the product's manufacturer. The product's order number and serial number as written on the form are said to match those of the package delivered to Matthews' friend Joey Adamley of Tuscon, Ariz.

Nothing seems to be working for Mark Prior ever since posting an 18-6 record in 2003. Not only has the porcelain-based pitcher suffered through a multitude of injuries over the course of the past few seasons, but has had serious control issues the few times he's been healthy enough to take the hill. Monday was no exception, as Prior gave up four hits and three earned runs in only 1 1/3 innings in his spring training debut against the Seattle Mariners.

There are two ways to view Mark Prior's spring debut with the Cubs Monday.