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.
AP file
LOS ANGELES - Roger Clemens calls the report “dangerous and malicious and reckless.” Andy Pettitte insists he never took banned drugs. Miguel Tejada says he is being smeared again by scandal.
Some of baseball’s biggest stars responded with denials and denunciations Sunday following a Los Angeles Times report in which former pitcher Jason Grimsley accused five players of using performance-enhancing drugs, according to a federal agent’s affidavit. The other players cited were Baltimore teammates Brian Roberts and Jay Gibbons.
Grimsley once played with Clemens and Pettitte on the New York Yankees and is out of baseball. The reliever has admitted using a variety of banned substances and was suspended for 50 games by Major League Baseball.
Clemens and Pettitte, now teammates on the Houston Astros, denied the allegations Sunday.
“I just think it’s incredibly dangerous to sit out there and just throw names out there,” Clemens said Sunday before the Astros played in Atlanta on the final day of the regular season. “I haven’t seen (the report), nor do I need to see it.”
“For the people involved it is very dangerous and malicious and reckless on the part of somebody ... to put something out there with somebody else’s writing on it,” he added.
Clemens said he has been tested “plenty of times” and passed every test.
Pettitte was “stunned” by the report.
“I played with Grimsley for a couple of years in New York and had a great relationship with him,” the pitcher said before the Astros’ game.
“I’ve never used any drugs to enhance my performance in baseball. I don’t know what else to say except to say it’s embarrassing my name would be out there.”
In June, federal agents searched Grimsley’s home in Arizona after the pitcher admitted using human growth hormone, steroids and amphetamines. Grimsley later was released by the Arizona Diamondbacks.
In a search warrant affidavit signed by IRS Special Agent Jeff Novitzky, the Times reported, he said Grimsley identified other players who had used drugs. Those names were blacked out when the document was released.
“As for Jason Grimsley’s affidavit, we have no information regarding how it was obtained or its accuracy,” MLB spokesman Richard Levin said Sunday.
All major league players are tested at least twice a year for banned drugs. There is no test for HGH, but it is banned by the sport. Former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell was hired by MLB to investigate steroids in baseball.
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The Times said an unidentified source with access to the document — minus the cross-outs — allowed the newspaper see it but kept the copy. The Times said a second source who had identified the other players provided additional details about the document.
According to the affidavit, the Times said, Grimsley told investigators Clemens and Pettitte “used athletic performance-enhancing drugs.”
Houston teammate Lance Berkman said he would be startled to find either of the two pitchers involved, calling the matter “irresponsible” and “unfortunate.”
“You just have to be very, very careful when you make accusations like that,” he said. “You better be right about it.”
The affidavit also alleged Grimsley told federal agents that Roberts, Gibbons and Tejada, all with the Orioles, “took anabolic steroids.”
“What can I do? I spent one morning last year with Grimsley,” Tejada said Sunday from Boston. “I mean, I already got thrown under the bus with Palmeiro. No, I don’t worry about that.”
Rafael Palmeiro was suspended last season for using steroids and suggested the positive test may have been the result of a vitamin B-12 shot Tejada gave him. Tejada insisted he did nothing wrong.
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.
