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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.
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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.
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Reuters
The public rehabilitation of Kobe Bryant is now complete, at least in the eyes of NBA fans. That became official Wednesday with news that Bryant’s jersey has regained its spot as the No. 1 seller in league stores.
No real surprise there. Look no further than Baltimore linebacker Ray Lewis as a prime example of how quick fans are to forgive and forget.
The only surprise with Bryant is how quickly they’ve forgiven and forgotten.
It wasn’t all that long ago that Bryant was scorned as an admitted philanderer at best, a suspected rapist at worst. Bryant had used his celebrity to take advantage of a teenage girl, and faced the very real possibility of spending long years in a Colorado prison.
Women’s groups protested against him, and to keep his wife happy amid all the turmoil he had to buy her a $4 million ring.
On the court, things weren’t much better. Bryant sent one very large teammate packing, and his desire to always have the ball created such friction on the Los Angeles Lakers that Phil Jackson called him uncoachable.
To top it off, companies that once embraced the young superstar suddenly wanted nothing to do with him. Among them was McDonald’s, which quickly figured out that a player charged with sexual assault wasn’t the best endorser for a family-friendly, fast-food chain.
Bryant still isn’t pushing hamburgers. And he may never get the mainstream endorsements that once were his for the taking. But a lot has happened in 28 short months — by design or not — to turn Bryant into a far more sympathetic and marketable figure than anyone who ever watched him enter an Eagle, Colo., courtroom could ever imagine.
He has stayed out of trouble since the charges against him were dropped at the last minute, and agreed to pay his accuser an undisclosed amount to settle a civil suit.
While other NBA players have engaged in brawls, were shot, and have been arrested by the handful since then, Bryant has stayed above the fray. David Stern didn’t have him in mind when he issued a league dress edict and, if not for the charges in Colorado, he likely could have been promoted as the NBA’s model employee.
Bryant has changed his game, too. While he did score 81 points one night last year, he has seemingly dedicated himself lately to becoming something other than a selfish player who wants the ball all the time and will take a shot from anywhere.
In a game last week against Denver, Bryant actually had more assists (10) than points (eight). It was the first time since April 2004 that he scored less than 10 points in a game, and Bryant spoke afterward about how he simply wanted to make those playing with him better.
“It’s about being a big brother, giving them encouragement, but also getting on top of them at times,” Bryant said.
Shaq probably gagged when he heard those words, but the truth is Bryant is comfortable now in his role as team leader. It shows on the court, where the Lakers were 23-12 and in second place in their conference going into Wednesday night’s game with Houston.
He’s comfortable in his new jersey as well. Bryant changed from his No. 8 to No. 24 this year, and the switch surely had a lot to do with his moving up from fourth to first in jersey sales at the NBA Store in New York City and in the league’s online market.
Bryant passed the Miami Heat’s Dwayne Wade in jersey sales in NBA stores, but Neil Schwartz, who tracks sporting good sales for SportsOneSource, said Bryant’s shirt is still anywhere from third to fifth in popularity nationwide.
Oddly enough, Schwartz said Bryant’s jersey sales were hurt more by his feud with Shaq and the breakup of the championship Lakers than the scandal. NBA fans can put up with a lot, but they apparently draw the line at being a bad teammate.
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Indeed, the argument could be made that everything Bryant has done since escaping trial has been coldly calculated to improve both his popularity and his image. That includes a Nike commercial, which ran last year, and Bryant’s picture on the cover of the most recent NBA 07 Playstation game. He’s a spokesman for that, too.
Image rehabilitation can be a tricky thing, but so far Bryant has done everything right.
He seems to have changed the way a lot of people look at him almost as easily as he changed his jersey.
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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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.
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.
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