There's the winds of change, the seas of bliss, rays of happinesses, beacons of hope. And it's all right here for ya folks. Yes this is a place where the pastures are always greener and the stables well they are much cleaner. This idyllic little utopia, I think we all know is the sports on China Drive.

NBA: Utah 86, Houston 83

When people say idyllic utopia isn't that redundant? Cause I mean is there such a thing as a utopia that isn't idyllic?

It wasn't idyllic and and concurrently it was not a utopia, it was a loss. Earlier this morning Mehmet Okur scored 20 points and Carlos Boozer added 13 as the Utah Jazz overcame a late deficit for an 86-83 victory over Yao Ming and an orgainsation called the Houston Rockets.

With the victory, in a game that will likely be a preview for the first round of the playoffs, the Jazz remain ahead of the Rockets in fourth place in the Western Conference standings.

Houston led 77-70 before Utah scored five straight points to get within two with 3:10 remaining. The teams exchanged a pair of baskets before a three-point play by Matt Harpring gave Utah an 82-81 lead with 1:35 remaining.

Boozer was fouled on a layup and made the free throw to extend the lead to 85-81 with 43 seconds left. Tracy McGrady got Houston within two on the next possession and the Rockets got the ball back after a miss by Boozer.

But Rafer Alston badly missed a 3-point attempt with about 10 seconds left and Houston was forced to foul. Okur made only the first to give the Rockets a chance to tie, but McGrady missed a 3-point attempt at the buzzer.

Yao "the wild thing" Ming led the Rockets with 35 points and 16 rebounds and McGrady added 20 points.

World Champion Dott Crowned at China Open

Snooker world champion Graeme Dott beat Jamie Cope 9-5 on Sunday to win the 2007 China Open snooker tournament in Beijing.

Scotland's Dott set up the final showdown with Jamie Cope after knocking out "Rocket" Ronnie O'Sullivan 6-2 on Saturday. Cope took almost four hours to edge Barry Hawkins 6-5 in the other semifinal.

Cope won the prize for the highest break at the event.

Ding Junhui's Birthday Visit to Sick Children

And speaking of snooker, China's snooker prodigy Ding Junhui celebrated his 20th birthday by visiting children with congenital heart disease in Second Artillery General Hospital yesterday.

He expressed his wish to pay more attention to those suffering with heart disease.

Ding Junhui was knocked out of the just-concluded 2007 China Open snooker tournament by the British player Barry Hawkins last Wednesday.

He clinched his breakthrough title in Beijing two years ago and made it to the final four in 2006.

Ian Thorpe Confident He'll Be Cleared

Australian swimmer Ian Thorpe is declaring he is no cheat.

Clearly distressed Thorpe said yesterday he's confident he'll be cleared of any doping violation after a test last year showed elevated levels of two banned substances.

"I have never cheated," he says.

The five-time Olympic champion, at the center of a doping controversy five months after retiring, told a packed news conference in Melbourne that he had been one of swimming's most drug-tested athletes.

The unshaven Thorpe, dressed in slacks and a rumpled striped dress shirt, spoke publicly for the first time since the French sports daily L'Equipe reported last Friday that he had elevated levels of testosterone and leutenising hormone, which are both naturally-occurring substances, in a doping test last May. He announced his retirement in November at age 24.

Thorpe says the report had "already tarnished" his reputation and that it would be tough to undo the damage.

And speaking of undoing damage I can't undo it either, you just heard it, hopefully you'll retain it that's the sports on china drive.