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 three goals as the New York Rangers beat Philadelphia 5-2 on Saturday for their seventh straight win over the Flyers.
Jeremy Lin hit a free throw with 4.9 seconds left to overcome a dreadful second half and lift the New York Knicks to their fifth straight victory, 100-98, over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday night.
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.
CFT: Jordan Jefferson makes it clear he wasn't happy with LSU's game plan in the Tigers' BCS Championship Game loss to Alabama.
Move over, Hollywood and NFL types, golf's two real A-listers take center stage Sunday at Pebble Beach, both in need of a win.
The United States swept favored Switzerland out of the Davis Cup on Saturday when Mardy Fish and Mike Bryan beat Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3.
Luis Suarez's refusal to shake hands with Patrice Evra overshadowed Manchester United's 2-1 win over rival Liverpool that lifted the defending champions to first place in the Premier League on Saturday.
Marlies Schild of Austria won her sixth World Cup slalom of the season Saturday after overall leader Lindsey Vonn and defending champion Maria Hoefl-Riesch crashed out in the opening run on the windy Pyrenees course.
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.
AP
NEW YORK - Alex Rodriguez’s decision to opt out of his contract last October cost him $200,000 in All-Star bonuses from the New York Yankees this year.
Rodriguez’s old deal, which he agreed to with Texas before the 2001 season, contained provisions that earned him $100,000 bonus for making the AL All-Star team and another $100,000 for receiving the most fan votes in his league.
His agent, Scott Boras, informed the Yankees during Game 4 of Boston’s World Series sweep that A-Rod was terminating his $252 million, 10-year agreement. Then in December, Rodriguez signed a record $275 million, 10-year contract with New York, a deal that allows him to make up to $305 million if he reaches milestone achievements.
New York inherited the old deal when it acquired A-Rod from Texas in 2004. The Yankees do not give contracts with provisions that contain bonuses for All-Star selection or awards such as MVP, Gold Glove and Silver Slugger.
Still, even without the bonuses, Rodriguez has a major league-high $27 million salary this year.
Toronto pitcher Roy Halladay earned the biggest All-Star bonus, $125,000, followed by Cleveland pitcher Cliff Lee at $100,000. A total of 42 of 63 players selected earned $1.92 million in bonuses, down from $2.13 for the initial picks last year.
Halladay, who has a $10 million salary, wasn’t aware of the bonus, saying he leaves things like that to his agent.
“The fun part is being part of the team. That’s what’s exciting and fun for me, fun for my family,” Halladay said.
Atlanta’s Chipper Jones earned a $2 million salary increase to $10 million next year because he was elected. His contract contains a complicated points provision for various honors, and his 2009 pay could increase to $11 million depending on postseason awards this year.
“That deal was signed a long time ago, so you forget about the little sidebars, as far as your contract goes, when you immerse yourself in the game,” Jones said. “I’m not worried about the money. I’ve made my money in this game. I just want to get back healthy and get back to the point where I’m producing at a high rate like I was earlier in my career. The people who play this game just for the money, they’ll get weeded out eventually. I’ve never played this game for love of the money.”
Because Cleveland’s Grady Sizemore made the AL team, the price of Cleveland’s 2012 club option increased from $8.5 million to $9 million.
Sizemore wasn’t aware of the escalator.
“I don’t know what my incentives are for those kinds of things. I let my agent handle that,” he said. “I didn’t negotiate that kind of stuff.”
Making the NL roster earned San Diego’s Adrian Gonzalez a $100,000 increase to $5.6 million in the price of his 2011 club option.
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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Jeremy Lin hit a free throw with 4.9 seconds left to overcome a dreadful second half and lift the New York Knicks to their fifth straight victory, 100-98, over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday night.
Doron Lamb hit a 3-pointer with 3:18 left to put No. 1 Kentucky ahead to stay, and the Wildcats took a big step toward a Southeastern Conference regular-season title by beating Vanderbilt 69-63 Saturday night for their 17th straight win.
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.