Rotoworld: Oregon RB LaMichael James and Oklahoma State WR Justin Blackmon among top 10 players who are being overhyped for the 2012 draft.
SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?
The Detroit Red Wings equaled an NHL record with their 20th straight win at home, beating the Philadelphia Flyers 4-3 Sunday night on the strength of Johan Franzen's tiebreaking goal early in the third period.
PBT: Boston's Rajon Rondo continues to be named in trade talks, which is madness. The Celtics guard creates offense and makes everyone around him better, which was evident in Sunday's win over the Bulls.
Arc: Syracuse is among a solid group of No. 1 seeds in our latest tournament projections, but the middle of the pack is much more murky.
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.
Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods greeted their Sunday pairing at Pebble Beach with optimism. But the day would end happily only for one.
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 fileNBC Sports is considering hiring former figure skating star Michelle Kwan for its broadcast team covering the U.S. championships and Skate America, the Chicago Tribune reported Monday, citing unnamed sources.
NBC and the USFSA, the national governing body for skating, announced Monday that the network will broadcast the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in a deal that involves no rights fees. Instead, the USFSA will split the sale of ad time with NBC and will sell its own sponsorship packages.
Kwan, a five-time world and nine-time U.S. skating champion, would be a huge boost because of her appeal to younger audiences, the Tribune reported.
Kwan is studying at the University of Denver and hasn't officially retired from competition, but she hasn't competed since the 2005 world championships. She withdrew from the 2006 Olympics on the eve of competition, citing a groin injury.
Kwan, 26, won silver at the 1998 Olympics and the bronze in 2002.
Her agent, Shep Goldberg, declined comment, the Chicago Tribune reported. NBC spokesman Mike McCarley said the network hasn't "discussed talent yet," the Tribune reported.
Skating ratings have diminished in recent years, and ABC ended its 43-year partnership with the skating organization after the contract ran out this month. The USFSA was collecting $12 million a year in rights fees from ABC and ESPN, which shared programming on the national championships and Skate America.
Both of those events are part of the three-year contract with NBC, which will televise 10 hours of competition and plans to carry live all the finals at nationals. That includes the women's final in prime time.
Under the contract, all finals at nationals will be rescheduled to occur on the weekend. In the past, pairs and men's finals often have been on Thursday or Friday nights.
Skate America will be held Oct. 25-28 in Reading, Pa., and the national championships will be in January in St. Paul, Minn., with NBC airing finals on Saturday, Jan. 26, and Sunday, Jan. 27.
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The USFSA was left to scramble for a television partner and must make up for nearly two-thirds of its budget that came from the TV rights. But the tie-in with NBC makes sense because the network has the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, and figure skating is among the most-watched events in the Winter Games.
NBC also will have other media rights to the USFSA events.
"This new partnership with NBC is a perfect fit for U.S. Figure Skating,'' said U.S. Figure Skating president Ron Hershberger said. "Figure skating on NBC will be live, prime time, high definition and treated as premier programming.''
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.
NEW YORK (AP) - As the glow fades from the Giants' Super Bowl triumph, some New York sports fans are tuning in to basketball and hockey, with the Rangers in first place and the Knicks' overnight sensation, Jeremy Lin, sparking "Lin-sanity.''
Robins: This year, six new breeds will be making their debut on the green carpet for the Westminster Dog Show, which begins Monday.
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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.
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.
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.
