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.
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.
NEW YORK - The New York Mets and general manager Omar Minaya are close to reaching an agreement on a new contract.
The deal probably will be for four years running through the 2012 season but the length could change before the contract is finalized, a person familiar with the talks said Tuesday night. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal has not been completed.
Minaya skirted the issue after New York beat the Chicago Cubs 6-2 on Tuesday night, saying only that he would talk to Jeff Wilpon, the club’s chief operating officer, about his contract after the season.
“I have a very good relationship with Jeff and I think that he enjoys working with me,” Minaya said. “We’ll sit down and talk.”
Minaya took over as GM in September 2004, agreeing to a five-year contract, and the Mets won the NL East in 2006. They collapsed last season, wasting a seven-game lead with 17 to play, and Minaya took some heat after bringing manager Willie Randolph back for this season only to fire him during a West Coast trip in June.
The Mets were precariously close to another collapse before beating the Cubs. They lead Milwaukee by one game in the wild-card race and are 1½ games back of Philadelphia in the NL East with five games left on their schedule.
Minaya, 49, grew up in a Dominican family in Queens, where his mother worked in a plastics factory. His father worked on the Brooklyn docks.
After a brief and undistinguished professional playing career in the minor leagues, he worked for the Texas Rangers from 1985-95, then was hired by the Mets two years later as an assistant general manager. He was promoted to senior assistant GM in 1998, then in 2002 was hired by the commissioner’s office as Montreal’s general manager.
SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?
DeMarco: Plug in a well-heeled ownership group and negotiate one of those mega-bucks TV deals that are going around, and the Dodgers could become the west coast version of the New York Yankees or Boston Red Sox.
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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.
After leading by 18 points in the first half, the Los Angeles Lakers were staring at a four-point deficit with less than two minutes to play.
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.