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.
Eleven shots separated Phil and Tiger Sunday at Pebble Beach as Lefty secured his 40th Tour win. Jason Sobel had 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.
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Getty ImagesYou can hunker down in your bedroom and barricade the doors and windows, and yet some mishap could still befall you. You can refrain from getting on an airplane and get killed in a car accident. You can tell yourself that eating raw fish is risky, and then get E. coli from tainted spinach.
I have a friend who has been taking flying lessons. He craves adventure and loves being among the clouds. Who am I to tell him he’s nuts, even thought I wouldn’t get up in a small plane if you gave me five parachutes? He might enjoy 30 to 40 years of perfect flights. He might have an accident tomorrow. He doesn’t have a contract with a professional sports team, but his life is just as important as Cory Lidle’s, and if that’s what he wants to do then that’s probably what he should do.
I’m not an aviation expert, so I don’t know why Lidle’s plane crashed into that Manhattan building, and I’m not sure the aviation experts will ever know, either. It does appear that the second person in the plane was his flight instructor. Even the most experienced pilots or skydiving teachers are not immune to Mother Nature, the unexpected twists of technology, or human error.
It’s clear that after Thurman Munson died while piloting his plane in 1979, all the sports leagues did not come together and forbid employees from flying while they were under contract. Many athletes have since taken up the activity. The list of sports figures who have died in plane crashes is long.
What is often forgotten about the Munson accident is that two companions on that flight were injured but did not perish. It was not their time. It was Munson’s time, as sad as that is.
If you’re a representative of a sports team, you can draw up a contract that prohibits an athlete from activities that might bring about his time. But lots of contracts aren’t worth the paper they’re written on, especially those that contain unrealistic terms.
Cory Lidle flew his plane Wednesday because he wanted to fly, and no amount of contract language would have changed that. It’s a time for those who knew him to mourn, and for those who didn’t to refrain from second-guessing.
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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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Remembering Lidle's career A look back at the baseball career of Cory Lidle, who was killed in a small plane crash in New York City. |
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 Today show Pitcher's death shocks colleagues, fans Oct. 12: The death of New York Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle left both teammates and rivals shocked. "Today" show anchor Meredith Vieira takes a look back at his life. |
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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.
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.