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.
Getty ImagesNEW YORK - Chad Pennington quickly became the odd man out once Brett Favre joined the New York Jets.
Pennington was released Thursday, ending the quarterback’s eight-year, injury-plagued career with the Jets. He was expected to find a new home soon: Minnesota and Miami were mentioned as possible destinations.
“It’s a bittersweet moment for us,” general manager Mike Tannenbaum said early Thursday when announcing the trade for Favre.
“I have all the respect in the world for Chad as a person and a player,” he said. “He gave his heart and soul to this organization for a long, long time. I really appreciate everything he has done.”
A first-round pick in 2000, Pennington became the popular face of the franchise for several seasons and arrived in camp competing with Kellen Clemens for the starting job.
The Jets jettisoned Pennington to clear salary cap space once they got Favre from Green Bay for a conditional draft pick.
The 32-year-old Pennington had three years, plus a team option year, remaining on his contract. He was due $4.8 million this season and his salary cap figure is $7.8 million.
Pennington ranks first in NFL history among quarterbacks with at least 1,500 attempts with a 65.6 completion percentage. He was often recognized as being a true leader in the huddle and an intelligent field general, but was dogged throughout his time in New York for his lack of arm strength.
Bill Parcells, the Dolphins’ vice president of football operations, drafted Pennington with the 18th overall pick in 2000 when he was the Jets’ general manager. That relationship, combined with Miami’s struggles at quarterback in training camp with Josh McCown, second-year man John Beck and rookie Chad Henne, make the Dolphins a possible candidate to nab Pennington.
Adding to the intrigue would be the fact the Jets open the regular season at Miami. Still, the Dolphins remained mum Thursday night on the possibility.
“I’m happy with the people we have here right now,” Dolphins coach Tony Sparano said. “We have three quarterbacks right now on the team, and we’re finding it hard right now to get all three of those guys the work they need. But we’re doing that.”
According to ESPN.com, a half dozen teams have contacted Pennington's agent Tom Condon to express interest in signing the quarterback.
Big things were expected by the Jets from Pennington, who had a brilliant college career at Marshall. He beat out popular veteran Vinny Testaverde in 2002 and led the Jets to the playoffs, including a stunning 41-0 victory over Indianapolis.
The injuries began the following season, when he broke his left wrist in a preseason game against the Giants. He returned the following year and led the Jets within a game of the AFC championship, but then underwent two rotator cuff operations in eight months.
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Pennington’s career was in doubt, but he bounced back and was the NFL Comeback Player of the Year after beating out Clemens, Brooks Bollinger and Patrick Ramsey for the starting job in 2006. He had his best all-around season, throwing for a career-high 3,352 yards while again leading the Jets to the playoffs and starting every game for the first time.
Coach Eric Mangini anointed him the starter the following offseason, but Pennington struggled mightily before being benched in favor of Clemens after Week 8.
Pennington was 1-7 as the starter, and Clemens went 3-5, but the veteran actually had the better season statistically. He threw for 1,765 yards and 10 touchdowns and nine interceptions; Clemens had 1,529 yards, five TDs and 10 interceptions in 10 fewer pass attempts.
Pennington had done a bit better than Clemens early in training camp, and was considered the favorite to open the season as the starter at Miami. Clemens, entering his third season, will now be the backup to Favre.
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.
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.
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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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