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 three goals as the New York Rangers beat Philadelphia 5-2 on Saturday for their seventh straight win over the Flyers.
Jeremy Lin hit a free throw with 4.9 seconds left to overcome a dreadful second half and lift the New York Knicks to their fifth straight victory, 100-98, over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday night.
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.
CFT: Jordan Jefferson makes it clear he wasn't happy with LSU's game plan in the Tigers' BCS Championship Game loss to Alabama.
Move over, Hollywood and NFL types, golf's two real A-listers take center stage Sunday at Pebble Beach, both in need of a win.
The United States swept favored Switzerland out of the Davis Cup on Saturday when Mardy Fish and Mike Bryan beat Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3.
Luis Suarez's refusal to shake hands with Patrice Evra overshadowed Manchester United's 2-1 win over rival Liverpool that lifted the defending champions to first place in the Premier League on Saturday.
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 Images file
BATON ROUGE, La. - John Brady was fired as LSU’s basketball coach Friday with his team struggling at 8-13, a dismissal that left him in tears at a farewell news conference.
“I’ve coached in the best league in the country and I’ve coached a lot of great guys,” Brady said during the afternoon news conference with LSU athletic director Skip Bertman. “They’ve done some great things that had not been done here in a long time.”
Brady was the third-winningest coach in the university’s history. His 192-139 record included two first-place finishes in the SEC and a trip to the 2006 Final Four.
But after that 27-9 finish the team fell to 17-15 last season, with a 5-11 conference mark, and things got worse this season — just one win in seven SEC games.
Associate head coach Butch Pierre will take over for the rest of the season.
Brady’s wife sobbed openly during the news conference while Brady spoke haltingly, wiping away tears by the end of a long, sometimes rambling statement. He noted that he inherited an LSU program 10 years ago that was facing stiff penalties for NCAA violations and that it was on probation when he won his first SEC championship in his third year.
“Under those circumstances it’s a pretty good 10-year run,” Brady said.
Brady said he was too competitive to quit but respected Bertman’s decision to dismiss him.
Bertman said he was concerned about falling attendance at home games, but that “the ultimate reason John was fired was not attendance. They just didn’t win enough games.”
Still, while women’s basketball has grown to over 6,000 fans per game, men’s basketball is averaging just 8,240 this year, Bertman said. Season tickets sales remained at about 7,000 even after the trip to the Final Four.
“I wouldn’t blame the basketball coach for attendance,” Bertman said. “They won 18 games in a row there and attendance did not increase.”
Bertman said he had planned to fire Brady after Saturday’s game against Tennessee, which would put LSU at the midway point in its SEC schedule. But he moved it up because he was afraid word would leak to Brady or the team.
Bertman, who is retiring June 30, will hire a search firm to help find a new coach.
Bertman said he would not contact any potential coach until the season, and if necessary the postseason, is over.
Brady has three years left on his contract. Bertman said Brady we’ll get his base salary of $300,000 a year unless he is hired somewhere else.
Brady replaced long-time LSU coach Dale Brown, who finished his career with four losing seasons and a bitter NCAA investigation.
The NCAA found that a former booster paid player Lester Earl about $5,000 while he was attending LSU. LSU was placed on probation in 1998, lost three scholarships was placed under restrictions on how the remaining scholarships could be given.
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.
Beyond the Arc: No. 11 Michigan State ends No. 3 Ohio State's 39-game home winning streak with a 58-48 victory.
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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 |
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Five up, five down from college hoops’ huge day11 hr 31 min ago Michigan State sure shook up Big Ten by beating Buckeyes12 hr 16 min ago UNLV’s thrilling win vs. SDSU adds spice to MWC race16 hr 44 min ago |
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 Getty Images Highlights: No. 14 UNLV 65, No. 13 SDSU 63 Mike Moser scored 19 points, and UNLV forced three turnovers in the final 42 seconds to win. |
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Jeremy Lin hit a free throw with 4.9 seconds left to overcome a dreadful second half and lift the New York Knicks to their fifth straight victory, 100-98, over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday night.
Doron Lamb hit a 3-pointer with 3:18 left to put No. 1 Kentucky ahead to stay, and the Wildcats took a big step toward a Southeastern Conference regular-season title by beating Vanderbilt 69-63 Saturday night for their 17th straight win.
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.