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.
Circular Quay, Tampa Bay Derby winner Street Sense, Great Hunter and Blue Grass winner Dominican are set to run in the Derby off just two prep races. Tradition calls for at least three.
The last Derby winner with two preps as a 3-year-old was Sunny’s Halo in 1983; before that it was Jet Pilot in 1947.
For the first time, some of this year’s potential Derby trainers are working their horses on synthetic surfaces, even though the Run for the Roses is on traditional dirt.
Four of Pletcher’s five candidates, along with Doug O’Neill’s trio of Great Hunter, Liquidity and Cobalt Blue, will complete their pre-race workouts on Keeneland’s artificial surface made of wax-coated sand, synthetic fibers and recycled rubber.
Pletcher won’t head to Louisville until Tuesday, although he sent Sam P. ahead so the excitable colt could get used to the atmosphere.
“We’re still trying to adjust and learn more about it,” Pletcher said of the new surface.
If it’s rainy, and it often is during Derby week, horses don’t need to wait for synthetic surfaces to dry out as they do with dirt, allowing for extra training time.
Curlin and stablemate Zanjero turned in impressive workouts at Keeneland, and critics will be comparing those with their pre-Derby trips over Churchill’s dirt.
Carl Nafzger, who won the 1990 Derby with Unbridled and trains Street Sense at Churchill, believes it’s too early to know how the transition from synthetic to dirt will affect the Derby.
“I suppose if some horse is trained on it wins (the Derby), they’ll all say, ‘Oh, big deal,”’ he said. “But if I win it, they’ll say, ‘Well, see, they shouldn’t have trained on Polytrack, they should have been at Churchill.”’
The first of three pools of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager begins its three-day run on Friday and the bet's opening scenario is very similar to each of its opening pools since the wager was created in 1999.
It's first time that Classic will be broadcast in primetime on Nov. 3.
 | INTERACTIVE |
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 | Slideshow |
 | Derby celebs Plenty of stars from the entertainment and sports world attend the 136th Kentucky Derby. more photos |
| INTERACTIVE |
 | Triple Crown winners The horses that have won the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont in the same year. |
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.