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.
Unityball was born on a snowy night five years ago on a near-deserted concourse at Newark International Airport. Demoralized after a loss at Fairfield, Larranaga and his players waited for a promised flight — the only plane that was supposed to leave that night.
“We were miserable,” Larranaga said. “We were sitting around for an hour. I said to one of my assistants. ’We’ve got to do something. This is awful.”’
Larranaga had, on occasion, staged baseball games with his players during his days at Bowling Green, usually when the team needed a change of pace. He decided it was time to pull out the trick again.
“We played the most unbelievable game of baseball in the airport,” Larranaga said. “It totally changed the attitude and the atmosphere.”
The plane never did arrive. The team spent the night in a hotel and took a bus back to Fairfax the next day, not arriving until 9 p.m. There was no time to prepare for the game against East Carolina the next day.
“So we called a team meeting,” Larranaga said. “I said, ’We’re not even going to practice for East Carolina. Show up ready to go. Your guys’ practice was the baseball game.’
“We won the next night, 104-62. It’s absolutely unbelievable how attitude has so much to do with it.”
The Patriots won the conference title that season and nearly beat Maryland in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Larranaga kept the ball and dubbed it the “unityball.” Larranaga arrived at practice Tuesday with the unityball tucked safely in his right pocket.
“I don’t know anything about baseball, by the way,” he said. “I stunk at it as a kid.”
Larranaga pitched and batted even though he still looked exhausted from the incredible ride he and his team are enjoying. He was working on six hours of sleep, four more than he got the night before.
“I’m running a little bit on fumes right now, but I get rejuvenated as the week goes along,” he said. “And I get more and more excited thinking about where we’re going and what we’re doing. It’s a good exhaustion.”
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.
Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 15 points and Evan Smotrycz added 13, helping No. 22 Michigan remain unbeaten at home with a 70-61 win over Illinois on Sunday.
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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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