Super Bowl XLVI
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.
Buried on the bench a little more than a week ago, the Knicks' Jeremy Lin is now the toast of New York.
Arc: After heartbreaking loss, Tyler Zeller and No. 5 North Carolina made an impressive statement with a 70-52 win over No. 19 Virginia.
CFT: Jordan Jefferson makes it clear he wasn't happy with LSU's game plan in the Tigers' BCS Championship Game loss to Alabama.
Charlie Wi holds a three-shot lead at the midway point of the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am and Tiger Woods sits six back.
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.
SOUTH BEND, Ind. - It was a little more than 18 months ago when, stung by the loss of players who had verbally committed to Notre Dame but signed elsewhere, Irish coach Charlie Weis issued his “if they’re looking, we’re looking” mantra.
That bold stance was nearly put to a severe test recently.
Running back Cierre Wood, who committed to Notre Dame in April, was recently quoted in an espn.com article saying that, while still solidly committed to the Irish, he would take visits elsewhere, most notably Florida, UCLA and possibly Cal.
"I just want to take my visits to see what is out there and have some fun with it," said Wood, a senior at Santa Clara High School in Oxnard, Calif. "I'm sold on Notre Dame, that won't change, but I've heard from so many people how fun the visits are, so I plan on taking at least two or three."
Not long after, however, before Irish fans everywhere could fall into deep panic, Wood changed his tune.
"I'm not going to take any trips outside the Notre Dame trip," the 6-foot, 189-pound Wood said last week. "I'm so committed to Notre Dame there's no reason to visit other schools."
The fact that Florida was one of the schools mentioned in the visit conversation had to be the most concerning, considering the recent history of Notre Dame commits who have flipped to the Gators.
Two years ago, New Jersey defensive end Justin Trattou committed to ND early in the recruiting cycle before changing his mind and signing with Urban Meyer. Last year, standout nose tackle Omar Hunter of Buford, Ga., picked the Irish following his junior year before switching to the Gators in January.
It wasn’t bad enough that the Irish lost the players to Florida, but they also lost them to Meyer, a former ND assistant who was believed to be a front-runner for the ND job when it came open after Tyrone Willingham was fired. Meyer instead took the Florida job and won a national title in just his second season.
Wood, who plays at Santa Clara High School in Oxnard, Calif., would appear ticketed for Notre Dame, but that won’t stop rival schools from pursuing him. He admitted in the espn.com interview that he was still getting recruited heavily after thinking it would slow down once he committed. Signing day is Feb. 4.
Loss to Michigan
Notre Dame may have won the war against Michigan with its 35-17 thumping of the Wolverines last Saturday, but Michigan won a smaller battle when it beat out the Irish for defensive end Anthony LaLota.
LaLota, a senior at The Hun School in Princeton, N.J., picked Michigan over a list of schools that included ND. LaLota’s teammate, nose tackle Tyler Stockton, committed to Notre Dame in April, the same weekend that the Irish landed Wood.
Eye on juniors
Weis and his staff appear to be well ahead of the pace they were on last year in terms of offering high school juniors. Last year at this time, Notre Dame had offered one junior – Youngstown, Ohio defensive tackle John Simon, who eventually committed to Ohio State.
This year, Notre Dame reportedly has offered close to 15 high school juniors, the headliner being St. Paul, Minn., offensive lineman Seantrel Henderson. Henderson plays at the same school, Cretin Derham Hall, as current Irish freshman Michael Floyd.
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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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.
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.