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.
Eleven shots separated Phil and Tiger Sunday at Pebble Beach as Lefty secured his 40th Tour win. Jason Sobel had 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.
AFP/Getty Images
SHANGHAI, China - China's official sports association has issued an unprecedented public criticism of Yao Ming for reporting late to national team training.
The Houston Rockets' star was faulted for taking too much time off to recover from his last NBA season. The government's All-China Sports Federation also said he spent too much time planning his wedding and making appearances for the Special Olympics and 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
"No matter how lofty public welfare activities are, they can't be allowed to take first place in a player's life,'' the China Sports Daily, a federation-owned newspaper, said in an article appearing Tuesday.
"No matter how sweet personal life is, it can't be compared to the exultation of capturing glory for one's nation,'' the article said.
Chinese Web sites later said Yao reported for national teaming training on Wednesday.
The article quoted Li Yuanwei, the national basketball center director, as saying the team's Olympic preparations were built around their major star. Li said he hoped Yao would join the team later this month in the Stankovic Cup.
"Without Yao Ming, a warmup competition is far less valuable,'' the article said.
Throughout his three seasons in the NBA, Yao has largely escaped criticism from China's official media and the government by honoring his national team commitments.
Yet Tuesday's article carried echoes of the bitter accusations hurled at former Dallas Mavericks player Wang Zhizhi, the first Chinese player in the NBA who refused to return to play with the national team. Wang was labeled an immature ingrate and suffered a five-year estrangement from Chinese basketball that ended only last year after he made a humiliating apology.
China will face an All-Star team from the NBA Development League in the Stankovic Cup at home, where the host team will include recent draft pick Yi Jianlian.
The Milwaukee Bucks picked Yi with the No. 6 pick in the NBA draft, but he hasn't committed to playing for them because his agent hoped he would be drafted by a team in a market with a larger Chinese population.
Chinese fans and the former national coach have urged Yi to sign with the Bucks, but the owner of his former team in China, the Guangdong Tigers, recently suggested that the 7-foot power forward's NBA career could be over before it even begins.
"If the Bucks insist, Yi will go back'' to the Chinese league, Chen Haitao was quoted as saying in Tuesday's Chinese-language Beijing News.
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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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.
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.
After leading by 18 points in the first half, the Los Angeles Lakers were staring at a four-point deficit with less than two minutes to play.