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.
Reuters fileIn sports, Kobe Bryant has been king. But he’s a paper tiger, for a few reasons. First and foremost, he wants out of L.A. He currently resides in the only area where an ego as large as his can be accommodated without major structural modifications, and yet he wants to be elsewhere.
Also, Kobe’s star is on the wane. He did himself no favors in recent weeks with his blistering attack on his employers, which angered a good chunk of his fan base. And frankly, although he’s been a spectacular player in an individual sense, he’s been a failure as a teammate and a leader. The only three championship rings he possesses came about with the help of Shaquille O’Neal, Phil Jackson and role players like Robert Horry, Derek Fisher and Rick Fox.
Much of Bryant’s luster comes from his self-professed status as a winner. But that image is wearing as thin as Nicole Richie.
Beckham doesn’t have to worry about being a winner. Few in the U.S. really follow soccer, and particularly the MLS, closely enough to lose sleep over win-loss records. All he has to do is look good, smile and not demand a trade.
Beckham also is, by most accounts, a decent guy. There may not be an individual on the planet whose professional and personal lives have been pried into more enthusiastically, and yet he seems to handle it all with a level head and good humor. That will give him extra points on the Celeb-O-Meter.
As for some of the other sports stars … Guerrero either can’t, or won’t, speak English, so he is mostly ignored by the press. Brand is underrated and underappreciated. But he’s a humble man who toils for the Clippers — a bad combination. Carroll is the most successful coach in college football over the past five years, but he’s hardly a pinup/nightclub type, and the closest he gets to Hollywood is when Will Ferrell visits the locker room after games.
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No, Beckham’s real competition lies outside of sports. Actors, musicians, directors, chefs, designers, politicians, sportswriters (don’t laugh, we get the best tables in restaurants; all we have to do is wait two hours) and the like are all that stand in the way of Beckham’s ascent to the pinnacle of celebrityhood.
It should be an easy climb.
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.
Alex Morgan's 2 goals, including the winner in stoppage time, lift the U.S. past New Zealand 2-1.
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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.
