TNT GUNS FOR 3-0 LEAD
Defending champion Talk ‘N Text aims for a commanding 3-0 lead when It clash against challenger Rain or Shine today in the best-of-three titular series of the 38th Philippine Basketball Association Philippine Cup at the Araneta Coliseum. A win by Coach Norman Black’s Texters would move them just a game away from clinching their third straight all-Filipino crown and their sixth overall championship since joining the league in 1990. “We are up 2-0, now but as far as I’m concerned it takes four wins to grab the championship crown. We want our defense to be our calling card,” said Black.
Frank Calapre

KOBE RECONCILES WITH WIFE VANESSA
LOS ANGELES: Los Angeles Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant and his wife, Vanessa, confirmed Friday that they have reconciled in posts on social media. Vanessa Bryant, who had filed for divorce from the NBA star in December of 2011, posted a message on Instagram, and Bryant said on his Facebook page that the couple were back together. The Bryants married in 2000. Vanessa stood by her husband after he was charged with sexually assaulting a Colorado woman in 2003, charges that were eventually dropped.
 AFP

MLB TO TEST FOR HUMAN GROWTH HORMONE
NEW YORK: Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association said on Thursday that they will add random in-season blood testing for human growth hormone (HGH) to the game’s anti-doping program. The prior joint drug prevention and treatment program allowed for each player to be subject to an unannounced blood test during spring training and an unannounced, random test in the off-season. Major League Baseball, which has been randomly testing its minor league players for HGH since July 2010, will become the only major North American sport to blood test unionized players.
AFP

SAPP, STRAHAN AMONG HALL OF FAME FINALISTS
CANTON, Ohio: Defensive stars Warren Sapp and Michael Strahan are among the finalists announced on Friday for the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2013. Sapp and Strahan are among four players eligible for the first time, along with Larry Allen and Jonathan Ogden. Eleven more candidates are eligible from the “modern era” along with two senior nominees. All 17 will be considered for election when the Hall of Fame’s Selection Committee meets on February 2 in New Orleans, on the eve of the Super Bowl.
AFP

IOC MONITORING PAKISTAN AMID MEDDLING CLAIMS
LAUSANNE: The International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Friday said that it was watching closely events in Pakistan because of alleged political interference in its national organization. A spokesman for the Lausanne-based body told Agence France-Presse that it was “aware of the situation and is closely monitoring the issue with the national Olympic committee”, although no warning had so far been issued. The Pakistan Olympic Committee and government agency the Pakistan Sports Board are at daggers drawn because of perceived political meddling by the latter. The IOC suspended Pakistan’s South Asian neighbors and rivals India on December 4 last year because it ignored repeated warnings not to elect officials tainted by corruption allegations to its national Olympic organization.
AFP