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.
APBelgian has changed for the better
For Henin beating Venus was a significant victory since she hadn’t defeated the older Williams sister since their first-ever encounter at the German Open in 2001. From that point on the Belgian lost her next seven matches against the American, and was struggling to contend with Venus’ power game. But the most interesting thing is that at this U.S. Open these two were facing each other for the first time since the 2003 Australian Open semifinal (won by Venus in straight sets) so in a very real way their history wasn’t a factor.
Henin is a very different player since the last time she and Venus collided. She’s now the No. 1 player in the world, and she has won all six of her majors after that 2003 Melbourne defeat to Venus. Being a six-times-over champion at the majors gives Henin a great amount of confidence, a confidence she just didn't have before achieving such success.
And Henin has come up with a winning approach to playing the Williams sisters. She is so willing to attack, so aggressive in her play. And by consistently employing this style she manages to keep Venus and Serena on the defensive for the most part. Henin also keeps the sisters on the run, steering them in one direction and then in another along the baseline until she finds an opening to launch her brilliant backhand or a well-placed forehand. She has got their number.
Henin is unlike her top American rivals in that she lives and breathes tennis while Serena and Venus have so many outside interests that their focus is not always where it needs to be as far as their tennis career is concerned. In all the years I’ve watched Henin play she has been the consummate professional. When Henin walks on the court, she stands tall despite being one of the shorter players in the game. She’s always in shape and ready to play. She's always ready to summon all she can from her game in order to win another title.
None better than Henin in the clutch
The opportunity to win a seventh career Grand Slam title was there for both Venus and Henin in this the year's final major (Serena is the leader among active players in majors won with eight), but now that opportunity exists only for Henin. It's the easy and wise thing to do to predict that the Belgian will have little trouble beating Kuznetsova in straight sets in Saturday night’s final. So I predict just that.
It’s hard to say that in doing so I'm going out on a shaky limb since Henin holds a dominating 14-2 record over Kuznetsova. Although the Russian won their last encounter on clay at Berlin this spring, that victory occurred in a very different arena and on a very different surface than what we find at the U.S. Open. Kuznetsova is a streaky player, and while she is capable of getting hot during a match, it would be extremely surprising if she could keep up a high level of play during a big-time match. Her nerves can cost her. They have in the past, and they likely will again in the future.
Henin has too much firepower and experience for Kuznetsova to contend with, especially when the Belgian puts her game into high gear in such a huge match. Henin is an all-around better player than her Russian counterpart. The one thing that Henin needs to be careful of is not getting caught up and distracted by her achievement of beating Serena and Venus at the same major. That's quite a feat -- done only once before and that by Martina Hingis back in her prime.
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While nothing is certain, knowing Henin she's not likely to fall in the look-what-I-have-done trap. To her it was tremendously rewarding to dispatch the Williams sisters in back-to-back matches. But she won't allow herself to linger on thoughts of that success. She knows winning the title is what it's all about.
It's been an emotional, up-and-down year for Henin. A divorce kept her from playing the Australian Open. Reuniting with her family after a seven-year break helped fuel her to a fourth French Open title in the last five years. Now another U.S. Open title is within her grasp. It's one win away. She' been a one-woman wrecking crew these two weeks here, and who's to question that she's ready to take her demolition game at its full force against Kuznetsova and reduce to rubble the final challenger standing in the way of her winning this hard court major for a second time.
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.
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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.
