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?
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.
Lefty wins his 40th PGA Tour event with his never-ending supply of tricks up his sleeve. What We Learned this week at Pebble Beach.
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.
APAndrew Beyer, The Washington Post’s horseracing writer, seems to have it in pretty good perspective. In the old days of the sport, he wrote, horse owners bred the animals that they then raced themselves, often for several years. They had an interest in breeding animals that weren’t going to break down.
Now, he wrote, breeding syndicates pay millions of dollars for the top sires and dams, then sell the offspring at auction. They have no long-term interest in animals they no longer own. And because of all the money to be made by breeding horses to be ever more fragile, they’re not looking to the future of the sport.
They do care that the horses are fast. Just as in a race car, the lighter you can make the frame, the quicker it will be. Over the years, thoroughbreds have gotten increasingly fragile as the breeders select for horses with less robust but lighter bone structure.
They don’t have to last long. Horses have such short careers — Big Brown probably won’t run even 10 races before frolicking off to an idyllic life at stud. It’s the equivalent of humans retiring in their late teens or early 20s. Potential race fans will watch the horse for this one year then never hear of it again. And whatever genetic defects it has will be passed on to its offspring, because it won’t race long enough to expose them to the long-term effects.
It’s a gravy train for some and an important industry for many. And it can be killed by greed and shortsightedness.
It’s incumbent on the industry to look into its breeding practices and to sponsor research into ways to detect potentially fatal flaws in horses. If synthetic tracks are shown to be safer, they should be mandated everywhere. It wouldn’t hurt to take the whips out of the jockeys hands; let the horses run as fast as they want to without being flogged into a higher gear.
There is much beauty in a horse race. Even as a non-fan, I can see that every year when I gather with the rest of the nation to watch the big three races. It’s primal and powerful and it touches something deep inside. Even without a betting interest, anyone should be able to see that.
There are three ways this can go: a ban, loss of audience or a fix. If I had an interest in the industry, I know which one I'd choose.
The first of three pools of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager begins its three-day run on Friday and the bet's opening scenario is very similar to each of its opening pools since the wager was created in 1999.
It's first time that Classic will be broadcast in primetime on Nov. 3.
 | Special feature |
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| INTERACTIVE |
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 | Slideshow |
 | Derby celebs Plenty of stars from the entertainment and sports world attend the 136th Kentucky Derby. more photos |
| INTERACTIVE |
 | Triple Crown winners The horses that have won the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont in the same year. |
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.
Paul Pierce has been around long enough to know what Rajon Rondo's performance can mean for the aging Boston Celtics.