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.
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.
APThe doubleheader started ominously for Glavine and the Braves. On the sixth pitch of the game, Luis Castillo lofted a fly ball that barely cleared the wall in left for his first homer of the season. The Mets then loaded the bases with one out on singles by Wright and Church, sandwiched around a walk to Carlos Beltran.
But Moises Alou hit a hard liner right at third baseman Chipper Jones, and right fielder Jeff Francoeur hauled in a fly ball to deep right by slumping Carlos Delgado to get the Braves out the inning trailing just 1-0.
After that, Glavine (2-1) was unhittable. The Mets went three-up, three-down over the next five innings before the 42-year-old lefty, bothered a bit by a sore right knee, turned it over to the bullpen.
“Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would go 17 up, 17 down after that first inning,” said Glavine, who spent the previous five seasons with the Mets before re-signing with his original team over the winter. “There was no reason to expect that.”
After the first, New York didn’t have another runner until Reyes singled off Blaine Boyer with two outs in the eighth.
Brian McCann homered and drove in three runs for the Braves, who handed John Maine (5-3) his first loss in nearly a month. The right-hander had won four straight starts but was knocked around in this one, giving up four runs and eight hits in four-plus innings.
Glavine’s performance was especially satisfying in light of how he finished 2007 with the Mets, getting rocked on the final day of the regular season to complete New York’s historic collapse in the NL East race.
“There were a lot of naysayers about me coming to pitch with the way I finished last season,” he said. “I still think I can pitch. That’s the most important thing.”
He’ll get no argument from his former teammates, who were coming off a two-game sweep of the Yankees.
“As the game went on, he threw more off-speed stuff,” Delgado said. “He’s a smart guy.”
The Atlanta bullpen extended its streak of scoreless innings to 20 in a row before Boyer gave up a run-scoring double to Ramon Castro in the eighth inning of game two. After allowing an RBI single to Reyes, Manny Acosta got the final four outs for his third save.
The long day ended with a scary play. While turning a double play at second base, Braves shortstop Yunel Escobar struck Church in the head with his right knee. Church was face down on the field for several minutes before staggering off, while Escobar had to be helped to the Braves dugout.
Church had a mild concussion but was taken to Piedmont Hospital as a precaution. Escobar’s knee was heavily wrapped and he would only say, “No DL.”
Notes: Atlanta’s Mark Teixeira reached base seven times in the doubleheader on four hits and three walks. ... Jones is hitting .409 after going 3-of-8 in the two games. ... Delgado shows little sign of escaping his season-long slump. He went 0-for-6 with four strikeouts and is hitting just .222. ... Francoeur didn’t play in the second game, ending the majors longest streak of consecutive games played at 370.
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.
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.
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.