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.
APBut about the middle of March or so, both players seemed to catch on. The result for Bryant was that now he had two reliable teammates he could pass the ball to with a reasonable assumption that they would know what to do with it. For much of the year, that was not the case.
Now that those two are on the same page with Bryant, it bodes well for 2006-07, both for Bryant personally and for the Lakers as a team.
This will be the Year of Kobe because he has always had the knock of being a me-first guy. That charge has its merits. Without rehashing his entire history, especially his feud with Shaquille O’Neal over which star would be The Man, suffice to say that he was young, somewhat immature and obsessed with the notion that the best chance for the Lakers to win is to get him the ball as much as possible. And the historic 81-point effort against the Toronto Raptors on Jan. 22 did little to dispel the suggestion that, if given the opportunity to take all the shots, he would not decline the offer.
Late last season, he seemed to come off that stance. As Odom and Brown became more comfortable and productive, Bryant seemed more willing to give up the rock. He also seemed happier. The Lakers were winning, he was still the star, yet he wasn’t getting the grief that he used to get.
There was a temporary recurrence of Kobe bashing after he disappeared in Game 7 of the opening-round playoff series with the Suns, but that was overblown. The Lakers weren’t going to win that game even if the entire Suns roster came down with E. coli.
This season should be a carry-over. In 2006-07, Bryant will have a team around him with which he feels secure. Again, they’re hardly the Showtime Lakers, and they’re about two or three years of lucky draft picks and key free-agent acquisitions away from true title contention.
But the Year of Kobe is here because the rest of the players around him finally understand what it takes. As a result, so does he.
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
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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.