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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.
AP1995 NEBRASKA CORNHUSKERS
Backstory
In 1994, Nebraska coach Tom Osborne shed his never-can-win-the-big-one label with his first national title. But how he did it would soon be called into question.
The regular season
There were three things you could count on when in came to Nebraska football in 1995. One was historic domination of its opposition. The second was frequent appearances in the police blotter.
The third was withering criticism of Osborne for seemingly ignoring the second thing to favor the first. It all started on Aug. 2, when backup wide receiver Riley Washington was arrested for attempted murder following a shooting outside a Lincoln convenience store. Osborne professed Washington’s innocence, and allowed him back onto the team. By the third game, star running back Lawrence Phillips would be suspended after charges he dragged his girlfriend by the hair down a stairwell.
Then there was Christian Peter, the oft-arrested defensive lineman whose alleged rape of a student cost the school $50,000 in a settlement in 1995.
The off-the-field problems had no effect whatsoever on how the Cornhuskers played. While it seemed everyone else had gone to a pro-style passing attack, the old triple option, run to perfection by quarterback Tommie Frazier, led Nebraska to an average final score of 51-14. The closest game, and lowest-scoring for Nebraska, was a 35-21 defeat of Washington State. The bow on the season was a 37-0 destruction of archrival Oklahoma in the regular season’s final game.
The postseason
The discussion before the Fiesta Bowl against Florida was as much, or more, about the propriety of putting Phillips on the field as it was about Nebraska’s chances to win. Osborne had been criticized for not kicking Phillips off permanently earlier, but the coach said he was afraid of what would happen to Phillips, raised as a foster child, without the structure of football. Phillips was reinstated with for the final three games of the regular season, and he wasn’t going to be held out of the Fiesta Bowl, either. Phillips ran for 165 yards and two touchdowns, as well as catching a touchdown pass from Frazier, in a 62-24 undressing of Florida for the national title.
Postscript
As he made the transition from coach (he retired after winning the 1997 national title) to Congressman (he was elected as a Republican in 2000), Osborne expressed regret over how he handled the Phillips and Peters situations. But he didn’t have to regret how he handled Riley Washington. It will be interesting to see what logic guides Osborne now that he is back as Nebraska’s athletic director, charged with reviving the moribund football program.
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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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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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