Super Bowl XLVI
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.
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.
Pavel Datsyuk and Todd Bertuzzi scored shootout goals to give Detroit a 2-1 win over Anaheim on Friday. The victory was the Red Wings' 19th consecutive at home, one shy of the NHL record.
Jeremy Lin had the most astounding performance of his remarkable week, scoring a career-high 38 points and outdueling Kobe Bryant as the New York Knicks held off the Los Angeles Lakers 92-85 on Friday night.
Arc's weekend preview: The way you beat Kentucky is by getting physical with their big guys, and the Wildcats don’t have much depth up front.
CFT: Jordan Jefferson makes it clear he wasn't happy with LSU's game plan in the Tigers' BCS Championship Game loss to Alabama.
Despite an injury scare and a few missed opportunities at Monterey Peninsula CC, Tiger Woods remains in contention at the AT&T.
John Isner jolted Roger Federer with his big serve and booming groundstrokes Friday, winning 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-2 to give the United States a 2-0 lead against Switzerland in the first round of the Davis Cup.
Manchester City will find at least three highly motivated players in its way Sunday when it tries to improve upon its flagging away form in the Premier League at Aston Villa.
All that stuff about the Olympic ideal, how it's all about taking part, not winning, can often seem like so much hot air, rendered hopelessly quaint and outdated by the ultra-competitive and mercenary world of modern sport. Until, that is, you speak to Kieran Behan.
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.
MINNEAPOLIS - As a young gymnast, Melissa Stockwell always dreamed of going to the Olympics.
She never knew that one day she would wind up as a member of Team USA, or that it would be as a trailblazing one-legged swimmer in the Paralympic Games.
“I was very competitive and really into it,” Stockwell said of her days as a gymnast at Eden Prairie High School in suburban Minneapolis. “I remember going out to the Olympic Training Center and hoping to one day be here. Now I have a second chance.”
Stockwell, who lost her left leg to a roadside bomb in Baghdad, was one of 18 women named to the U.S. Paralympic Swim Team on Sunday, becoming the first Iraq war veteran to be selected for the Paralympics.
No Iraq or Afghanistan veterans were among U.S. disabled athletes in Athens in 2004 or Turin in 2006. Stockwell is the first to land on the team headed to Beijing this summer.
“I’m prouder to be a Paralympian,” Stockwell said in a phone interview. “Just because I’m surrounded by so many people who have overcome obstacles. Everyone’s got their own story. They’re all amazing and incredible.”
Julie O’Neill, the head coach of the swimming team, has seen plenty of those inspirational stories of perseverance and resilience in her time working with disabled athletes.
“Absolutely her story is right up there with some of the best,” O’Neill said. “Right up there near the top.”
Next Sunday will be the fourth anniversary of Stockwell’s injury. As a first lieutenant in the Army, she was traveling through Baghdad on April 13, 2004, when a bomb ripped through her Humvee and took part of her left leg with it.
Infection and surgery claimed another significant portion of her leg, leaving her with just a few inches of stump below her hip.
Doctors fitted Stockwell with a titanium prosthesis so she can walk around, but the leg comes off before she takes the starter’s blocks and gets ready to swim.
“I definitely made a decision early on that I was going to put it behind me and move on and try to do something positive,” Stockwell said. “I wouldn’t have it any other way. I lost my leg. Of course I would like to have my leg, but I have no regrets. It’s opened so many doors for me.”
Being an athlete, and being in the water, is nothing new to Stockwell. Before joining the Army, she competed in gymnastics in high school and rowing and diving at the University of Colorado, a background that O’Neill says has helped her development into a world-class Paralympic swimmer.
“Melissa is just an athletic individual,” O’Neill said. “She is so dedicated and works so hard. She puts every ounce of energy into every workout.”
The real leaps and bounds started coming in January, when Stockwell relocated to Colorado Springs, Colo., to train.
“The improvement from January to now has been phenomenal,” O’Neill said.
In that span, Stockwell went from being ranked No. 20 in the world in her classification of the 400-meter freestyle to No. 4. She set an American record of 5 minutes, 3.08 seconds in the event at the U.S. Paralympic Swimming Trials in Minneapolis on Thursday in a performance that ultimately sealed her invitation to Beijing.
“I did better than I ever imagined I would do,” Stockwell said. “I kept looking up at my times and I couldn’t even believe that it was me who was swimming them. It was one of the greatest weekends of my life.”
O’Neill said Stockwell also likely will compete in the 100-meter freestyle and the 100-meter butterfly.
Her work ethic and fast rise, more than her status as a soldier wounded in active duty, has made the 28-year-old a leader on a close-knit team, the coach said.
“Largely, Melissa is looked up to due to her presence,” O’Neill said. “She’s very mature. She really is looked at as a team leader. Obviously, she’s developed that through her life experiences.”
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.
Robins: This year, six new breeds will be making their debut on the green carpet for the Westminster Dog Show, which begins Monday.
The dogs are back in town, right on schedule. With the Super Bowl over and Valentine's Day approaching, they're here for the 136th Westminster Kennel Club show that starts Monday morning.
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Jeremy Lin had the most astounding performance of his remarkable week, scoring a career-high 38 points and outdueling Kobe Bryant as the New York Knicks held off the Los Angeles Lakers 92-85 on Friday night.
Plenty of people are telling the Jeremy Lin story, because it's just a good story. The underdog, the unexpected and the first player since LeBron James nearly a decade ago to put up at least 20 points and eight assists in his first two NBA starts.
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.