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.
Golf's dream pairing - Woods and Mickelson - is on the course in the final round at Pebble Beach. Jason Sobel has 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.
Euro Roundup: First-place Manchester City won 1-0 at Aston Villa on Sunday on Joleon Lescott's goal in the 63rd minute, maintaining its two-point lead over Manchester United in the Premier League.
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 ImagesA healthy John David Booty ended his college career with his ninth victory (no defeats) against a Top 25 team. The senior threw for three touchdowns and 255 yards against Illinois and spent most of the game handing off to that endless supply of scary-good Trojan running backs that began with freshman tailback Joe McKnight (10 carries, 125 yards and 1 TD) and six others who piled up 344 yards.
The Trojan defense, with all hands on deck, were so dazzling with their full display of speed and athleticism that they stifled everyone in an Illinois jersey except for tailback Rashard Mendenhall (17 carries, 155 yards). “This is the kind of defense that allows you to have the opportunity to be a national championship type of team and be a Rose Bowl type of championship team,” said Carroll.
The 13th-ranked Illini were in over their heads from start to finish and everyone of the 93,000 witnesses in Pasadena knew it. The Illini may have been a wonderful story of a program that made a stunning single-season turnaround from 2-10 to Rose Bowl-bound 9-4 up-and-comers. But Southern California showed the Illini in no uncertain terms just how much harder the climb gets the closer you get to the top of college football’s championship mountain.
“You gotta remember, they were 2-10 a year ago, and this was their first time in a game of this magnitude,” said Williams, a USC senior who has been a part of four BCS bowl games, and countless championship type contests in his four years at USC. “But for us, playing in the Rose Bowl wasn’t a big game. We’ve been in games like this so many times that it’s stopped being a big game for us. I know it’s the Rose Bowl, but to us, this was just another game.”
It’s just a shame that they don’t have one more big game in them to end this season.
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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 |
College football |
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TERRIFIC TROJANS Since 2002, USC has finished in the top 4 in every final AP poll. No other school has finished in the top 12 every year. In fact, USC, Ohio St., Oklahoma and Texas are the only schools to end each of the last seven seasons in the Top 25. |
| Season | AP | Coaches |
| 2008 | 3 | 2 |
| 2007 | 3 | 2 |
| 2006 | 4 | 4 |
| 2005 | 2 | 2 |
| 2004 | 1 | 1 |
| 2003 | 1 | 2 |
| 2002 | 4 | 4 |
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.
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.
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