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.
Jeremy Lin hit a free throw with 4.9 seconds left to overcome a dreadful second half and lift the New York Knicks to their fifth straight victory, 100-98, over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday night.
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.
CFT: Jordan Jefferson makes it clear he wasn't happy with LSU's game plan in the Tigers' BCS Championship Game loss to Alabama.
Move over, Hollywood and NFL types, golf's two real A-listers take center stage Sunday at Pebble Beach, both in need of a win.
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.
AP
GAINESVILLE, Fla. - Tim Tebow circled Florida Field, high-fiving fans, posing for photographs and listening to chants of “one more year.”
He took backup quarterback John Brantley along for the lap, a possible gesture that it was the Heisman Trophy winner’s last game at The Swamp.
“I don’t want to think about it like that at all,” Tebow said.
If it was his home finale, Tebow put on a show — albeit a brief one.
Tebow threw for 201 yards and three touchdowns, Chris Rainey ran for 142 yards and a score, and the third-ranked Gators overwhelmed The Citadel 70-19 on Saturday.
Florida (10-1) scored touchdowns on its first seven possessions, racked up 512 yards in the first half alone and became the first Southeastern Conference team to score at least 42 points in six consecutive games.
The Gators finished with 705 yards and did little wrong against an overmatched opponent from the Football Championship Subdivision. Even when they tried to run out the clock to end the opening half, Rainey broke up the middle for a 46-yard gain.
Another telling sign of the mismatch came early in the third quarter, when Gators coach Urban Meyer gave defensive tackle Javier Estopinan, a fifth-year senior who has undergone three knee operations and isn’t even listed on the depth chart, a carry near the goal line. Estopinan scored untouched from a yard out, the first touchdown of his career, to make it 56-6.
“It was awesome,” Estopinan said. “There’s no better feeling. (Coach is) stingy with his touchdowns. There’s so many playmakers on offense you would never think you’re going to get a touchdown.”
Estopinan was one of 21 seniors honored before the game, and Meyer got many of them involved after the opening kickoff. Kestahn Moore ran six times for 50 yards and scored twice. Louis Murphy caught a touchdown pass.
“Nowadays, to sustain four years of college football, man, that’s hard,” Meyer said. “Guys don’t make it for one reason or another.”
Meyer would like to see three juniors return. But Tebow, receiver Percy Harvin and linebacker Brandon Spikes could jump to the NFL.
Tebow seems like the most likely to return. He finished 9-of-11 passing and ran for 34 yards. He was in for five plays in the second quarter, then turned things over to Brantley. When it was over, Tebow grabbed Brantley, circled the field and heard all kinds of pleas for him to return.
“I think it’s cool,” said Tebow, adding that he’s trying to make the victory lap a tradition. “It’s not like a burden or anything. It just lets you know they want you.”
The Gators extended their winning streak to seven games, continued their first-quarter success and looked every bit ready for next week’s game against rival Florida State. Florida has outscored its last seven opponents 122-0 in the first quarter.
The first-team defense has been nearly as dominant, having not allowed a touchdown in five straight games.
The Citadel (4-8) punted four times, threw two interceptions on its first six drives and trailed 42-0. The Bulldogs finally got on the scoreboard with a little trickery on a fourth-down play. Needing a couple yards at the Florida 29, and playing against mostly backups, receiver Scott Flanagan pulled up on a reverse and threw a TD pass to quarterback Cam Turner.
Turner was 15-of-30 for 169 yards. He threw a TD pass in the final minute, but also had was picked off twice and sacked four times.
“We didn’t execute like we would have liked,” said Citadel coach Kevin Higgins, whose program received $450,000 for its worst loss of the season. “Obviously, it was a great football team that we were playing against.”
Even Florida’s backups looked good Saturday.
Emmanuel Moody ran 13 times for 116 yards and a touchdown. Brantley finished 8-of-11 for 110 yards and score. Rainey and Riley Cooper had two of the best plays in a game filled with Florida highlights.
Rainey started left, got spun completely around by linebacker Jordon Gilmore, took a few steps in the wrong direction, cut across the field and ended up with a 73-yard gain. Cooper made a one-handed catch on a 43-yard touchdown pass from Tebow.
“He’s my roommate. He was mad at me last week because I overthrew him,” Tebow said. “I missed a touchdown there, so I was trying to get him one this week. He was happy about it. That was a pretty good one.”
CFT: Jordan Jefferson makes it clear he wasn't happy with LSU's game plan in the Tigers' BCS Championship Game loss to Alabama.
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Jeremy Lin hit a free throw with 4.9 seconds left to overcome a dreadful second half and lift the New York Knicks to their fifth straight victory, 100-98, over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday night.
Doron Lamb hit a 3-pointer with 3:18 left to put No. 1 Kentucky ahead to stay, and the Wildcats took a big step toward a Southeastern Conference regular-season title by beating Vanderbilt 69-63 Saturday night for their 17th straight win.
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.