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.
AP
WIMBLEDON, England - About the only thing that made Maria Sharapova flinch during her Wimbledon quarterfinal was the streaker prancing around on court.
Sharapova lost three of the next four games — coincidence, perhaps? — before finishing off a 6-1, 6-4 victory over No. 7 Elena Dementieva on Tuesday to reach the semifinals at the All England Club for the third straight year.
“I heard the crowd go a little wild, and I looked back and saw the man jumping up and down. It took the crowd a point or two to settle down, but I’m pretty good at keeping my focus. I don’t let things like that bother me too much,” the 2004 Wimbledon champion said. “Hey, you guys wanted some entertainment during a women’s match — you got some.”
The fourth-seeded Sharapova faces No. 1 Amelie Mauresmo on Thursday, when No. 2 Kim Clijsters meets No. 3 Justine Henin-Hardenne in an all-Belgian semifinal.
It’s only the fifth time in the past 25 years that women seeded 1-4 all reached the Wimbledon semifinals, and this is certainly an impressive quartet: All have been ranked No. 1, and all have won at least one Grand Slam championship, including the past three (Clijsters at the U.S. Open, Mauresmo at the Australian and Henin-Hardenne at the French).
Sharapova is the only semifinalist who already owns a Wimbledon title, though, and the grit that carried her to that triumph was on full display on Centre Court.
Well, for most of the match, anyway.
She saved three of the four break points she faced, but did give away a service game by double-faulting twice to allow what was a 4-0 lead in the second set shrink to 4-2. And it was suddenly 4-3 when Dementieva held at love.
That blip followed the disrobed intruder’s interruption, which came just before the fourth game of the second set.
The man did a little jig, followed by a cartwheel, all about 30 feet from where Sharapova turned her back to the display. He eventually was corralled by two security guards brandishing a red blanket.
“It was real bizarre,” Sharapova said. “Even more bizarre that it took 10 seconds for security to come out. I didn’t really look at the guy, thank God.”
 |
Clive Brunskill / Getty Images Maria Sharapova, the winner in 2004, outplayed fellow Russian Elena Dementieva 6-1, 6-4 and is now in the semis at the All England Club for the third time and sixth time at a Grand Slam event. |
“I was afraid a little bit because, in the beginning, I didn’t understand what happened,” she said. “If the crowd likes it, that’s OK with me.”
Police detained, then released, the latest Centre Court streaker. In 1996, a woman dashed across the most hallowed lawn in tennis before the men’s final. In 2002, a man jumped out of the stands when there was a rain delay during the men’s final.
“It was quickly apparent that the individual posed no threat to the players or the public,” Wimbledon spokesman Johnny Perkins said, “and the incident was dealt with summarily and swiftly.”
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.
 | Slideshow |
 |
NBCSports.com |
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.
