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.
Jeremy Lin hit a free throw with 4.9 seconds left to overcome a dreadful second half and lift the New York Knicks to their fifth straight victory, 100-98, over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday night.
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.
CFT: Jordan Jefferson makes it clear he wasn't happy with LSU's game plan in the Tigers' BCS Championship Game loss to Alabama.
Move over, Hollywood and NFL types, golf's two real A-listers take center stage Sunday at Pebble Beach, both in need of a win.
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.
AP
PARIS - Riders could face a nervous wait over the next two weeks as the French Anti-Doping Agency retests blood samples from this year’s Tour de France in a bid to catch more cyclists using the banned blood booster EPO.
More than six weeks after the doping-marred Tour ended, AFLD chief Pierre Bordry announced his lab is retesting blood samples from cyclists they suspect may have used CERA — a third-generation form of EPO — during the showcase event.
Bordry told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the testing concerns several riders who were already under scrutiny for having suspicious urine samples that hinted strongly at EPO usage. The original urine tests, carried out in a Lausanne-based laboratory, had cast a shadow of doubt over several riders but proved inconclusive.
“I have decided that we will retest — with blood testing — all those who showed up as suspicious during the urine samples,” Bordry said by telephone. “When we did the urine samples of those athletes, we had a serious suspicion that there was CERA. The laboratory could not say definitively. The same analysis will be done, but in the blood samples.”
Bordry ordered the blood samples to be sent back to France for analysis. The tests will be done at the Chatenay-Malabry lab that snared Floyd Landis for testosterone after the 2006 Tour.
“All the blood tests have been repatriated to France,” Bordry said, adding that testing began Monday.
Bordry declined to name the cyclists concerned, adding that the AFLD must first inform the riders if they are positive before making any news official.
However, Bordry said the testing will take “10 days, 15 days maximum.” That makes it possible that a rider could be informed during the UCI world championships in Varese, Italy, starting Tuesday and ending Sept. 28.
Italian rider Riccardo Ricco already tested positive for CERA during the Tour, and others may follow.
Tour director Christian Prudhomme would not comment, one of his advisers said, while the testing is ongoing.
“It is a matter for the AFLD,” spokesman Christophe Marchadier said by telephone.
However, it would be another big blow to cycling if more riders test positive.
Two years ago, the Landis scandal rocked the Tour, and its credibility was almost destroyed in 2007.
After the final mountain stage of the 2007 Tour, Michael Rasmussen held a comfortable lead and looked set to win.
Then, late that night, the Danish rider was removed by his own Rabobank team for lying about his whereabouts when he missed pre-race drug tests. The previous day, Alexandre Vinokourov, Astana’s star rider, tested positive for a blood transfusion after winning the stage 13 time trial.
Some sponsors and television companies ended their deals — and others followed suit after this year’s Tour.
Prudhomme, however, keeps on insisting that the net is closing in on cheats and that cycling is cleaning itself up.
CERA is relatively new on the market. If the latest tests reveal more positive cases, dopers would be forced to look for a new product they hope will slip under the radar.
Bordry also said Wednesday that Spanish rider Moises Duenas Nevado’s “B” sample came back positive for EPO, confirming the original finding.
Also testing positive during this year’s Tour were Manuel Beltran of Spain, for EPO, and Dmitriy Fofonov of Kazakhstan, for a banned stimulant.
Ricco and his teammate Leonardo Piepoli were fired by the Saunier Duval team — which also lost its sponsor.
Even though Piepoli did not test positive, he was released for violating the team’s ethical code. Spanish media later reported that Piepoli had admitted to his team that he took the same form of EPO as Ricco.
French cyclist Jimmy Casper tested positive for a banned steroid, but has since been cleared on the grounds that he had forgotten to renew a prescription for a long-standing asthma problem.
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.
NEW YORK (AP) - As the glow fades from the Giants' Super Bowl triumph, some New York sports fans are tuning in to basketball and hockey, with the Rangers in first place and the Knicks' overnight sensation, Jeremy Lin, sparking "Lin-sanity.''
Robins: This year, six new breeds will be making their debut on the green carpet for the Westminster Dog Show, which begins Monday.
 | Slideshow |
 |
The Week in Sports Pictures The Giants on top of the football world, getting ready for the London Olympics and more. more photos |
| Slide show |
 | The Week in Sports Pictures The Giants on top of the football world, getting ready for the London Olympics and more. more photos |
| Slideshow |
 | Who's hot on Twitter? Check out which of your favorite athletes have the best pages and most followers! NBCSports.com |
 | Special feature |
 | NBCSports.com |
| Slideshow |
 | Presidential candidates and sports How do President Obama and his Republican rivals stack up when it comes to their sports backgrounds? |
Inside NBCSports.com |
Jeremy Lin hit a free throw with 4.9 seconds left to overcome a dreadful second half and lift the New York Knicks to their fifth straight victory, 100-98, over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday night.
Doron Lamb hit a 3-pointer with 3:18 left to put No. 1 Kentucky ahead to stay, and the Wildcats took a big step toward a Southeastern Conference regular-season title by beating Vanderbilt 69-63 Saturday night for their 17th straight win.
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.