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.
Getty Images It seems somewhat trite to suggest that sports can heal, because healing will come from a variety of sources far more substantive than sports, like family, friends, community, church groups, alumni, faculty, media, politicians and even total strangers. Sports are like the quarterbacks of life: They get too much credit when things go well and too much blame when they go sour.
Before Monday, it was probably no different at Virginia Tech. I’m sure there were administrators who bristled at the treatment and attention the football team received. I’m positive there were at least some underpaid professors who resented the money the coaches earn.
None of that matters now. Video of the campus with the crackling of gunshots in the background and interviews with survivors have underlined how imperative worrying about mundane sports-related developments really is.
Sports and real-life tragedies on a massive scale occasionally cross paths. The results are almost always positive. The most recent example, of course, was Hurricane Katrina. It turned the New Orleans Saints into America’s Team.
The insurance companies didn’t write checks at an accelerated rate to displaced residents in the Gulf simply because the Saints were having an outstanding season. The Saints couldn’t bring back the dead, or get FEMA to move faster.
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Gene J. Puskar / AP Monday's massacre at Virginia Tech was felt across the nation. On Tuesday, Pittsburgh Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury joins fans in observing a moment of silence for the victims before the team's playoff game agains the Ottawa Senators. |
In the aftermath of 9/11, the trauma was too widespread and too profound to think that anything could come along and help everyone return to their routine. But slowly, the nation did rally. It was a process, and sports acted as one vital component among many. Americans eventually put their feet up and began yelling at games on television again, and that helped to remind the world about our resiliency and about our determination to carry on.
Virginia Tech canceled Saturday’s spring football game, which is understandable. There are more important tasks at hand. Eventually, the horror will subside, and the campus will get back to normal.
It will be a new normal, though. Life will never be the same, but it will have to go on. And sometime in late July, Beamer will put his players through their first paces in preparation for the 2007 football season.
That Sept. 8 date at LSU is going to be a donnybrook. Homecoming is Sept. 29, when new head coach Butch Davis brings his North Carolina team to Blacksburg. The Florida State and Miami games are only a week apart in November, but both are at home.
It’s never too soon to get fired up about Virginia Tech football. The sooner, the better.
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.
CFT: Jordan Jefferson makes it clear he wasn't happy with LSU's game plan in the Tigers' BCS Championship Game loss to Alabama.
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 Memphis fulfills BCS dream Tigers officials thrilled to announce that school has been accepted to join the Big East Conference in 2013. |
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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.
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