Rotoworld: Oregon RB LaMichael James and Oklahoma State WR Justin Blackmon among top 10 players who are being overhyped for the 2012 draft.
SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?
The Detroit Red Wings equaled an NHL record with their 20th straight win at home, beating the Philadelphia Flyers 4-3 Sunday night on the strength of Johan Franzen's tiebreaking goal early in the third period.
PBT: Boston's Rajon Rondo continues to be named in trade talks, which is madness. The Celtics guard creates offense and makes everyone around him better, which was evident in Sunday's win over the Bulls.
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.
Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods greeted their Sunday pairing at Pebble Beach with optimism. But the day would end happily only for one.
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
SHANGHAI, China - With everyone tired and aching after a long season, Nikolay Davydenko may be at his best. He knows how to take advantage of a weary opponent.
The Russian reached the Masters Cup final with a 7-5, 6-2 victory Saturday over Andy Murray, who seemed exhausted from his upset of Roger Federer a day earlier.
“Murray was very tired,” Davydenko said, adding that the Scotsman looked as if he were ready “to die.”
Davydenko will play for the title Sunday against Novak Djokovic, who earlier rallied to oust France’s Gilles Simon 4-6, 6-3, 7-5. Now, Davydenko gets another opponent who is less than fresh — Djokovic needed nearly three hours to defeat Simon.
Murray went all out against Federer even though he already had clinched a spot in the semis. He added that he gave 100 percent against Davydenko, but getting to bed at 2:30 a.m. after defeating Federer didn’t leave much left in his tank.
“I beat probably the best player of all time,” Murray said. “I have no regrets about doing that. To beat him ... means a similar amount to winning a tournament like this. Ideally, I would have liked to have beaten him easier ... and given myself a slightly better chance to prepare for this match.”
Murray often looked as if he were trudging through mud. He had only seven winners to 33 for Davydenko, who last played on Thursday, giving him plenty of time to recover.
“I don’t want to try to make excuses,” Murray said. “He played much better than me. I did the best that I could with what I had. My legs just weren’t like they were in the rest of the matches. I wasn’t getting the balls ... that I usually do.”
The final will be a rematch of a round-robin match this week, when Djokovic edged Davydenko in a 7-5 third set.
Despite consistently being ranked in the top five, Davydenko has never reached a Grand Slam final. He’s been to the Masters three times before, with his best showing a semifinals loss in 2005. He was steady and relentless against Murray.
Both players struggled with their serve early. They swapped breaks to open the match, and Murray had to fend off three break points in the third game. Murray served at 5-5 and went up 40-15, but was swinging his racket in anger between points as Davydenko pulled to deuce.
Murray thought he had an ace to save a break point, but it was overruled. Murray wasn’t convinced, walking toward the net for a look, then sent a backhand wide for the break. Davydenko ran off the last five games of the second set as Murray looked increasingly dispirited.
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“I didn’t have such a great time here last year,” he said. “Didn’t win a single set. But I learned something. Took the best out of it and used it this year.”
Simon was added to the field when No. 1 Rafael Nadal withdrew with a knee injury, then beat Federer in their opening group match.
Djokovic struggled against him in the first set, committing 21 unforced errors. But the Serb pulled himself together, mixing stinging groundstrokes with deft drop shots from behind the baseline. Djokovic served for the match at 5-4, but double-faulted on a break point.
“I was pretty exhausted, had to save some energy,” he said. “I went for the shots. I wanted to make the points shorter. I risked, and the risk didn’t pay off in that game. But it paid off afterwards.”
He broke right back and converted his second chance to finish the match, then got down on his knees and kissed the court.
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.
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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.
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The Red Wings have finally started to embrace a record they've been chasing.
