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.
Eleven shots separated Phil and Tiger Sunday at Pebble Beach as Lefty secured his 40th Tour win. Jason Sobel had 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.
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.
Getty ImagesOf course, there is still the little matter of his mass media tirade last spring. Not since Orson Welles scared the dickens out of listeners in 1938 with his fake broadcast of “The War of the Worlds” has a populace been so terrorized as it was when Kobe Bryant announced to Laker Nation that he wanted out.
Since then, general manager Mitch Kupchak brought Fisher and Gasol to the Lakers while standing firm and keeping young Andrew Bynum in the fold. The team prospered, Bryant looked around and liked what he saw, and the rest is the kind of history Kobe is only too happy to make.
Still, it would be nice if, while he hoists the MVP trophy, he also apologizes for publicly ripping the organization and failing to have faith in the people who have turned his team into a championship contender, allowing him the opportunity to reap the highest personal honor in the game.
But that aside, he has shown growth in other ways. He used to be a loner. Now he seems to want to be around his Laker brethren, and the feeling appears to be mutual. He is showing that he was always an excellent passer — the major qualifications for that designation are a knowledge of the game and a willingness to give up the rock — but is only now letting the world see it.
And, of course, he can score. He can take over a game whenever he wants to. Nobody can stop him. Many have tried. Many have cried.
He has officially become Jordanesque. In Jordan’s heyday, well after his early years as a spectacular novelty, he could score in deluges, but he also grasped the game and his teammates’ place in it. Now Kobe — at 29, after 12 NBA seasons, after 10 All-Star appearances, after three championship rings — finally gets it, too.
He now has a chance to become the first MVP to also win a championship in the same season since Tim Duncan in 2003, and the first Laker to do so since Shaq in 2000. The Most Valuable Player is an individual award, but it’s given with team in mind. If you average 40 points a game but you exist on an island, you have no shot. If you’re helping your team win — if you’re truly the most valuable at that — then you’re eligible.
Kobe Bryant may have been the best player in the game for a while. Now he’s the best team player. And he has the individual award to prove it.
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
 | Special feature |
 |
NBCSports.com |
ProBasketballTalk tweets |
|
Source: Twitter. For more, follow @basketballtalk. |
 | Video: NBA from NBC Sports |
 Knicks, Lin still streaking Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni and point guard Jeremy Lin discuss the team and Lin's recent success. |
 | Slideshow |
 |
more photos |
Ask the NBA expert: Ira Winderman |
Do you have a burning NBA question? Submit it now, and then check back for our reader mailbag. |  |
| Special feature |
 |
Who will be MVP? Interactive: Rank each player on a scale of 0 to 10 (10 = best player, 0 = barely worthy of consideration). NBCSports.com |
| Slideshow |
 |
more photos |
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.
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.
After leading by 18 points in the first half, the Los Angeles Lakers were staring at a four-point deficit with less than two minutes to play.