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.
AP file
CANASTOTA, N.Y. - It is 342 square feet of the most historic real estate in boxing, a place where some of the sport’s greatest champions have stood — and where some were laid flat on their backs.
After 82 years, Madison Square Garden will retire its storied boxing ring and donate it to the International Boxing Hall of Fame, where it will go on display this fall.
“The fans. The atmosphere. The Garden was special ... I think some of my most exciting fights were in that ring, and I always got the job done there,” said Joe Frazier, who had a 9-1 record in “The Mecca of Boxing,” including a 15-round decision over Muhammad Ali on March 8, 1971 in what became known as “The Fight of the Century.”
The Frazier-Ali bout was one of more than two dozen heavyweight championships fought in Madison Square Garden over its long history, along with hundreds of other title fights and thousands of non-title matches.
On Wednesday, MSG officials will stage a special “retirement party” for the ring. Frazier and nearly two dozen other Hall of Famers, past and present champions, and boxing dignitaries will attend.
“This was obviously not an easy decision for us, but we felt the time was right,” said Joel Fisher, senior vice president of MSG Sports Properties. “The ring is 82 years old and it was starting to show its age. In addition, today’s fighters are looking for bigger rings.”
Inside the ropes, the old ring is 18 feet, 6 inches on each side. A new 20-by-20-foot ring will be used on Oct. 6 when Oleg Maskaev defends his WBC heavyweight title against Samuel Peter.
The historic ring made its debut on Dec. 1, 1925, a month after the “old” Madison Square Garden opened in its third incarnation. In that first fight, Paul Berlenbach retained his light heavyweight crown with a 15-round decision over Jack Delaney.
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The ring’s metal and iron framework — which weighs more than a ton and comes in 132 interlocking pieces — is original, including its brass corner posts and buckles, Fisher said. Over the decades, the ropes, the padding and the canvas have been repaired and replaced.
One accessory that isn’t going into retirement is the old ring’s solid brass bell, which will be used for the new ring, said MSG spokesman Larry Torres.
Interestingly, MSG officials aren’t sure if the bell is an original artifact, he said. One story goes that the bell was taken off a sunken ship in the 1940s, Torres said.
Over the years, the MSG ring was the scene of triumph and anguish, of the expected and the unexpected.
It was there, in October 1951, that Rocky Marciano sent an aging Joe Louis through the ropes in the eighth round, a closing chapter in Louis’ fabled career.
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.
NEW YORK (AP) - As the glow fades from the Giants' Super Bowl triumph, some New York sports fans are tuning in to basketball and hockey, with the Rangers in first place and the Knicks' overnight sensation, Jeremy Lin, sparking "Lin-sanity.''
Robins: This year, six new breeds will be making their debut on the green carpet for the Westminster Dog Show, which begins Monday.
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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.
