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.
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4. Utah is the new Los Angeles.
For decades now, I've wanted Utah and Los Angeles to trade nicknames. L.A. Jazz. Salt Lakers. That's gold, Jerry!
At present, however, they've seemed to trade bench karma. Remember when Pau Gasol first arrived, which allowed Jackson to throw out a "B" unit of Jordan Farmar, Sasha Vujacic, Luke Walton, Ronny Turiaf and Vladimir Radmanovic (that is, if Andrew Bynum were healthy)? That was a high-energy, hot-shooting lineup.
Now, however, Farmar is 1 for 16 in the Utah series. Turiaf, an animal in the paint, was a little too beastly Sunday, getting ejected for a flagrant foul on Ronnie Price. And Walton, in the fourth quarter, became the lead in the sequel to "White Men Can't Jump", thanks to a Price hustle play.
The Jazz, meanwhile? Kyle Korver is shooting so well that people are forgiving him his "What Happens in Vegas" role. Paul Millsap, Matt Harpring and Price are playing over their heads — or at least their counterparts — as well. The Jazz's second unit, which outplayed its first unit in Game 2 in L.A., is every bit as potent as the Lakers'.
5. There are no "Will he ever win a ring?" stories here.
Since the Suns, Nuggets, Mavericks and Rockets have been eliminated, we are spared the burden of having to read (or write) a banal, trite, hackneyed and, yes, prosaic column about how Steve Nash or Allen Iverson or Dirk Nowitzki or Jason Kidd deserves a ring.
Everyone remaining in the Western Conference playoffs has either won a ring (Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher; Mehmet Okur; the Spurs) or is too damn young (Paul, Gasol, Williams, Andrei Kirilenko) to warrant much compassion.
Will anyone lose sleep if Robert Horry is unable to bejewel himself with an eighth world championship ring this June? Exactly.
What remains to be seen is whether the next round will have a familiar ring. Will Kobe and the Lakers face Tim Duncan and the Spurs in a showdown between two franchises that have accounted for seven of the last nine NBA championships? Or will New Orleans' former franchise (the Jazz) and/or its present one (the Hornets) break through to the next round?
I like the Lakers and Spurs: Talent, experience and, if it comes down to it, the benefit of the referees' doubt in any series-deciding calls.
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
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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.
Paul Pierce has been around long enough to know what Rajon Rondo's performance can mean for the aging Boston Celtics.