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.
Getty ImagesCoolbaugh was good with his hands, and built a changing table and crib for one of his sons. He also was taking college courses on nights and weekends to earn a business degree.
Mikaela Adams Rios, who graduated with Coolbaugh in 1990 from Roosevelt High School in San Antonio, said she was grateful to have seen the star high school athlete at a luau get-together with a few other classmates in late June.
“You could tell he cared about everyone,” said Rios, who had known Coolbaugh since kindergarten. “He gave hugs to everybody and wanted to talk about what they’d been doing. He was really kid-oriented. I was very impressed with how confident and secure he was as a father and husband and how much he loved his family. You could tell.”
The native of Binghamton, N.Y., was homecoming king, a star quarterback and played baseball and basketball, Rios said.
“Everybody in high school liked him,” she said. “He was a little more reserved in high school. Very focused on sports. He was a really nice popular guy.”
Mark Worley, who hosted the June luau, said they talked briefly about his baseball career, “but it was definitely, ’Let’s get the families together.”’
Coolbaugh was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 16th round in 1990.
He played third base and bounced around the minors for a decade before reaching the major leagues for the first time in 2001 with the Brewers. He played 39 big league games that season and five for the Cardinals in 2002. He hit two home runs in 82 major league at-bats.
Coolbaugh’s older brother, Scott, also played 167 major league games over parts of four seasons with Texas, San Diego and St. Louis in the early 1990s.
“Mike came from a baseball family, and he was a part of the baseball family,” commissioner Bud Selig said. “On behalf of all of Major League Baseball, I extend my deepest sympathy to his wife Mandy, their children and all of their family and friends.”
The Drillers said Monday they had established a memorial fund for Coolbaugh’s family. Coolbaugh also played for the team briefly in 1996. The family said a friend also had set up a memorial fund in San Antonio.
“The Coolbaughs have been a big part of our organization, with both Mike and his brother Scott playing for us. I know that Mike was very excited to become a coach and to begin this new chapter in his baseball career,” Drillers president Chuck Lamson said in a statement. “Even in his short stint with us this year, he had provided a very positive influence on our club.”
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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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.
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