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 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.
Marlies Schild of Austria won her sixth World Cup slalom of the season Saturday after overall leader Lindsey Vonn and defending champion Maria Hoefl-Riesch crashed out in the opening run on the windy Pyrenees course.
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
RENO, Nev. - A Nevada high school football coach whose player faked his recruitment filed a defamation suit against school district officials Thursday, accusing them of trying to make him the scapegoat in the embarrassing hoax.
Fernley High School Coach Mark Hodges is seeking more than $20,000 from the Lyon County School District and school board members after the scam in which Kevin Hart claimed he had been recruited to play for two Pac-10 schools.
The 6-foot-5, 290-pound offensive lineman sat before a packed gymnasium at a Feb. 1 school assembly to announce his choice between California and Oregon. Surrounded by Hodges and other school officials, Hart donned a Bears cap to indicate his choice as the crowd cheered.
Hart later claimed he had been the victim of an impostor posing as a recruiting promoter before he apologized Feb. 6 and admitted that he had made the story up. None of several colleges Hart boasted about had, in fact, contacted him.
On Thursday, a lawyer representing Hodges and Hart said that what really had transpired was that the student had played a “prank” on his classmates, coaches and neighbors in the largely rural community 30 miles east of Reno.
“Kevin really did pull off, I guess, one of the greatest pranks ever on Fernley High and the school district and the community of Fernley,” said Ken McKenna, a Reno lawyer who filed the lawsuit in Lyon County District Court.
“My take on it is there was such a desire in that community to believe it was true — that one of their young men could get this kind of attention — that everybody forgot to check it out,” he told The Associated Press.
“The sad part now is that some adults don’t like being embarrassed and they want a scapegoat. They want to hang it on somebody rather than laughing it off and saying, ‘Got me,”’ he said.
The lawsuit accuses school district officials of slandering Hodges by providing unsubstantiated information that a Reno television station used in a Feb. 9 report that Hodges’ coaching contract would not be renewed next year due to “unprofessional conduct and fiscal irresponsibility.”
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School district officials did not immediately return telephone calls or e-mails seeking comment.
The Lyon County sheriff’s office is investigating whether Hart may have committed a crime by filing a false report about the alleged recruiting impostor.
McKenna said Hodges was not aware that Hart had made up the story about being recruited until the football player confessed.
“Everybody was duped to the same degree,” McKenna told AP.
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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Signing Day |
Recap of biggest day of year for recruiting |
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.
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.
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.
