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.
APThey’ve gotten surprisingly good pitching from a staff that has one highly regarded starter (ace Adam Wainwright with a 3-1 record, 2.60 ERA) and several pleasant surprises (Braden Looper 5-1; Kyle Lohse 3-1; Todd Wellemeyer 3-1). But it’s also that hard-playing collection of no-name youngsters and revived veterans who have sparked the Cardinals with hitting from every spot in the lineup (.281 batting average is third best in the NL) who are made to order for La Russa and his pedal-to-the-metal managerial style.
Shedding former all-stars on the downside of their careers and replacing them with young unproven minor leaguers trying to make a name for themselves is not exactly the worst way to go for a franchise in transition from champion-in-decline to youth-infused work-in-progress.
It still all hinges on MVP Albert Pujols (.348 batting average, six home runs, 24 RBIs and 34 walks) who personifies La Russa’s old “play a hard nine” philosophy. That philosophy didn’t always work with an aging roster of veterans who simply tired of his relentless managing style. But with former All-Stars Scott Rolen and Jim Edmonds gone, the Cardinals have a roster of players most of baseball is unfamiliar with. The players know that if they don’t play hard there are several players behind them more than willing to press as hard as La Russa pushes them.
As he sat at his desk scribbling game notes and glancing at his lineup card, La Russa began to scan the names that were not starting this particular game.
“(Skip) Schumaker’s not playing. Brian Barton’s not playing. Brendan Ryan’s not playing. Jason LaRue’s not playing. Aaron Miles isn’t playing. But with each of those five guys, I’m not thinking, ‘oh man, if he’s not playing, I’m worried that we’re going to have a drop off in intensity,’ ” said La Russa.
Every night, he surrounds Pujols with all these interchangeable parts in the infield and outfield, and somehow it has worked because playing time is the ultimate motivation for any player who has a passion for the game.
“That’s probably the most confident thing I can say about this team,” La Russa said. “I know that we are going to play hard. I’ve been saying it since we got started. I may not know how good we are, but because these guys are willing to fight hard every night, we’re going to give ourselves a chance. You knew that when we started because all of those guys knew coming in that there was an opportunity (to play) here. It wasn’t like there were going to be guys who were frustrated because no matter what they did, they didn’t have a chance (to play).”
La Russa peeked over his wire-rimmed glasses and smiled. “Things were set up right for guys to come in here and make an impression,” he said.
The impression now is that it’s fun to watch these rebuilding Cardinals, and that’s something even the biggest optimist never saw coming.
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.