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.
AP
NEW YORK - Stephon Marbury grinned as he made his way down the hall to the New York Knicks’ locker room, back in the fold but out some $182,000 because of a fine.
After skipping the game in Phoenix the previous night, Marbury flew from New York to Los Angeles to join the Knicks for their Wednesday night game against the Clippers.
“We had a conversation, and any conversations that we have within our team, we’ll try to keep those as private and in-house matters,” New York coach Isiah Thomas said.
Marbury didn’t start in the Knicks’ 84-81 loss to Los Angeles, but he entered the game late in the first quarter and finished with 13 points. He missed a couple of shots in the closing minutes, but his layup pulled New York within 82-81 with 7 seconds left.
Asked before the game if he’s satisfied everything is smoothed over, Thomas didn’t answer directly but said: “I’m satisfied that I believe he’s capable of leading this team and he’s capable of playing great defense. When I see those two things, I think our team can take another step in this league.
“Unfortunately, lessons in life have to be learned on a public stage. He’s a kid that made it out of Coney Island, and I think what I’m asking him to do, he’s capable of doing. As I said to him before, if he can’t do it, we’ll have to find someone who can.”
Marbury, surrounded by reporters in front of his locker, said, “This is not my battle to fight. I’m here to play basketball, and I’m just going to concentrate on that.
“I’m going to leave it internal, like Isiah said, and I will respect if everyone can just respect that. That’s it. That’s all I really have to say about this.”
Asked if he had apologized to his teammates, Marbury said, “I plan to just tell them that this is something that has to do with Isiah and myself.”
The Knicks’ Zach Randolph, who had been given time off after his grandmother died, also rejoined the team, although he plans to return to Indiana for the funeral later this week.
“I just wanted to be here for my team,” Randolph said.
He said of the team turmoil, “Stephon and coach got this situation going on, but they’re going to work it out.”
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.
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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.
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