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.
ReutersSoriano’s career on-base percentage of .328 pales next to Ichiro. But given he hits 30-40 home runs per year, Soriano’s career slugging percentage — total bases divided by plate appearances — of .512 far outpaces Ichiro's .439. For the combined total of on-base percentage plus slugging, Soriano outdoes Ichiro, .840 to .818.
This season, Ichiro is on pace to set his career high in slugging, .459. But Soriano, Hart, Granderson and Rollins are all over .500. Sizemore is close to that mark. Roberts, at .448, and Reyes, at .439, are right behind Ichiro, whose slugging percentage is up because his batting average is strong (.359) and his doubles pace puts him at around 25, which is good for him.
Ichiro's on-base plus slugging percentage this season, .869, is spectacular for him, but still puts him behind Granderson and Soriano (both at .884) and Hart (.876) and not too far above Sizemore (.860), Roberts (.848), Rollins (.847) and Reyes (.826).
Roberts is the oldest of that group, at 29. So presumably, these are all players whose total numbers could well outstrip Ichiro's.
If that makes Ichiro an $18 million-a-year player, then a whole lot of other players will be waiting for a similar, or better, payday. And that’s just among leadoff hitters.
No wonder Florida Marlins president David Samson told WAXY-AM radio in Miami that “[i]f Ichiro's worth 20 million a year, I am speechless by that contract ... . Because there's no chance that a top of the lineup, forget that, there's no chance anybody's worth that. And Ichiro who's led his team to zero? ...”
“Well, sign Ichiro to a 20 million a year for five years it's a joke, it's inexcusable, it's complete mismanagement. It can't be true.”
Oh, it is true. Strange, but true.
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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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.
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