Super Bowl XLVI
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.
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.
T.J. Oshie scored the only goal in the shootout and relief goal Brian Elliott was perfect as the St. Louis Blues beat New Jersey 4-3 on Thursday night to end the Devils five-game winning streak.
PBT: On paper this was a battle of seven seeds. But once the Celtics and Lakers locked horns on Thursday night, it felt like a matchup from grander times.
Beyond the Arc: Racers no long sport an unbeaten record, but they're still capable of making an NCAA tournament run.
CFT: To address safety concerns, the NCAA is proposing that kickoffs be moved from the 30 to 35-yard line and touchbacks moved out to the 25-yard line next season.
By most standards, Tiger Woods’ 68 at the AT&T would be considered solid. But he’s not particularly pleased, which is trouble for the field.
Rafa Nadal rips a "general campaign" in France to discredit Spanish athletes by implying their success is due to the use of illegal drugs.
Opinion: Chaging managers won't quickly cure the reasons why England has failed to win a major trophy since the 1966 World Cup.
SportsTalk: Michael Phelps talks about being able to "refind the love" as he prepares for the 2012 Games.
Nick Diaz’s hopes for a UFC interim championship rematch have gone up in smoke after the welterweight star flunked a drug test on the weekend of UFC 143.
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Although Floyd Mayweather Jr. has retired at least twice before, boxing’s pound-for-pound king says he’s really taking off his crown this time.
Mayweather abruptly retired Friday at the peak of his athletic skill and earning power, releasing a six-paragraph letter in which the unbeaten five-division champion said he no longer feels the passion that propelled him to the top of the family business.
Mayweather, a 31-year-old former Olympic bronze medalist, is calling it quits at the close of a remarkable 18-month stretch in which he beat Oscar De La Hoya and Ricky Hatton, made more than $50 million in the ring and became a bankable celebrity outside it.
“This decision was not an easy one for me to make, as boxing is all I have done since I was a child,” said Mayweather, the son and nephew of three former fighters who all became top trainers. “However, these past few years have been extremely difficult for me to find the desire and joy to continue in the sport.”
The WBC welterweight champ (39-0, 25 KOs) hasn’t fought since knocking out Hatton last December, but was widely expected to take on De La Hoya in September in a rematch of their May 2007 bout, the richest fight in boxing history. Instead, Mayweather’s retirement clears De La Hoya’s schedule and opens a vacancy at the top of boxing just when it’s undergoing a revival built partly on Mayweather’s brilliance and showmanship.
Mayweather also made less-convincing retirement announcements after each of his last three bouts, but his letter somberly described his reasons to “permanently retire from boxing.”
“I loved competing and winning and also wanted to continue my career for the fans, knowing they were there for me and enjoyed watching me fight,” Mayweather said. “However, after many sleepless nights and intense soul-searching, I realized I could no longer base my decision on anything but my own personal happiness, which I no longer could find.”
Though Mayweather cashed two huge paychecks in 2007, he has lately seemed much more interested in fame than fighting. In the last few years, he evolved from the endearingly cocky “Pretty Boy” to the wealth-obsessed “Money May” who was estranged from his father, De La Hoya trainer Floyd Sr., and uninterested in all but the most lucrative bouts.
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In the past year alone, Mayweather has appeared on “Dancing With the Stars,” worked on his record label, served as the honorary starter at the Indianapolis 500 and entered the wrestling ring for a choreographed tussle with the 440-pound “Big Show” at WrestleMania in Orlando, winning what’s currently his final fight with a set of brass knuckles.
“Floyd was a very talented fighter, no question about it, but he got to a particular point where it was just for the money,” said Bob Arum, Mayweather’s longtime promoter with Top Rank before the boxer began promoting his own career. “Which is all right, it’s a professional sport, but there’s nothing wrong with his decision. It’s a rational decision.”
Though fans and promoters have clamored for Mayweather to take on unbeaten welterweight Miguel Cotto or another top competitor in perhaps boxing’s deepest division, Mayweather had repeatedly dismissed the idea. Instead, he was in talks for another fight with De La Hoya, whose own career-ending plans will be altered.
“There comes a time when money doesn’t matter,” Mayweather said. “I just can’t do it any more. I have found a peace with my decision that I have not felt in a long time.”
De La Hoya had hoped to fight Mayweather and perhaps Cotto this year before turning full-time to his lucrative career in charge of Golden Boy Promotions.
Nick Diaz’s hopes for a UFC interim championship rematch have gone up in smoke after the welterweight star flunked a drug test on the weekend of UFC 143.
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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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Pau Gasol blocked Ray Allen's putback attempt at the buzzer in overtime and the Los Angeles Lakers held on to beat the Boston Celtics 88-87 on Thursday night.
Steve Prohm had never lost a game as a head coach. He doesn't think much of what his first loss will do for his sleeping habits.
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.
