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 ImagesLemming believes Notre Dame’s biggest problem, though, has been its inability to attract game-breaking talent. "You have to have the great players," he said.
In 1990, Holtz recruited five future first-round NFL draft picks in one recruiting class — running back Jerome Bettis, defensive tackle Bryant Young, offensive guard Aaron Taylor, safety Jeff Burris and cornerback Tom Carter. In the 14 drafts since, Notre Dame has had a total of four first-round draft picks.
During that same span, Miami has produced 33 first-round draft picks, Ohio State 25 and USC 17.
The lack of impact players also shows up in Heisman Trophy voting.
From 1936 until Reggie Brooks finished fifth in 1992, Notre Dame never went more than five years without someone finishing in the top 10. After that, Notre Dame went 12 straight seasons without anyone until Brady Quinn finished fourth in 2005 and third in 2006.
Lemming believes Notre Dame’s troubles began with the 1991 recruiting class, when several players Holtz recruited weren’t admitted to Notre Dame.
Holtz confirms there were two recruits who scored well on their college entrance exams, but weren’t admitted because the admissions director had a policy that he wouldn’t accept a football player from a high school where another student who was more academically qualified was rejected.
"That’s just the way Notre Dame operated," Holtz said. "That was his philosophy. I disagreed with it, but obviously the president agreed with it because that’s the way it was."
Holtz said the coach at Notre Dame must realize there are challenges.
"That’s the way Notre Dame runs," he said. "That’s what makes Notre Dame special."
But it shouldn’t stop the Irish from competing for titles, said the coach who won 100 games for Notre Dame.
"The good students are going to be really attracted to Notre Dame. Even today, just the word Notre Dame carries such power. Now their facilities are tremendous," he said.
"Notre Dame is still Notre Dame. It’s still a special place."
Jack Swarbrick, who just started as athletic director full time on Aug. 18, said he knows of no reason why the Irish can’t compete, although he does believe its academics gives the school a smaller margin of error than other places.
"That doesn’t mean we can’t win. We might not be in that game as often as somebody who doesn’t face that. But it doesn’t mean we can’t be there," he said.
Weis also believes the Irish can be on top again, though before he took the job in December 2004 some people told him he shouldn’t because of all the obstacles critics cite.
"What I found from being here is it’s the furthest thing from being the truth," Weis said.
"We’ve taken all those things and flipped those. When we go out recruiting, we ask students, 'What are other schools saying, you’re too dumb to come here?' And that gets their attention because that’s a negative recruiting tool that’s frequently used against you. Or if somebody from the South tells them it’s too cold in South Bend, we say, 'You don’t want to play on Sundays then? Because it’s cold on Sundays in December.'"
Weis can’t explain Notre Dame’s title drought better than any other Irish fan. He just wants to be on the sideline when it ends.
"I’m just trying to get there," he said. "I’m just worried about heading in that direction."
It took a while for the light bulb to go on, but when it did, Jonas Gray finally showed the talent many had expected from the blue-chip prospect from Detroit. In a recent interview, Gray, who is rehabbing an ACL injury to get ready for the NFL Scouting Combine, expressed the confidence and support he has for head coach Brian Kelly.
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The Week in Sports Pictures The Giants on top of the football world, getting ready for the London Olympics and more. more photos |
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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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.