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.
Junko Kimura / GETTY IMAGESA small Japanese boy was screaming for Ortiz. My friend Evan and I started cracking up, cheering along with him and giving him thumbs up each time, which only encouraged him to yell it more, and then look to us for approval.
He started averaging three “Big Papi’s” per pitch.
The next time around the order, he showed he had been paying attention. We heard a small “Yooouuuk” cry out from the kid.
The trip then felt like a complete success.
The same, but different
—There were two moments that caused the Tokyo Dome crowd to explode in kickoff at the Super Bowl like flashbulb popping. One came in the Tigers-Red Sox game, when Hanshin’s closer Kyuji Fujikawa came in. The other came in the second game during Hideki Okajima’s performance. The flashbulbs were so overwhelming that each pitch caused a rising “OOOOH” from the fans like myself who were watching the crowd more than the pitch. And this was during Okajima’s warmups.
—It's good to see that that in-between entertainment isn’t any more evolved here. Kids can dance to YMCA or root on mustard on the scoreboard condiments race.
—After each foul ball, a belated sign and message came up to “Watch out for batted ball.” The scoreboard operator would also inexplicably make a big doorbell 'DING DONG' after occasional fouls.
—The beer vendors are the single greatest improvement in Japanese baseball. Instead of cranky old men selling brew, beer is distributed by young women with Ghostbuster-like packs of beer on their back. They are fully outfitted by their employer (Kirin, Sapporo, Asahi, etc.) with bright colors and short shorts. They walk to the bottom of each row of seats roughly every three minutes, bow, then fill up everyone’s cups with nozzles they keep to their side like holstered guns. Genius.
—If the Red Sox went to Japan to spread their brand globally, CEO Larry Lucchino would have watched the scene Saturday outside the Tokyo Dome with an evil smile. Fans swarmed the t-shirt and jersey stands like locusts. Small children and old women seemed to spring from the ground, ducking under us, pushing to the front. It reminded me of a packed Boston or New York bar at midnight on a Friday, except we were getting drunk on $35 t-shirts.
—The stadium also tried to play Take me Out to the Ballgame although the music played way too fast and the words on the scoreboard didn’t come close to keeping up.
—J.D. Drew won the "man of the match" for both games, roughly the game’s MVP award. A Japanese television crew set up a makeshift stage to interview him with a translator after each game. He proved that he could look disinterested giving dry answers in any language.
SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?
DeMarco: Plug in a well-heeled ownership group and negotiate one of those mega-bucks TV deals that are going around, and the Dodgers could become the west coast version of the New York Yankees or Boston Red Sox.
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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.