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.
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Defensive Byrd Oct. 21: Indians pitcher Paul Byrd says he has never taken a hormone not prescribed by a doctor. |
Also accused of buying HGH: Los Angeles Angels outfielder Gary Matthews, St. Louis outfielder Rick Ankiel and Texas Rangers infielder Jerry Hairston Jr.
Players can apply for a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) to take drugs for various medical conditions, but none has ever been granted for HGH. That includes Byrd, Courtney said.
Byrd won Game 4 of the ALCS at Jacobs Field on Tuesday. In the first round of the playoffs, he earned the victory in Cleveland’s Game 4 series-clinching win over the New York Yankees.
According to the Chronicle, which reviewed the clinic’s business records, Byrd used his credit card and spent $24,850 on more than 1,000 vials of HGH, an injectable prescription drug with muscle-building properties. He also bought hundreds of syringes.
The Chronicle said it reviewed records of shipping orders and payment information on Byrd such as his Social Security number. The records were provided to the paper by an unidentified source.
Based on the paper’s review, Byrd had some shipments sent to his home in Alpharetta, Ga., $1,050 worth of syringes and HGH to the Braves’ spring training facility in Kissimmee, Fla., and a $2,000 order to the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York, when the Braves were in town to play the Mets.
Byrd didn’t deny using his credit card to buy the drugs or having them shipped to him.
The Palm Beach Rejuvenation Center, the clinic where Byrd made the alleged purchases, is part of a network of anti-aging clinics and online pharmacies targeted by the Albany, N.Y., district attorney for alleged illegal sales of steroids and growth hormone.
“If that pharmacy did something wrong,” Byrd said, “I did not know about it. I never received anything in a shipment that wasn’t prescribed to me.”
The Chronicle said one of the prescriptions Byrd used to buy growth hormone was written by a Florida dentist, whose license was suspended in 2003 for fraud and incompetence. Byrd was slowed by an elbow injury in 2003, when records show he made six purchases of HGH.
Byrd went 15-8 with a 4.59 ERA this season, his second with the Indians. They signed him to a two-year, $14 million contract in December 2005, and Cleveland holds a club option for 2008.
Byrd, who has a 97-61 career record, relies on location and off-speed pitches to get outs. Following Game 4, Byrd, who is listed at 6-foot-1 and 190 pounds, joked about finding some extra speed on his fastball.
“I hit 90 mph,” he said, “which happens a few times a year.”
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.
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.