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.
Zambia has won the African Cup of Nations, beating pre-tournament favorite Ivory Coast 8-7 on penalties in a dramatic final at Stade de l'Amitie.
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.
MESA, Ariz. - Sammy Sosa was once one of baseball’s most popular figures, a prodigious home run hitter who raced enthusiastically to his position and tapped his heart to salute adoring fans in the Wrigley Field bleachers.
Now one season after his bitter departure from the Chicago Cubs, the 37-year-old Sosa is probably headed to retirement, his days of circling the bases over.
If that is the case, he leaves behind a conflicting legacy.
“I imagine it’s frustrating when you get to this point in your career and you can’t get a guaranteed contract. I can’t imagine what that would be like for him and I feel for him, I really do,” Cubs catcher Michael Barrett said.
“He’s had a great career and unfortunately with the way the game has gone — let’s be truthful — the way the game has gone, it hasn’t helped him in any regard and I feel for him in that way, too.”
Sosa and Mark McGwire helped energize baseball and fill the stadiums with an epic home run duel in 1998, four years after a strike left many fans disillusioned.
But with baseball mired in accusations that star players used steroids, Sosa was among the players called to testify before a congressional committee last March. McGwire refused to answer questions about past steroid use. Sosa said he never used illegal steroids.
“And a lot of people are judgmental, judging that he was a steroid guy and they said a lot of things that I feel are not appropriate at this point in his career. I don’t think it’s fair. Say what you want to say about the corked bat, that’s one instance. That was one mistake he made.
“But overall you look at the career he had, and he had a tremendous career. He gave a lot to this organization and the organization gave a lot to him.”
Sosa is 12 homers shy of 600 — 545 of them with the Cubs. From 1998-2002, Sosa hit 292 homers. And he is the only player in major league history to have three seasons of at least 60 homers.
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Slowed by a sore back brought on by violent a sneezing attack, he batted just .253 and in 126 games finished with 35 homers and 80 RBIs in 2004. Boos began to pour down.
His quirks — a home run hop, blowing kisses in rapid succession after retuning to the dugout, tapping his heart and racing to right field like a sprinter before each game — grew old to some.
And it was no secret that his boom box that often sent out loud music throughout the clubhouse was not always popular with his teammates.
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.
After leading by 18 points in the first half, the Los Angeles Lakers were staring at a four-point deficit with less than two minutes to play.
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.
