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.
Eleven shots separated Phil and Tiger Sunday at Pebble Beach as Lefty secured his 40th Tour win. Jason Sobel had 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.
On Saturday night during the first intermission of his team's victory over the Phoenix Coyotes, Dallas Stars co-GM Brett Hull took a moment to analyze his teams' season so far. In his opinion, the first period was the best the Stars had played all season — maybe a sign of good things to come.
They ended up winning the game, and while it helps, one win doesn't solve everything. The Stars are 2-4-1 in their past seven games and in danger of falling too far behind in the competitive Western Conference.
The addition of popular defenseman Darryl Sydor will help the dressing room, but there's more the Stars need to do to turn things around:
1. Play for Dave
Nobody in Dallas is saying coach Dave Tippett's job is in jeopardy, but if nothing else this season, we've learned that a coaching change is often looked at as a quick fix.
"There's not enough good coaches in this league to throw away a great one when you have it," Hull told SportingNews.com when asked if Tippett's job was in trouble.
In Tippett, the Stars have a players' coach the team likes competing for. They'd prefer to keep it that way.
"The grass isn't always greener on the other side. We've gone through a lot and he's been here a long time," captain Brenden Morrow said. "We want him calling the shots and leading the way."
2. Trade for an established backup goalie
This is not a shot at Tobias Stephan, the current backup to Marty Turco. But the fact is, Stephan has played in five career NHL games so there's more pressure on Turco to perform this season than there was in the past — especially when Mike Smith was around.
"Smitty was a guy they could turn to when Marty was struggling and they knew what they had," said Jay Feaster, the former Tampa Bay Lightning G.M. who acquired Smith from Dallas. "It gave Marty a chance to sit back and breathe. ... Now, they don't have that. It's a different dynamic for the team and a different dynamic for Turco."
After a slow start, Turco's play has improved. He said he's finding a rhythm on the ice but understands that, right now, there can't be a slipup in goal.
"We need great goaltending to have a chance to win and that's unfortunate," Turco told SportingNews.com. "But hopefully we're working our way out of it."
3. Keep things in perspective
Following ugly losses, there's a tendency to lash out, Mike Modano said.
"When things aren't going well, there's frustration that leads to certain outbursts," he said. "When those things happen, you get a little irritable, your patience gets short and it leads to frustration."
But sometimes it takes an outsider to provide the perspective. During the losing, the frustration coming from the Stars' dressing room was obvious. But following Saturday's game, Coyotes coach Wayne Gretzky preached patience for the Stars.
"It's a long year," Gretzky said. "They're going to be there at the end. They have so much depth, a good goaltender and one of the best coaching staffs in the league. They're going to be a tough team over the course of 82 games."
Chemistry 101
There's been speculation that the addition of Sean Avery has led to chemistry issues inside the Stars dressing room. While Avery declined to comment, his teammates and coach said the chemistry concerns surrounding the Stars are fiction:
Tippett: "A lot of stuff gets overblown by media. That's the way it is in society right now. If anything, it makes the group closer inside. They see the (garbage) that's being said. That's the honest to God truth. Stuff gets blown out of proportion. People like to see a car wreck, but a lot of times it's just a fender bender. That's been way overblown on our team. Way overblown."
Turco: "Sometimes players get angry, trying to change things to get the guys going. When you're struggling as long as we were, you always look for alternative motives to inject energy in this group. There are no worries there."
Morrow: "Chemistry is a huge deal with any team. I don't think what we've gone through is a bigger problem than we have in the past. I think it's just when teams are winning nobody really reads into those things, but when teams aren't having success and everyone is frustrated and you say a little more, it goes in the media and becomes a bigger story."
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.
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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.
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.
Paul Pierce has been around long enough to know what Rajon Rondo's performance can mean for the aging Boston Celtics.
