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.
Getty ImagesThen there is the jerk factor. With apologies to Keith Olbermann, Bonds is easily the “Worst Person in the World,” at least in and around the baseball world. That hasn’t changed. The Mitchell report didn’t list players along with comments by each such as “good guy,” “real louse,” “has his good days and bad.” Only Bonds is specifically recognized by the public for being a bona fide S.O.B.
That’s no different today, either. Even though he is now just one of many who is officially considered to be unnaturally muscled, he still stands alone the game’s most irascible individual. Some voters will undoubtedly take that into consideration.
Yet for a while at least, Bonds has a respite from his bashers. The cloud over his career remains, it has just been joined by a bank of other clouds over other careers.
To truly appreciate his modestly improved situation, you have to think like Barry. Have a bottle of aspirin handy.
Bonds surely indulged in “the cream” and “the clear” and heaven knows what other beef cattle muscle medicine or female fertility drug of his choice because he sensed that the game of baseball was changing, and that if he didn’t go along for the ride he would be left behind on the scrap heap of mediocrity. He wanted to be the best, and was consumed by jealousy that McGwire and Sammy Sosa were stealing his headlines.
Now that George Mitchell and his staff have rounded up more than the usual suspects, in Bonds’ brain he is enjoying a warped kind of “I told you so” moment. He’s on the list, of course. He’s still facing a serious legal proceeding. But he’s also off somewhere in the company of family and whichever remaining sycophants he can round up, smirking because the rampant nature of steroid use in the game makes him seem a little less of a villain.
Yet he should enjoy this while he can, because soon the furor over all the other offenders will fade, and he will be left standing alone once again as No. 1. He likes being No. 1, although this probably isn’t what he had in mind.
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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Mitchell: Don't punish players Dec. 13: Urging Bud Selig not to punish the players named in his report on drug use in baseball, George Mitchell says the game "does not need and cannot afford" a lingering investigation. Watch his entire statement. |
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 | Olbermann on the Mitchell report Dec. 12: MSNBC's Chris Jansing talks with "Countdown" host Keith Olbermann about the George Mitchell report on steroid use in baseball. |
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The Week in Sports Pictures The Giants on top of the football world, getting ready for the London Olympics and more. more photos |
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.
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