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.
PBT: Jeremy Lin wasn't his hot self on Saturday, but he still led the Knicks to victory.
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.
AFP/Getty ImagesBut on those rare occasions when I attempt to express my conflicted thoughts, it goes something like this:
Racing is a sport that is played out on a Shakespearean scale: It has triumphs that take you higher than any other sport I’ve ever experienced, and tragedies that can just as quickly drop you into a deep reservoir of sorrow.
In addition to the obvious highs and lows, it is a wonderfully complex sport filled with twisting, turning plots that aren’t always obvious to outsiders.
Though many pure fans are happy to spend a day at the racetrack without ever making a wager, for me the gambling aspect is an important part of the ride. It makes me a participant in the continually shifting drama being played out in nine, 10, 11 or 12 acts on any given day.
I don’t go to the track hoping I’ll be able to witness a horrific accident — an accusation that horse racing fans ironically level at their motor sports counterparts — but I’ve been forced to accept that the possibility is always there.
One of the reasons I’ve been able to come to terms with that is that racehorses love to run. You can see the evidence clearly every day at the racetrack or by visiting a thoroughbred farm and watching them gamboling in their pastures.
Unfortunately, their pattern of evolution — helped along by human breeders — has turned them into fast but very fragile animals capable of hurting themselves in the blink of an eye. It happens every day, both at the track and on the farm, sometimes with tragic results.
The only way to keep these amazing athletes completely safe would be to immobilize them in a heavily padded room, which to my mind would be a far crueler fate than the one that might await them at the racetrack.
That said, I believe fans and participants in the sport have a responsibility to help take care of the athletes that, as trainer Ron McAnally said after Go for Wand’s horrible Breeders’ Cup breakdown, “give their lives for our entertainment.”
There are a number of charitable organizations that help find new lives for thoroughbreds after their racing days are over, and are always in need of financial support. The Blood-Horse magazine has an excellent online search tool that allows would-be contributors to find organizations near them at http://retirement.bloodhorse.com/.
I’m going to make a contribution to my local organization in Barbaro’s name, and I urge all other passionate racing fans to join me.
It’s the very least we can do.
The first of three pools of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager begins its three-day run on Friday and the bet's opening scenario is very similar to each of its opening pools since the wager was created in 1999.
It's first time that Classic will be broadcast in primetime on Nov. 3.
 | NBC VIDEO |
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Update on the condition of Barbaro May 24: NBC's Melissa Stark reports on the condition of Kentucky Derby winner, Barbaro, and shows the first video of the racehorse since his devastating injury at the Preakness. |
 | INTERACTIVE |
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 | Slideshow |
 | Derby celebs Plenty of stars from the entertainment and sports world attend the 136th Kentucky Derby. more photos |
| INTERACTIVE |
 | Triple Crown winners The horses that have won the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont in the same year. |
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.
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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.