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.
APBomar resurfaced at Sam Houston State, a I-AA school. Bomar started nine games last season and posted respectable stats before a knee injury sidelined him for the final two games. Once the most highly coveted passer in the nation, Bomar enters his final college season having thrown 20 touchdown passes and 16 interceptions.
Finally, there is Xavier Lee. In Florida, a state with a surfeit of prep gridiron talent, Lee's stature was mythic. He left Seabreeze High School in Daytona Beach as the Sunshine State's all-time leader in career passing yards (9,082), completions (549) and touchdowns (98). Here was a can't-miss prospect for a Florida State program looking to return to its glory days of the previous decade.
It never happened. Not for Lee and not for the Seminoles. The 6-foot-4, 234-pound Lee started just six games in three seasons for the Garnet and Gold. Following last season Lee was asked to move from quarterback to tight end. Instead, he left Tallahassee and opted for the NFL Draft, where his name was never called. The all-time leading passer in Florida prep history was not one of the 252 names called on draft weekend. Difficult to believe.
What does it say about college football, or about the quarterback position, that the attrition rate of the top two prep QBs of the past four seasons is above 50 percent? Certainly, blue-chip quarterbacks transfer annually when they are unable to wrest a starting position from a fellow underclassmen. Look at Demetrius Jones (formerly of Notre Dame, now Cincinnati) and Jevan Snead (Texas, now Mississippi). But that is not what occurred in these five players' cases which, by the way, are not hopeless cases.
Mallett is just starting out, and Perilloux was the MVP of last December's SEC Championship Game. They may very well write a happier ending to their college careers than Lee was able to do. As might Bomar.
It is Mustain, though, who finds himself in an extremely untenable position. At last month's Trojan Huddle (i.e., spring game) redshirt freshman Aaron Corp, the 3rd-stringer, outplayed Mustain — and, arguably, Sanchez. And out there on the horizon is Matt Barkley, a high school senior-to-be who has already verbally committed to USC for 2009. Last winter Barkley, an Orange County product, became the first prep gridder ever to be named Gatorade National Player of the Year as a high school junior.
In his first collegiate game as a true freshman, Mitch Mustain came off the bench to direct an 80-yard touchdown drive against USC in a 50-14 loss. He started the next eight games for Arkansas, all victories. How bizarre would it be if Mustain were to finish his college career coming off the bench for USC, without ever having started again?
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.
CFT: Jordan Jefferson makes it clear he wasn't happy with LSU's game plan in the Tigers' BCS Championship Game loss to Alabama.
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 Memphis fulfills BCS dream Tigers officials thrilled to announce that school has been accepted to join the Big East Conference in 2013. |
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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.