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.
INDIANAPOLIS - Ryan Newman’s long goodbye to Penske Racing isn’t going quite as smoothly as planned.
Two weeks after Newman and team owner Roger Penske announced the current Daytona 500 champion would not return next season — a decision Newman called “mutual” — former Series champion turned commentator Rusty Wallace said Newman was fired.
“He didn’t leave. I’ve read many, many stories that said that,” Wallace said. “Roger Penske called Ryan Newman up to his offices and said ’I don’t need your services next year.’ Ryan Newman didn’t come to him and say ’I’m leaving.”’
Newman brushed aside the claim by his former Penske Racing teammate.
“I don’t know what Rusty’s grounds are, what he’s trying to prove by saying that. That wasn’t the case,” Newman said. “Roger and I decided mutually to not continue, and it was more my decision I would say. I said our goals didn’t aline and for that reason, and that reason alone we decided to not continue after 2008.”
Newman said Wallace’s comments may have been residue from their frosty relationship while driving for Penske before Wallace’s retirement following the 2005 season.
“It doesn’t matter to me,” Newman said. “I know Rusty and I know his personalities, plural, and everybody’s different.”
Newman enters Sunday’s race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway 16th in the season standings and is in danger of missing the Chase for the championship for the third straight year and has been critical of the Penske program recently as it struggles to compete against powerhouse teams like Joe Gibbs Racing.
“We’ve been good, we haven’t been great,” Newman said. “Good gets us close to the chase. Great gets us in it.”
Newman said he’s still sorting through his options for 2009, though he is considered a leading candidate to join Tony Stewart at the newly formed Stewart-Haas team. He has no timetable on when he’ll get a deal done next season, though he admits the longer it drags out, the more distracting the process could become.
“I feel bad for the guys with the Alltel Dodge because I don’t want to take away from them from a performance standpoint,” Newman said. “I don’t think it is when I’m inside the racecar, but when I’m outside the racecar it takes some effort to manage the situation.”
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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.
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.
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