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.
Golf's dream pairing - Woods and Mickelson - is on the course in the final round at Pebble Beach. Jason Sobel has 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.
Euro Roundup: First-place Manchester City won 1-0 at Aston Villa on Sunday on Joleon Lescott's goal in the 63rd minute, maintaining its two-point lead over Manchester United in the Premier League.
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.
AFP/Getty ImagesGB: Aside from cancer research and raising awareness, why do you think Lance wants to come back?
CC: He wants to win. He thinks he can win. Also, his Livestrong initiative. Then, I think he has kind of gotten a bum rap. Three years after his retirement, a lot of people were taking potshots at him saying there was this "black" generation of athletes that were dopers and Lance got lumped into that although he was never found positive or ever had a positive drug control or anything that would establish that. Even all the way up to the television network Versus airing these commercials about taking back the Tour de France. They didn’t include Lance, but it could have easily been perceived that way. Lance’s victories were clean and they were legitimate, but he felt slighted. If he comes back and wins the Tour after three years retired and 37 years old, having a very aggressive independent drug control program in place that’s transparent with all his blood and urine tests on the web for everyone to see, that sends a pretty strong message.
GB: With Lance having been out of the sport now for several years, how much of a disadvantage do you think he’s at?
CC: It’s not really his age that I’m concerned about as much as he’s been three years removed from elite competition. That’s the aspect that will be his challenge.
GB: Many people have said it’d be great to see Lance finish in the top five at the Tour de France. Something tells me he doesn’t feel the same. If he does not win, how much do you think that will bother him?
CC: Well, let me tell you. Lance is not going back to the Tour de France to finish second. It’s obviously a very big challenge and he recognizes that, but his standard is winning.
GB: Since Lance has decided to come back, what do you recall from that first day of serious training?
CC: It wasn’t like there was a first day. He just kept going from Leadville. In his training from Leadville, I recall how quickly he adapts to training. He basically had a good, solid three weeks of training for Leadville and he improved dramatically from the start of training to right before the race. I’ve always noticed how quickly he responds to training and what huge improvements can be seen.
GB: You’ve said what really separates Lance from the other professional cyclists is that there are a lot of cyclists that will train as hard as Lance for a single day, but Lance is at it 24/7 365 days a year. That’s the type of athlete he is. Explain that.
CC: The relentless consistency that I’ve seen in Lance. It’s his ability day-in-and-day-out to just drive and look for success and asking the very most of himself. It’s eating right so much so that he weighs the food that he eats to make sure that he’s not taking in more than he expended. It’s his dedication to technology and getting in the wind tunnel two to three times per year. He looks at all the different aspects: pedal cadence, specific heart rate, climbing. Not just during the cycling season, it’s during the offseason, too. I have yet to see somebody else who can carry that intensity 24/7 365 days a year.
I’ll give you a good story. One time, we’re doing a reconnaissance of all the Tour de France stages. Lance would go out and ride every stage of the Tour de France. One day, he was riding over four mountain passes in the Pyrenees, a very brutal stage. It was the end of April, it was cold, and there was snow on the top of these passes. It was going to be about 130 miles in the saddle. It had amounted to about seven-and-a-half hours of riding that day. We finished on the top of this big mountain. After seven-and-a-half hours of riding, we finished the 10-mile climb to the top. I thought Lance was done. He said, “Look, Chris, I didn’t get this. I didn’t get the last climb. After seven-and-a-half hours and 130 miles in the saddle, he turned around and descended down and rode that last climb again up to the finish. It ended up being close to nine hours in the saddle. I’ve never seen anything like that and that’s what I mean. That level of intensity I haven’t seen repeated by anybody.
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.
NEW YORK (AP) - As the glow fades from the Giants' Super Bowl triumph, some New York sports fans are tuning in to basketball and hockey, with the Rangers in first place and the Knicks' overnight sensation, Jeremy Lin, sparking "Lin-sanity.''
Robins: This year, six new breeds will be making their debut on the green carpet for the Westminster Dog Show, which begins Monday.
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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.
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.
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