Silva: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for NFC teams.
SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?
Ryan Callahan scored for the fifth time in four days and defenseman Ryan McDonagh snapped a second-period tie to lift the New York Rangers to a 3-2 victory over the Washington Capitals on Sunday.
Kobe Bryant hit a baseline jump shot with 4.2 seconds left and the Los Angeles Lakers wrapped up a six-game road trip by holding on to beat the Raptors 94-92 on Sunday, their eighth victory in nine meetings with Toronto
Arc's five up, five down: After No. 11 Michigan State's 58-48 upset of No. 3 Ohio State, you'd be a fool to discount the Spartans' national title chances now.
Miami coach Al Golden says the worst is behind him, but his headaches figure to continue now that former booster Nevin Shapiro, now in jail, says his involvement with the Hurricanes program will result in stiff penalties.
Golf's dream pairing - Woods and Mickelson - is on the course in the final round at Pebble Beach. Jason Sobel has hole-by-hole reports.
The United States completed a 5-0 rout of Switzerland in the Davis Cup on Sunday, with 19-year-old Ryan Harrison and John Isner winning closing singles matches.
Euro Roundup: First-place Manchester City won 1-0 at Aston Villa on Sunday on Joleon Lescott's goal in the 63rd minute, maintaining its two-point lead over Manchester United in the Premier League.
Tessa Worley of France fought off gusting winds to win a second consecutive World Cup giant slalom Sunday in the Andorran Pyrenees. Overall leader Lindsey Vonn was more than a second behind and finished eighth.
Robins: It’s the Year of the Dragon on the Lunar calendar, and this Chinese influence could extend to it also being the year of the Pekingese on the green carpet at the 136th Westminster Dog Show on Tuesday.
APThe beginning of the end was Dusty Baker’s arrival as Cubs manager before the 2003 season. Baker was hired, in part, because he knew how to deal with temperamental superstars — if he could handle Barry Bonds, Mr. Temperamental himself, then surely he could handle Sosa.
But Baker and Sosa clashed repeatedly, and the Cubs’ magical 2003 season — well, magical until fan Steve Bartman decided to play outfielder — made things worse, because the spotlight wasn’t just on Slammin’ Sammy anymore, except for when was caught with a corked bat and suspended for seven games.
The corked bat was a precursor to the question of whether Sosa’s home-run ability — he’s the only one to hit more than 60 in three seasons — was a mirage as well. His dubious excuses didn’t help. The corked bat was for batting practice and home run contests?
Then there were the steroid questions. Sports Illustrated’s Rick Reilly seemed like a big creep when, in July 2002, he cornered Sosa in the Cubs’ clubhouse and asked him to take a urine test to prove he wasn’t on steroids. Sosa, dogged from time to time about questions over how a one-time speedster had morphed into a home-run hitting machine, had previously told reporters he would be first in line if baseball ever implemented steroid testing.
The U.S. House Committee on Government Reform brought Sosa in for its March 2005 steroid hearings, though it didn’t ask him to pee in a cup. Still, the smiling Sammy who spoke excellent English in every commercial he made, for some odd reason found himself in need of an interpreter to read his opening statement. Not that Sosa acquitted himself well when he spoke.
Sample testimony: “All I can tell you is I don’t have much to tell you.” Sosa’s non-testimony made it seem Reilly was on to something when he confronted Sosa, though it was still a little creepy.
The Orioles acquired Sosa from the Cubs for the 2005 season and hoped he could give their anemic franchise the juice (sorry, bad choice of words) he once gave the Cubs. Instead, he was one of many soul-sucking elements on a team that collapsed after an early run at first place.
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As the 2005 season wound down, Orioles bullpen catcher Elrod Hendricks told the Washington Post that the reason Baltimore superstar Miguel Tejada appeared so “distraught” was because of a months-long rift between him and fellow Dominican Sosa, who couldn’t take the fact the Orioles were Tejada’s team, not his. (Tejada, who gave his OK to Orioles executives when they consulted him about acquiring Sosa, denied any rift.)
It’s a shame, really, that Sosa has let his pride get in the way so often. He’s only 12 home runs away from 600. Perhaps signing with Washington, the only team to offer him a contract for next season, would give him a chance to erase some of the lousy memories of the past few years.
It’s hard to believe fans dislike Sosa; disappointed in him, yes, but always ready to fall back in love. And, hey, Frank Thomas, Sosa’s one-time crosstown foil with the White Sox and no slouch in the ego department himself, signed a similar, incentive-laden deal with Oakland. Why not Sosa?
Watching the ultimate fan favorite go out without a final round of applause is the perhaps the saddest part of Sosa’s departure. Even if it was one more lousy season, Sosa isn’t giving himself — or baseball fans — a chance to remember why people got excited over him in the first place. Instead, our last memory is Sosa fading into the ether, alone.
SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?
DeMarco: Plug in a well-heeled ownership group and negotiate one of those mega-bucks TV deals that are going around, and the Dodgers could become the west coast version of the New York Yankees or Boston Red Sox.
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Wesseling: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for AFC teams.
Ryan Callahan scored for the fifth time in four days and defenseman Ryan McDonagh snapped a second-period tie to lift the New York Rangers to a 3-2 victory over the Washington Capitals on Sunday.
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