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 three goals as the New York Rangers beat Philadelphia 5-2 on Saturday for their seventh straight win over the Flyers.
Jeremy Lin hit a free throw with 4.9 seconds left to overcome a dreadful second half and lift the New York Knicks to their fifth straight victory, 100-98, over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday night.
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.
CFT: Jordan Jefferson makes it clear he wasn't happy with LSU's game plan in the Tigers' BCS Championship Game loss to Alabama.
Move over, Hollywood and NFL types, golf's two real A-listers take center stage Sunday at Pebble Beach, both in need of a win.
The United States swept favored Switzerland out of the Davis Cup on Saturday when Mardy Fish and Mike Bryan beat Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3.
Luis Suarez's refusal to shake hands with Patrice Evra overshadowed Manchester United's 2-1 win over rival Liverpool that lifted the defending champions to first place in the Premier League on Saturday.
Marlies Schild of Austria won her sixth World Cup slalom of the season Saturday after overall leader Lindsey Vonn and defending champion Maria Hoefl-Riesch crashed out in the opening run on the windy Pyrenees course.
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
SAN DIEGO - Antonio Gates got a knock on his door at 3:30 a.m. Monday, saw the orange glow in the sky, quickly dressed and got out.
He has no idea who brought the warning to his upscale suburb. The power was out and he didn’t get a good look.
Similar scenes were played out thousands of times as wildfires obliterated swaths of San Diego County. The Chargers were lucky — of the estimated 46 players, coaches and other personnel who evacuated, none lost their homes.
Not quite a week later, Gates and the San Diego Chargers helped bring a sense of normalcy to a region that’s been ravaged by deadly wildfires.
Urged on by a cheer of “Go, Chargers, go!” from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Chargers routed the Houston Texans 35-10 on Sunday. Philip Rivers threw three touchdown passes — two to Gates — and cornerback Antonio Cromartie had a monster game. Cromartie recovered a fumble for a touchdown and had two interceptions, one of which he returned 70 yards for another TD.
“It was kind of like a win for the San Diego Chargers, but at the same time it was a win for San Diego itself,” said Gates, the All-Pro tight end. “Football was secondary compared to the things that were going on in San Diego. We were just glad we could come up with a win to uplift this city.”
Two days after the last evacuees left Qualcomm Stadium, the tailgaters and the NFL were back.
When the wind-whipped fires first started sweeping San Diego County a week earlier, no one thought this game could be played here. Not with more than 10,000 evacuees taking shelter at the big concrete stadium and the air fouled by smoke.
The team left the smoky air behind and spent three days practicing in Arizona.
Qualcomm wasn’t intended to be a long-term shelter, so Mayor Jerry Sanders on Thursday gave the all-clear for the game. By the next day, the NFL agreed.
Before Kris Brown’s opening kickoff sailed through the smoky air, two dozen firefighters, police and National Guard members were introduced on the field and received a standing ovation.
Four San Diego firefighters, including one carrying an American flag, led the Chargers onto the field for pregame introductions. Linebacker Shawne Merriman, the last of the starting 11 to be introduced, held up a red fireman’s helmet with his left hand, then set it on the ground.
Merriman said he got the helmet from San Diego’s fire chief while riding around with firefighters after the team returned from Arizona.
“We were thanking them for life itself and thanking them for saving houses,” Gates said. “You could just feel the energy in the stadium today. You felt the energy for the ones who lost houses, you felt the energy for the ones who had to evacuate.”
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“He kind of got everybody riled up,” Merriman said. “He needs to work on his coin flip. He just threw it straight up in the air and it came back down funny. We won, so he must have done something right and it provided some luck to us.”
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San Diego (4-3) won its third straight game and popped above .500 for the first time since opening day.
Houston (3-5) mostly looked awful in losing its third straight. Quarterback Matt Schaub knocked out of the game when he was hit after throwing his second interception.
“It’s about as bad as it could be,” coach Gary Kubiak said. “We looked like a very tired, slow football team out there. Mentally tired or something because the mistakes we’re making each week are unacceptable.”
Houston committed five turnovers.
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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More on California wildfires |
Jeremy Lin hit a free throw with 4.9 seconds left to overcome a dreadful second half and lift the New York Knicks to their fifth straight victory, 100-98, over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday night.
Doron Lamb hit a 3-pointer with 3:18 left to put No. 1 Kentucky ahead to stay, and the Wildcats took a big step toward a Southeastern Conference regular-season title by beating Vanderbilt 69-63 Saturday night for their 17th straight win.
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.
