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.
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.
ReutersSuch nuances of the game are essential, but often overlooked and taken for granted — which are perfect resume-builders for an unassuming gent like Duncan.
In fact, aside from last season’s bout with plantar fasciitis, the most inflammatory moment in the man’s career may have come in April, when referee Joey Crawford challenged Duncan to fight during a game in Dallas. Duncan was hit with a technical. Crawford saw him laughing on the bench and whistled him a second time.
Explained Duncan at the time: “He looked at me and said, ‘Do you want to fight? Do you want to fight?’ If he wants to fight, we can fight. I don’t have any problem with him, but we can do it if he wants to. I have no reason why in the middle of a game he would yell at me, ‘Do you want to fight?’”
Crawford was suspended for the rest of the regular season and playoffs, and indeed, the career of someone who has worked more games than any active referee may be over. Duncan was fined $25,000 for verbal abuse of an official; Crawford claimed Duncan called him an expletive.
Tim Duncan? Referee killer? I can think of about 50 other guys in the NBA who might be more likely to provoke a fight with a veteran ref than Duncan. It’s as if your accountant suddenly announced he wanted to become a lion tamer.
Duncan seemed uncomfortable with the attention, as most boring men would. Yet that doesn’t mean he’s inscrutable. You’ll know when he’s peeved. Like most world-class competitors, Duncan isn’t always pleased with the way games go, and he illustrates his dissatisfaction usually by clasping both hands on top of his head and offering an expression of sheer disbelief. In fact, he does that quite often.
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But he doesn’t do commercials in which he’s dressed up as different family members. He doesn’t roll with hip-hop stars. He doesn’t fire guns outside strip clubs.
All he does is play textbook basketball within a team concept in a small Texas city. It doesn’t get any more boring than that.
With Duncan, boring is the new exciting.
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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