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.
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.
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.
APThe National League is a bastion of mediocrity when compared to the American League. But as long as they still hold division races over there, we’re duty bound to examine them.
The Mets, Braves and Phillies are all vying for the NL East crown. Yet none of these teams seems World Series-worthy. After their showing in the postseason last year, expectations were high for the Mets. But they’ve been flat and inconsistent. On top of that, their best starter, John Maine, who has won 10 games this far, was passed over for the All-Star Game.
And neither the Braves nor the Phillies have shown the gumption to challenge the Mets’ measly 2.5-game lead on the division. If the Braves don’t get more out of Andruw Jones — the good news is the free agent-to-be has 54 RBI and 15 homers; the bad is that he’s hitting just .204 — they’ll likely fade in the Georgia humidity. Last year the Phillies went 45-30 in the second half, so maybe they’re counting on another such rally to contend in 2007.
Most likely, the Mets will win at the wire, then trip over it.
The relatively frugal Milwaukee Brewers hold a 4.5-game advantage in the NL Central over a team with a preposterously large payroll, the Chicago Cubs. Prince Fielder has 29 homers and trails Alex Rodriguez by one for the major league lead in that department.
Common sense would suggest that the Cubs’ high-priced talent should make the difference in the second half. Not so fast. The two clubs are fairly close in most statistical categories in the NL, including team ERA. The one major difference? Home runs. That score at the break is Milwaukee 124, Chicago 74. Thanks, Prince. And thanks to Prince and the Brewers, they’ll probably prevail for the division title over the corporate Cubs.
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The San Diego Padres, clinging to a 1.5-game lead, probably will hold off the Dodgers and Diamondbacks because of their outstanding pitching, led by Jake Peavy, Chris Young and Greg Maddux. The Dodgers seem like they should compete, but their top starters — Brad Penny and Derek Lowe — while having fine seasons thus far, likely will stumble through the second half. And the Diamondbacks have a shot, as long as they can discover the fountain of youth in the coming weeks. Randy Johnson, 43, is on the disabled list with back problems for the third time this season. Somebody get that man a heating pad.
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.
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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.
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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.
