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.
AP fileBabcock’s job has gotten tougher
Another one of the big challenges facing Detroit is for coach Mike Babcock to keep the interest of his players on the task at hand and to do so while making sure that he doesn’t come off as being oppressive. Babcock is a task master and that’s not going to change. But you have to think that he knows he must keep things fresh and different and, when he can, light-hearted for his players. He needs to make sure he never lets his team stray too far from that center line that they have to march down if they are going to make a serious bid at a second straight Stanley Cup. It’s a mission with a supreme purpose but all the fun can’t be stripped out of taking on this challenge.
Going into the season Babcock knows the attention span of his players when he is speaking will not be as great this season as it was last season and that’s just human nature. The environment coming off winning a championship is not 100 percent conducive to the players paying 100 percent attention to detail.
The great fear that elite professional athletes have is the fear of failure. Look for Babcock to use that to his advantage with the Red Wings. This is a franchise that is built ever year to win the Stanley Cup and the players know that. There is no doubt Babcock’s job this season is more difficult than it was last season. But the biggest thing is his favor is he has a better team this year than a year ago.
Some final thoughts
If the Red Wings don’t repeat as champions, will their season have been a failure? Not to me because of all the considerable obstacles involved in trying to win back-to-back titles. If I didn’t believe it was that tough a thing to do I would pick the Red Wings to repeat in a heartbeat. In today’s NHL I think it’s next to impossible to repeat. Detroit may well prove the latest example of that.
I’ll close by saying that if the Red Wings do win it all again, I will bow down to them and give them their just recognition and praise as a team that found ways to successfully navigate one the most difficult rocky roads in all of sports — the one that leads to winning consecutive Stanley Cups.
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.
Check out highlights from the Rangers 3-2 win over the Capitals.
 | Slideshow |
 |
more photos |
ProHockeyTalk headlines |
 | Video: NHL from NBC Sports |
 NHLI via Getty Images |
| Slideshow |
 | NHL All-Stars Take a look at the players who competed in Team Chara's 12-9 victory over Team Alfredsson. more photos |
| Slideshow |
 | more photos |
| Slideshow |
 | more photos |
| Slideshow |
 |
| Slideshow |
 | more photos |
 | Slideshow |
 |
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.
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.
NBC Sports TV and livestream listings