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?
LIVE VIDEO: NBCSports.com shows Washington-New York, with alternate camera angles, HD views and more.
PBT: Jeremy Lin wasn't his hot self on Saturday, but he still led the Knicks to victory.
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.
CFT: Jordan Jefferson makes it clear he wasn't happy with LSU's game plan in the Tigers' BCS Championship Game loss to Alabama.
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.
BIRMINGHAM, England (AP) -England defender Joleon Lescott preserved Manchester City's two-point lead in the Premier League by scoring a second-half winner in a 1-0 victory at Aston Villa on Sunday.
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.
“Maybe I’m naive, but I thought it was a bush league play,” he said.
Vizquel, San Francisco’s 11-time Gold Glove shortstop, agreed with Gibbons. Vizquel said he once tried to trick an opponent on a grounder, and the umpire told him he couldn’t do that.
“You can’t scream at him. Even if he does, you have to realize who’s talking to you,” Vizquel said.
Nothing in the Official Baseball Rules governs what players can say, although the possibility of future retaliation usually sets limits. The Yankees don’t face the Blue Jays again until July 16 in New York.
“In a lot of cases, it’s an unwritten rule that players respect each other and do what’s best for the game,” umpire supervisor Rich Garcia said.
Deception always has been a part of baseball. It even cost Atlanta a World Series title in 1991, when Lonnie Smith was faked out by Minnesota second baseman Chuck Knoblauch and shortstop Greg Gagne, and failed to score what would have been the go-ahead run on Terry Pendleton’s eighth-inning double. The Twins went on to win in extra innings, then took Game 7.
“That probably goes into a different category because players feel that it’s up to them to discern, whereas if you’re looking up at a popup, you can’t discern whose voice is whose,” said broadcaster Bob Costas, who wasn’t sure whether A-Rod’s mouth move was allowed. “There are certain things that apparently are OK and then there are some other things that by some self-defined code are not.”
In Game 6 of the 2004 AL championship series, A-Rod was cited for an on-field move that umpires said was against the rules. He slapped the ball from Boston pitcher Bronson Arroyo’s glove and was called out for interference. Boston’s Kevin Millar called it “unprofessional.”
This one was less clear.
“Sometimes it happens in the heat of the moment,” New York Mets third baseman David Wright said. “It’s not like pimpin’ a home run. You don’t stand there and watch them. Obviously, Alex Rodriguez has been around the game a long time. That play, it’s not as firm as the other unwritten rules.”
Even families were divided.
“I think it was bush league,” Frank Rafferty said in the upper deck at Shea Stadium. “He was trying to win the game, but he’d be screaming if someone did that to him.”
His 11-year-old son, Nick, brought his glove and wore a Mets hat.
“I thought it was pretty fun,” he said. “I never really thought about doing it myself.”
SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?
DeMarco: Plug in a well-heeled ownership group and negotiate one of those mega-bucks TV deals that are going around, and the Dodgers could become the west coast version of the New York Yankees or Boston Red Sox.
HardballTalk headlines |
 | Interactive |
 |
 | Slideshow |
 | Unbreakable records in baseball A look at the most unbreakable records in baseball including Nolan Ryan's seven no-hitters. |
| Slideshow |
 | The top tools of baseball You hear a lot about the tools of baseball, but who are the best hitters, fielders and pitchers? We break it down. more photos |
 | Slideshow |
 |
The Week in Sports Pictures The Giants on top of the football world, getting ready for the London Olympics and more. more photos |
Jeremy Lin hit a free throw with 4.9 seconds left to overcome a dreadful second half and lift the New York Knicks to their fifth straight victory, 100-98, over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday night.
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.
NBC Sports TV and livestream listings