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.
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Like when talking about North Carolina sophomore running back Greg Little, who pulled an 11th-hour recruiting switch in February of 2007 that reshaped the way Weis processes verbal commitments.
Little will be facing Weis and Notre Dame (4-1) at Chapel Hill, N.C., Saturday, when 22nd-ranked North Carolina (4-1) takes its home field as a ranked team for the first time in a decade.
“He's a really good player,” said Weis, who was recruiting the 6-foot-3, 210-pounder as a wide receiver, his position of stated preference. “He's from his home state. Anytime you're involved in recruiting, the toughest thing to do is to get a guy to leave his home state. We're a national recruiting school. And at the end of the day he felt more comfortable staying home. And, hey, do I like that happening? No. Who can really shun a guy who wants to stay home? That's what he ended up doing.”
Weis actually lost two recruits named Little just before signing day that year. Chris Little was torn between Florida State and the Irish and ended up faxing his letter of intent to -- Georgia. Chris Little is 6-6, 350-pounds, a redshirt freshman offensive guard for the Bulldogs but he is out for the year with a foot injury.
Weis’ response to his “Little” problem a year and a half ago was a little less snuggly than his remarks earlier this week.
"We're going to spend a lot more time making sure if a guy wants to verbally commit to us, that everyone is clear on what that means," Weis said at the time. “No soft verbals, no silent verbals, no quiet verbals. Either you're committed or you're not committed. It's like you’re married to somebody, but then you're looking at other women. I don't think there's any in-between there.
"And I think one of the things we're going to make sure we do differently than we've done in the past is that when a guy wants to say yes to us, there's a clear understanding from everyone that they're not going to go visit anywhere else. They're not going to talk to anyone else. You're either committed to us, or you're not."
Greg Little, from Hillside High in nearby Durham, N.C., was torn from the beginning. He called a press conference on Oct. 9, 2006, presumably to reveal his college choice. Instead he announced he needed more time. One month later, he committed to the Irish.
If there had been a little more jabbing back and forth this week, Little might have warranted being the player to watch for the Tar Heels in Saturday’s showdown. He is Carolina’s leading rusher with 233 yards, but is averaging a modest 3.3 yards per carry.
A more intriguing target might be a guy named Tate -- for both teams.
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North Carolina junior Brandon Tate is the Tar Heels’ second-leading receiver with 16 catches. And his 23.5 yards per catch is by far the team’s best. He is also the nation’s No. 3 punt returner (24.8) and No. 20 kickoff return man (27.7). He has also averaged 13.0 yards per carry on 11 rushes.
Notre Dame’s Golden Tate is the leading Irish receiver across the board -- 23 catches, 397 yards, 17.3 yards per catch. The sophomore does line up deep on kickoff returns, but has only fielded five, with 15 going to running back Armando Allen.
Neither Tate was much of a factor at receiver until this season, when they were both able to finally combine their speed with the nuances of route-running.
And there may be another Tate on the college scene soon -- Golden’s “little” brother Wesley, a 6-2, 205-pound senior at Pope John Paul II High School in Hendersonville, Tenn. His highest-profile suitors so far are Vanderbilt, Stanford and the service academies.
“He’s bigger than me and just as fast,” Golden said. “If schools’ aren’t recruiting him, they’re going to be missing out on something special.”
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.
