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.
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.
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.
APCHARLOTTE BOBCATS (19-33)
It’s a race to see which will be worse — the Bobcats’ winning percentage (.365), or rookie Adam Morrison’s shooting percentage (.377).
Charlotte, despite injuries in its frontcourt to Sean May and Othella Harrington, improved on a 7-21 start, although losing five out of seven going into the All-Star break might help put them back in No. 1 pick contention. Charlotte has enough good, young talent that Oden, in particular, could make a huge difference here, allowing Emeka Okafor to play power forward, and getting another pair of hands to rebound Morrison’s clangs.
Outlook for Oden or Durant: Charlotte would help itself by playing Morrison more, instead of keeping him out of the starting lineup in favor of Matt Carroll.
SEATTLE SONICS (20-32)
Seattle won three out of four going into the All-Star break, including one over the Steve Nash- and Boris Diaw-less Phoenix Suns. But it has shown its losing mettle with losing streaks of six, five and five. Plus, the Sonics could collapse under the strain of, where are we playing next year? Then again, maybe it’s not that much strain — they’ll be playing in Oklahoma City, home to the Sonics’ new owner. It’s not just that the Sonics’ latest arena proposal (on Feb. 13) got rejected. It’s also that Washington House Speaker Frank Chopp gave the Sonics the Dikembe Mutombo finger-wag: "I’m sorry, but the education of our kids is simply a much higher priority." (As an aside, that arena would have been on land owned by Boeing, which also abandoned Seattle when another city — Chicago, in this case — stole from its children to lavish tax money on a corporation.)
Outlook for Oden or Durant: Even making up the seven games Seattle is ahead, er, behind Memphis is a tough task. Especially if the team does some sort of last-chance, go-out-with-a-bang rally as seen in "Slap Shot" or "Major League."
ATLANTA HAWKS (21-31)
For the Hawks, a 21-31 record is cause for celebration. In its playoff-free 2000s, Atlanta only once (in 2003) has finished with a better winning percentage than its current .403. The Hawks opened the season hot (in Atlanta terms) at 8-9, and then dropped 14 of its next 16. Atlanta has rallied to go 11-8 since then, including winning three of four on a West Coast trip going into the All-Star break. One win was over the Nash-less Suns, who are really screwing up the bottom of the NBA pile. Atlanta should be bad enough to make the lottery, but decent enough to stay out of the very bottom. But given how awful the Hawks have been for so long, it seems like an insult not to include them here.
Outlook for Oden or Durant: Not so good. But even if the Hawks got one of the first two picks, you can’t always expect them to do the sure thing.
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.
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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.