Rotoworld: Oregon RB LaMichael James and Oklahoma State WR Justin Blackmon among top 10 players who are being overhyped for the 2012 draft.
SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?
The Detroit Red Wings equaled an NHL record with their 20th straight win at home, beating the Philadelphia Flyers 4-3 Sunday night on the strength of Johan Franzen's tiebreaking goal early in the third period.
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Arc: Syracuse is among a solid group of No. 1 seeds in our latest tournament projections, but the middle of the pack is much more murky.
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.
Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods greeted their Sunday pairing at Pebble Beach with optimism. But the day would end happily only for one.
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.
AP
LOS ANGELES - The best-known dreadlocks in these parts got a little shorter Thursday.
Heeding the request of his manager, Manny Ramirez got a haircut, but as teammate Jeff Kent said with a smile, holding his thumb and forefinger about an inch apart: “Yeah, about that much.”
“One inch, half-an-inch,” Ramirez said. “It’s still long. If I come back next year, it will be shorter.”
The slugging outfielder, a free agent after this season, said a local barber did the job.
“One of my friends recommended him,” Ramirez said, adding it took “maybe five minutes, 10 minutes.”
After the Dodgers acquired Ramirez from the Boston Red Sox on July 31, manager Joe Torre said he asked Ramirez to “clean it up a little bit.”
“I was in the principal’s office right now,” Ramirez said upon emerging from Torre’s office some three hours before the Dodgers faced the Philadelphia Phillies. “(Torre) told me he’s fine, for now.”
When asked what that meant, Ramirez said: “Ask him. I’ve got to go stretch.”
Said Torre: “He came in and showed me. As Billy Crystal said in ‘Analyze That,’ it’s a process. He took a little bit off. It’s within the rules of cleaning it up a little bit. Right now, it’s around his shoulders. It’s not covering his name up. We’ll continue to monitor it.”
Ramirez said he plans to get his next haircut before spring training.
“He haunts me with this,” Torre said. “He says every time he gets a hit, it’s the hair. I say it’s the ability. He knows as well as everybody else around here that his ability is special. He’s a character.”
Ramirez’s teammates didn’t seem to care much.
“It’s just some hair,” outfielder Matt Kemp said.
“Ha, I doubt it,” catcher Russell Martin replied when asked if the change might have a negative impact on Ramirez, who entered Thursday night’s game hitting .467 with five homers and 16 RBIs in 12 games with the Dodgers.
SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?
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