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.
Getty Images fileAnd once he got on base, look out.
“He didn’t distract. He destroyed the confidence of pitchers,” said Steve Palermo, who became an AL umpire in 1977, two years before Henderson made his debut.
“In those early days, if you were umpiring at second base and he got on with a single or walk, you just got down on one knee and waited for him to go,” he said. “Sometimes, if the other team met on the mound, you’d ask Rickey if he was going to run. He’d say first pitch or maybe the second. If you had time, you’d walk down to the umpire ahead of you and say, ’Hey, be ready, he’s coming in the next couple of pitches.”’
Eckersley remembered the first time he saw Henderson. It was a day game and the rookie was a shadow of himself, so to speak.
“I shouted at him. He was out there in the outfield, checking out how his shadow looked. Stylin’. I was like, ’What are you doing!”’
Henderson managed only a .226 on-base percentage against Eckersley, his worst showing versus any pitcher he faced at least 30 times. Yet the Eck recalled how it felt to see Henderson on base.
“He’d start jumping around and I’d be like, ’Just take the bag, I’m trying to concentrate,”’ Eckersley said.
It’s when Henderson reached second base that he really became difficult.
“I thought it was a lot easier for him to steal third,” former second baseman Steve Sax said. “Even if you held him close and made a perfect throw there, you had to be lucky to get him.”
Sax played with Henderson on the New York Yankees, then was playing against him in 1991 at Oakland when Rickey stole No. 939 to break Brock’s record. Henderson made a headfirst dive into third base, yanked the bag out of the ground and held it over his head.
With Brock in attendance, Henderson told the crowd: “Lou Brock was a symbol of great base stealing, but today I am the greatest of all time.”
Standing in the middle of the infield, Sax laughed.
“It was funny,” he said, “but Rickey was right.”
SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?
DeMarco: Plug in a well-heeled ownership group and negotiate one of those mega-bucks TV deals that are going around, and the Dodgers could become the west coast version of the New York Yankees or Boston Red Sox.
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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.
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