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.
AP
KIRKLAND, Wash. - Seattle Seahawks running back Shaun Alexander has a broken left wrist, but will continue to play with a protective cast.
Coach Mike Holmgren said Monday further pictures on what was thought to be a sprain revealed a small crack. The coach added that Alexander’s wrist will heal in a few weeks if immobilized whether he plays or not. So Alexander will start on Sunday at San Francisco (2-1).
“What they found was — now let me just say, everyone calm down here — they found a small crack in his wrist, OK?” Holmgren said, knowing any news of Alexander with a cracked bone may become big since the 2005 league MVP missed six games last season with a broken foot. “They don’t think it’s anything any more serious than it was. It’s small.
“He will wear the cast for a while. He’s not going to take the cast off. We do not have to have a ’Cast Watch,’ you know. He will wear the cast and will wear it for a while.”
Alexander first hurt the wrist in a victory over Tampa Bay on Sept. 9. He’s worn a cast during practices and in two games since. Trainers have been sawing off the cast each day, and then Alexander has been using a bone stimulation machine at home.
“It takes, I don’t know, a few weeks for this thing to knit,” Holmgren said of the cracked bone.
Alexander left Sunday’s victory over Cincinnati while holding his wrist after linebacker Lemar Marshall tackled him at the end of a 5-yard run late in the first half.
“That tweaked it just a little bit,” Holmgren said. “He got it banged, so they took more pictures.”
Alexander initially was wearing a smaller, less cumbersome cast Sunday than the one he wore in Week 2 at Arizona. But when he returned in the second half he was wearing a larger, more protective cast.
He finished with 100 yards rushing, 44 in the final quarter, including a 14-yard run on fourth-and-1 that set up the winning touchdown pass with 1 minute left for Seattle (2-1).
“I’m pretty beat up,” Alexander said after the game. “These last three weeks have probably been the most physical for me in a long time.”
Monday’s news immediately recalled the crack in Alexander’s foot that started as a severe bruise in Week 1 last season. He played three games before further tests found a fracture. He missed six games and finished with fewer than 1,000 yards rushing for the first time since he became Seattle’s feature back in 2001.
“Are you comparing it with his foot?” Holmgren said, firmly. “This is not the same deal. It is not the same thing. It is not going to prevent him from playing. He is just probably going to get more used to wearing the cast, is what it is.”
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When asked after Sunday’s game if it is getting easier to play with the cast after two games, Alexander said flatly, “No. You play with one hand, it’s just different.”
Alexander had run for 275 yards on 66 carries with two touchdowns through three games — an average of 4.2 yards that is just below his career average of 4.4 entering this season. But he looked hesitant at times while running Sunday and dropped two passes he tried to catch with his one healthy hand.
At halftime, he had nine carries, 22 yards and more boos than the league MVP from two seasons ago has heard at home, maybe ever.
“Yeah, I think they were reading my mind,” Alexander said.
“You all know how high I set my goals. No one will ever be more frustrated than I will be.”
Holmgren thinks the wrist and cast has changed Alexander’s game.
“Yeah, you watch him run, and you watch him fall. You know, it’s just he’s a little reluctant,” Holmgren said. “He’s aware of it being there.”
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.
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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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.
