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.
AP
JEANNETTE, Pa. - Dan Marino, Joe Montana, Johnny Unitas, Joe Namath, George Blanda and Jim Kelly earned Pittsburgh and its environs the nickname of the Cradle of Quarterbacks.
Next up? It may very well be Terrelle Pryor, whose high school career dwarfed those of all the stars that preceded him in one of the nation’s most competitive and closely watched football regions.
Pryor, a 6-foot-6, 225-pound bundle of talent, is the latest in a lengthy line of exceptional players from western Pennsylvania that also includes Tony Dorsett, LaVar Arrington and Bill Fralic.
“Not in my lifetime have I seen a player like Terrelle, and I’ve watched football for 40 years,” said Ray Reitz, his coach at Jeannette High School. “When you’re great, you’re great. He could compete at any level.”
Reitz, who saw Dorsett in high school, isn’t alone in tossing out such praise for the only player in Pennsylvania high school history to rush for more than 4,000 yards and throw for more than 4,000 in a career. He finished with 4,250 yards rushing and 4,249 passing.
Pryor has already won several national player of the year awards. He was the MVP of the nationally televised U.S. Army All-American Bowl game in San Antonio earlier this month. He is also the No. 1-rated player by nearly every major recruiting service.
Pryor is special for another reason, too: Only two weeks from NCAA Division I-A national letter of intent day, Pryor is uncommitted — making him the object of one of the most intense coast-to-coast recruiting competitions in recent years.
The reasons why are obvious.
Pryor’s size, speed, arm strength, acceleration and athleticism are uncommon for a quarterback so young. Watching him play high school football was much like watching LeBron James play Ohio high school basketball: He was so much better than those around him, it was like a man playing among boys.
This past season, Pryor had 3,788 yards of total offense, rushing for 1,899 yards and passing for 1,889 on a 16-0 team that scored a state-record 860 points, or 105 more than the previous record. Pryor ran for 33 touchdowns and threw for 23, averaging a touchdown every four times he touched the ball.
No wonder why college coach after college coach has told Pryor the same thing: Go to that coach’s school, and it automatically becomes a national title contender. He is looking at Michigan, Ohio State, LSU and Oregon, but schools frequently fall on and off the list.
“He’s a program changer. If you get him, you’re going to get a lot of other great athletes to follow,” Reitz said.
How good an athlete is Pryor? Despite having no preseason practice, he had 24 points, 11 rebounds, six dunks, four blocked shots and five steals in his first basketball game this season, only four days after his final football game.
While Pryor competed in the second smallest of Pennsylvania’s four classes, he has played basketball against players from those schools and dominated. Few recruiters who have watched him doubt he would have done the same thing in football.
Two major recruiting sites, Superprep.com and Rivals.com, list him No. 1 nationally and compare him to former Texas quarterback Vince Young for his ability to make as many plays with his legs as with his arm.
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Assistant coaches from Penn State and Ohio State were in the room, well aware that Pryor was traveling to Michigan for an official visit two days later. Before then, he had another basketball game to play and hundreds of text messages to plow through.
Despite the ban on coaches sending text messages, dozens of messages from recruiting services, fans, friends and outsiders who somehow obtain his number pile up on Pryor’s cell phone if he leaves it off for more than a few hours.
“It’s not overwhelming,” Pryor said of the intense recruiting. “I was forewarned about it, but I wasn’t prepared for it — I haven’t been through it before, so I couldn’t be prepared.”
Juggling an all-state basketball career — he is closing in on 2,000 points for his career — and recruiting trips is also proving difficult.
“It is tiring,” Pryor said. “I’m just trying to get it over with and move on. Of course, you’re looking at all the top colleges in the country, so it’s going to be hard.”
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.
CFT: Jordan Jefferson makes it clear he wasn't happy with LSU's game plan in the Tigers' BCS Championship Game loss to Alabama.
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 Memphis fulfills BCS dream Tigers officials thrilled to announce that school has been accepted to join the Big East Conference in 2013. |
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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 |
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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