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.
AP
TAMPA, Fla. - Yankees captain Derek Jeter wants to reiterate it yet again: Alex Rodriguez has the support of his teammates.
Rodriguez became an offseason focal point again this winter with the release of former manager Joe Torre’s book, “The Yankee Years.”
Torre mentioned that some people in the Yankees clubhouse referred to Rodriguez as “A-Fraud.”
“Like I’ve said before, we all support Alex. He’s our teammate,” Jeter said Wednesday after working out at the Yankees’ minor league complex.
“It seems like that we keep talking about the same things over and over again. It’s not like this a new thing that’s come up. The only thing that you’d like to see, going into spring training is, you’d like to see everyone talking about the excitement of the season and getting ready for the season. That’s the unfortunate thing.”
Jeter said former Yankees bullpen catcher Mike Borzello, in a kidding manner with Rodriguez, sometimes called the slugger “A-Fraud.”
“He joked with him, Jeter said. “It wasn’t like people on the team. I’ve never heard someone on the team say that. That never happened.”
Jeter has not read Torre’s book, but has followed recent media accounts.
“Knowing Mr. Torre, he’s never going to intentionally try to hurt somebody,” Jeter said. “He’s like a second father to me. Everyone knows how close we are. He’s not going to intentionally go out and do harm to somebody. That’s not the kind of person he is.”
A busy offseason by the Yankees, including the signing of free agents C.C. Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Mark Teixeira, has Jeter upbeat.
“I’ll tell you what, I’m probably as excited about this season as any season in a long time,” Jeter said. “We made some great additions. They said they wanted to improve our pitching staff and we got arguably two of the best in the game. We added Tex. They always talk about how great of a hitter he is. He’s an all-around player.”
The Yankees run of 13 consecutive postseason trips ended during an injury-marred season last year.
“It boils down to everybody staying healthy, especially in our division with so many good teams,” Jeter said. “I’m pretty excited about this year.”
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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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.