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.
PBT: Jeremy Lin wasn't his hot self on Saturday, but he still led the Knicks to victory.
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.
APSURPRISE, Ariz. - If Hideo Nomo succeeds in his comeback attempt with the Royals, it will be as a reliever, not a starter.
The 39-year-old was informed of the decision Sunday in a meeting with manager Trey Hillman, one day after he gave up five runs and seven hits, including a three-run homer, in three innings against the Milwaukee Brewers.
Hillman said Brett Tomko, John Bale, Luke Hochevar, Kyle Davies and Jorge De La Rosa are ahead of Nomo for two open spots in the Royals rotation.
“Plain and simple, we’re not going to consider him a starter,” Hillman said. “We wanted to do what we felt like was the right thing to do and being honest with him right now in our evaluation.
“We asked him what his wishes were with less than two weeks left in Arizona, and if he felt like he wanted to go elsewhere and compete for a starting role. We wanted to make sure he was comfortable that he had the option to do that ... or stay here to compete for a bullpen role.”
Nomo — who struck out five Brewers without a walk — has struck out 11 in 11 innings, allowing 17 hits. He is 1-0 with a 5.73 ERA.
“He choose to stay here, which was exciting to me,” Hillman said.
There are, however, few openings in the Royals bullpen, which includes Joakim Soria as the closer and Yasuhiko Yabuta as a possible right-handed setup.
Nomo, who has a 123-109 record and is the winningest Japanese pitcher in major-league history, has made only two relief appearances in 320 games.
He had not pitched in the majors since 2005, going 5-8 with a 7.24 ERA in 19 starts with Tampa Bay. He had elbow surgery in 2006 and did not pitch at all last season.
Hillman said he did not talk to Nomo about possibly going to the minors if he does not earn a bullpen spot. Nomo did not talk to the media.
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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.
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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.