Rotoworld: Oregon RB LaMichael James and Oklahoma State WR Justin Blackmon among top 10 players who are being overhyped for the 2012 draft.
SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?
The Detroit Red Wings equaled an NHL record with their 20th straight win at home, beating the Philadelphia Flyers 4-3 Sunday night on the strength of Johan Franzen's tiebreaking goal early in the third period.
PBT: Boston's Rajon Rondo continues to be named in trade talks, which is madness. The Celtics guard creates offense and makes everyone around him better, which was evident in Sunday's win over the Bulls.
Arc: Syracuse is among a solid group of No. 1 seeds in our latest tournament projections, but the middle of the pack is much more murky.
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.
Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods greeted their Sunday pairing at Pebble Beach with optimism. But the day would end happily only for one.
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.
APThe Yankees’ superstar third baseman has been A-Lightning Rod in past postseasons.
He’s 4-for-41 (.098) with no RBIs in his last 12 playoff games, and has not gotten a hit in his last 15 postseason at-bats with runners in scoring position. New York’s unforgiving media and those tough-to-please Yankees fans will again dissect every pitch thrown Rodriguez’s way.
His teammates have been doing all they can to ease the pressure on Rodriguez, who is a lock to win his third AL MVP award after hitting 54 homers with 156 RBIs. Those numbers won’t mean anything when he digs into the batter’s box on Thursday and the Jake rumbles with noise.
“It doesn’t fall on Alex’s shoulders,” Johnny Damon said. “We can’t rely on Alex to be the man. We have to go out there and do our jobs. It starts with me at the top and goes all the way down to (Doug) Mientkiewicz in the nine hole.
“It falls on this whole team. We win and lose as a team.”
And the Indians feel like they have the better one.
Although they came out on the short end of almost every statistical matchup against New York, Cleveland’s players are confident they won’t crumble against the Yankees. Their 31-13 record since Aug. 13 — the day after being swept by New York — was baseball’s best and they showed poise down the stretch as they ran away with the AL Central.
This won’t be the same as playing the Mariners or Royals in September, but Kenny Lofton remembers a Cleveland team that held its own despite a lack of playoff experience.
“Look at us in 1995,” said Lofton, who was traded back for a third stint with the Indians in July. “We didn’t have many guys with postseason experience and we got to the World Series.”
In the past few days, Lofton, who has played in 84 playoff games — four with the Yankees — has been briefing his teammates on what to expect.
“I’ve told them to remember that it’s just a game,” he said. “It’s a game and the game doesn’t change. The only thing that changes is the result. We’ve got to look at it as it’s another game and another team you’re trying to beat, and that’s it.”
SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?
HBT: Prince Fielder is gone and Ryan Braun will likely miss a third of the season because of a failed PED test. Can Milwaukee stay in contention until he gets back?
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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.
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.
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