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.
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.
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A long window in Thomas Dimitroff’s office overlooks the Atlanta Falcons practice field. Next to the window stands an exercise bike — a high-end job with a blue frame and a sweat-catching towel positioned underneath it.
Up here, the Falcons 42-year-old GM can spin his wheels while below, the team he and head coach Mike Smith built, keeps gaining traction in the NFC South.
The wiry, tousled-hair architect of the fast-rising Falcons, Dimitroff’s got a charmingly forceful personality. The kind that gets people enthused. He’s also got a backlog of experience that — coupled with his energy and decisiveness — has given the 7-4 Falcons direction after their 4-12 season from hell in 2007.
A protégé of Patriots vice president of player personnel Scott Pioli, Dimitroff’s got the same limelight-shunning, credit-sharing traits Pioli’s shown in his time building the Patriots dynasty. He doesn’t want the Falcons success to be about him.
He knows that from his six seasons in New England that, if selflessness starts at the top, it filters down quickly.
Asked why the Falcons have been able to rebuild so quickly this season, Dimitroff doesn’t mention the shrewd drafting of quarterback Matt Ryan or the plum free agent signing of running back Michael Turner.
He first credits Smith.
“I think it all starts with the choice of Mike Smith given his personality and his leadership style,” says Dimitroff. “The culture we have in this building across the board whether it be in management, coaching or players is about positive, passionate, persevering people. We want people to want to be here and to want to play football and be fired up about this organization. I really believe, with Mike’s approach and his coaching staff and the concerted effort we made to get the kind of player in here who believed in the system and were resilient enough to deal with a rebuilding program who could take the hard knocks and stay positive.”
Organizational personality seems to be at the core of what Dimitroff is trying to instill in Atlanta. Know your job, enjoy your job.
"I have a phrase I’ve been using — and I know it’s a little cliché — but I call it ‘indisputable role understanding.’ Let’s face it, if you believe in the basic tenets of the team concept, you learn to do your job to the best of your ability and don’t worry about the other guy’s job, don’t spread your tentacles into a place you’re not involved. Then you can stand shoulder-to-shoulder and know that he has the same understanding as you. Bill Belichick (the Patriots head coach) has always stressed, ‘Do your job.’ If you do that, you have a very good chance of being successful. Bring that commitment to the field and the office and all the departments and be definitive about what everyone’s roles are so there is no ambiguity.”
As a scout, then a scouting director, Dimitroff went to school on what worked and didn’t work around the league. Observing so that, when he got to the position he’s in now, he could enact things he thought were valuable.
“I knew if I was ever in a spot to do it, I wanted a positive environment where everyone could enjoy the journey. Work hard — but enjoy it. The only way to really affect that was to be in a (general manager’s) chair like this. And I’m not talking about walking down the hall and clicking my heels. It’s high stress and fast-paced a lot of the time, but it’s important that people enjoy and look forward to coming to work.”
One of the most important aspects of enacting a healthy environment was making sure the coaching and scouting departments were on the same page. Developing cohesion in the program.
“Mike and I used the model that Bill and Scott have in New England,” Dimitroff explains. “The closeness, the regular communication. That was a big part of my focus here. It had to be comfortable interaction. And Mike and I, the first time we spoke what was supposed to be a 90-minute meeting ended up being a three hour meeting. We respect each other's craft. I respect coaches immensely. My father was a coach. And Mike respects the institution of scouting.”
The relationship Dimitroff and Pioli built in New England is strong. People talk about “coaching trees”. The scouting tree branching off from Pioli in New England is now beginning to blossom.
“Scott is a strong personality — very passionate about football, a very detailed administrator, a very adept evaluator. The way he orchestrated the personnel side and got the proper information and proper direction of the team and system from Bill Belichick and was able to disseminate that information to me and the scouting staff, we all felt we were on the proverbial same page. And that was very important going out to scout. We weren’t just writing people up for the league; we were writing people up for the New England Patriots. That’s something that sunk deep. I’ve been involved in other regimes and nowhere did I learn more than being around Scott and Bill and from Scott’s approach to scouting.”
The Falcons were a team in need of direction when the 2007 season ended. With Smith and Dimitroff setting the course for the new-era Falcons, Atlanta’s ahead of the curve. And — so far — enjoying the journey.
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.
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.
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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.
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.
