Rotoworld: Oregon RB LaMichael James and Oklahoma State WR Justin Blackmon among top 10 players who are being overhyped for the 2012 draft.
SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?
The Detroit Red Wings equaled an NHL record with their 20th straight win at home, beating the Philadelphia Flyers 4-3 Sunday night on the strength of Johan Franzen's tiebreaking goal early in the third period.
PBT: Boston's Rajon Rondo continues to be named in trade talks, which is madness. The Celtics guard creates offense and makes everyone around him better, which was evident in Sunday's win over the Bulls.
Arc: Syracuse is among a solid group of No. 1 seeds in our latest tournament projections, but the middle of the pack is much more murky.
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.
Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods greeted their Sunday pairing at Pebble Beach with optimism. But the day would end happily only for one.
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.
Such level-headedness helped this winter when his name surfaced — around the same time he hired arch-agent Scott Boras — in a potential trade for Minnesota Twins ace Johan Santana. "I'd definitely like to stay in Boston," says Ellsbury. "But you hear about players just finding out from the radio, or they're watching ESPN, and they're like, 'What? I got traded?'"
Along for the whole wild ride has been his girlfriend of one and a half years, Kelsey Hawkins, a 23-year-old Pendleton, Ore., native who works in New York for the charter educational company Edison Schools. The two were friends at Oregon State, but it wasn't until she was nannying on a trip to Maine, where he was playing Double A, that Ellsbury tried to get to first base. "We went to dinner, started talking, having a good time," he recalls. "If I had started using any corny lines on her, we'd still be friends." I ask him how she feels about the thousands of women in Boston who held up signs during the victory parade, offering their services as babymama. "After about 20 minutes into it, I don't think she thought it was funny anymore," he replies.
Filling out Ellsbury's entourage are a handful of up-and-coming ballers he's known since his Pac-10 days as a Beaver: Cole Gillespie, Andy Jenkins, Ty Graham. Whether it's Blazers games, dinners out, or watching Oregon–OSU football showdowns, they only have one rule: "We never really talk about baseball," says Ellsbury. "That's a time to just relax....One night might be cool for karaoke, the next night might be just chillin'. Each night kind of flows." (Under duress, he reluctantly confesses that his clutch karaoke tune is "You've Lost that Lovin' Feelin'.") Within the Sox clubhouse, Ellsbury has a jauntily competitive relationship with Dustin Pedroia, a 2007 Rookie of the Year. "He says we never beat him when he was at Arizona State, and I'll remind him that he never made it to the College World Series," says Ellsbury.
This season, Ellsbury insists that his goals are more qualitative than quantitative, but he's aware of how much he still has to prove. "I don't want to get lackadaisical," he says. "I'm going to continue to get better, and the awards and the individual aspects will take care of themselves." He's so clearly the Natural that you think he'd be lost on any other path— but you'd be wrong. I ask what he would have done with his life if not play baseball and Ellsbury doesn't even blink. "The NFL," he says. "Wide receiver."
"Seriously?" I ask.
He thinks for a moment. "Or the NBA."
SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?
HBT: Prince Fielder is gone and Ryan Braun will likely miss a third of the season because of a failed PED test. Can Milwaukee stay in contention until he gets back?
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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.
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.
