Readers' Top Politics Blog Posts Of 2010

By BETH HARRIS LOS ANGELES (AP) — Fernando Valenzuela, the Mexican-born phenom for the Los Angeles Dodgers who inspired “Fernandomania” while winning the NL Cy Young Award and Rookie of the Year in 1981, has died. He was 63. The team said he died Tuesday night at a Los Angeles hospital, but did not provide the cause or other details. His death comes as the Dodgers prepare to open the World Series on Friday night at home against the New York Yankees. Valenzuela had left his color commentator job on the Dodgers’ Spanish-language television broadcast in September without explanation.

BOULDER — Jon Cooper figured he was out of the unicorn hunting game when Travis Hunter picked off his heart and ran it all the way back to 1981. “Roy Green was an outstanding nickel safety for the Cardinals,” Cooper, the longtime pro scout, associate GM and senior draft analyst with Ourlads.com, told me recently.

By GREG BEACHAM LOS ANGELES (AP) — LeBron James and Bronny James became the first father and son to play in the NBA together Tuesday night during the the Los Angeles Lakers ‘ season opener. LeBron and Bronny checked into the game together with four minutes left in the second quarter, prompting a big ovation from a home crowd aware of the enormity of the milestone.

Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche team president Josh Kroenke on Tuesday morning signed a deal that ties those franchises to Ball Arena and the land around it through 2050 — just hours after the City Council gave key approvals for a massive redevelopment on the site. In signing a revised agreement with Denver Mayor Mike Johnston, the Kroenke family added 20 years to their legal commitment to the city. It came at a time when sports owners and municipal officials regularly have knock-down, drag-out fights over financing for stadiums, and even teams with decades of history in their cities, like the Oakland Athletics, are willing to decamp for communities willing to pony up more dough.

The ancient disease scurvy is shockingly making a comeback — here’s why New York Post Doctors discover case of scurvy in Western Australia, warn it is a 're-emerging diagnosis' ABC NewsMan Who Had Scurvy Describes Symptoms: 'I First Noticed the Weakness' NewsweekScurvy may be re-emerging amid cost of living crisis and rise of weight loss surgery Medical Xpress

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — During Colorado’s winter sports media day on Monday in Boulder, CU women’s basketball coach JR Payne was, predictably, asked about the shift from the Pac-12 to the Big 12. Payne was raised on the West Coast, played collegiately on the West Coast, and has spent her entire coaching career in the west, with Boulder counting as the easternmost location of her journey.