Rotoworld: Oregon RB LaMichael James and Oklahoma State WR Justin Blackmon among top 10 players who are being overhyped for the 2012 draft.
SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?
The Detroit Red Wings equaled an NHL record with their 20th straight win at home, beating the Philadelphia Flyers 4-3 Sunday night on the strength of Johan Franzen's tiebreaking goal early in the third period.
PBT: Boston's Rajon Rondo continues to be named in trade talks, which is madness. The Celtics guard creates offense and makes everyone around him better, which was evident in Sunday's win over the Bulls.
Arc: Syracuse is among a solid group of No. 1 seeds in our latest tournament projections, but the middle of the pack is much more murky.
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.
Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods greeted their Sunday pairing at Pebble Beach with optimism. But the day would end happily only for one.
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.
APStarting depth becomes questionable
With the Yankees' rotation having the potential to resemble a MASH unit, the team figures it has some starting pitching insurance in Chien-Ming Wang, and Aaron Small.
Wang got his sinker working well enough to go 8-5 after a promotion from Triple-A early last season, but keep in mind an inflammation in his right shoulder sidelined him from July until September, and he went 0-2 in his final three starts.
Small, who has played for 12 organizations, was actually considering retirement at the All-Star break after being repeatedly passed over by the Yankees for a call-up from Columbus of the International League.
But he got a ticket to the Yankees on July 17, and then amazingly combined starting and relieving stints to produce a 10-0 record, becoming just the fourth pitcher to ever post 10 wins in a season without a loss.
Small, however, strained his right hamstring on March 14. It could be the last week in March before he throws off a mound again, and so it looks unlikely that he will start the season on the active roster -- a real blow to what the Yankees thought was decent depth when it came to starting pitchers.
Bats may not be able to do it all
The Yankees' chief strength is, of course, their prodigious offense -- one that added centerfielder Johnny Damon from the rival Red Sox in the offseason.
The Yankees will score plenty of runs, and there may be no understating the importance of that if their starting pitching goes to shambles, and their bullpen becomes unreliable except for Rivera.
This Yankees team is a somewhat younger one than last year's, but in my mind, it's not a dramatically better team in any sense. Manager Joe Torre's club is facing many more questions heading into this season than it was heading into 2005.
Last year it was not easy for the Yankees to win their division for the eighth season in a row, nor was it easy for them to make the playoffs for an eleventh straight year. It seems just getting to the postseason took all they had, and then their losing in five games in the ALDS to the Angels did not -- as anyone would expect -- sit well with their owner George Steinbrenner.
The Boss has predicted the Yankees will a World Series championship this season. Either he has one heck of a crystal ball or someone is keeping the medical reports on his starting pitchers away from him.
SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?
HBT: Prince Fielder is gone and Ryan Braun will likely miss a third of the season because of a failed PED test. Can Milwaukee stay in contention until he gets back?
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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.
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.
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.