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
DENVER - Lance Armstrong scrapped his much-publicized plan to set up an independent drug-testing program on Wednesday because of high costs and nearly impossible logistics.
When the seven-time Tour de France winner announced his comeback, he said he wanted to prove he was clean by getting anti-doping expert Don Catlin to test him and post the results online.
But after months of negotiations, both sides realized the program wasn’t workable this year. Instead, Armstrong is set to announce Thursday that he’ll post test results from cycling’s international federation and his own Astana cycling team on his Web site, www.livestrong.com
“It was going to be difficult,” Catlin said. “There were so many issues in trying to get this going — legal issues, financial issues, and we sort of tried every which way. Finally, it made more sense to put it aside for the moment and maybe take it up at another time.”
Armstrong began his comeback last month in Australia. He’ll race next in the Tour of California, which starts Saturday. He also has announced plans to ride in the Tour de France this summer.
Armstrong’s lawyer, Bill Stapleton, said the cyclist has taken 16 out-of-competition tests; results from seven already are posted on the Web site. Armstrong’s team is negotiating with the world and U.S. anti-doping agencies for access to other results.
The Catlin program would have been considered the gold standard for testing — a regimen designed by the man widely regarded as the world’s top authority on such tests.
“But the program got really expensive, really complicated, trying to coordinate everything,” Stapleton said.
News of the decision to scrap the plan first was reported by The New York Times.
Part of the problem in working out a deal with Catlin was the logistical issues of adding another round of tests to go with what was already in place.
“And we were having to figure out how to pay for it,” Catlin said. “You’re coordinating collectors ... doing all these things. It became a nightmare of logistic issues and also, when you’re drawing blood, an athlete can rightfully complain if you take too much.”
Though he never tested positive during his record-setting career, suspicions were always out there, which was one reason the 37-year-old cyclist went to Catlin to quiet the naysayers.
Catlin ran America’s first anti-doping lab in UCLA for 25 years and left to set up the nonprofit Anti-Doping Research to develop new ways of catching drug cheats.
He is a proponent of performing baseline tests of athletes for a number of illegal substances, then comparing subsequent tests against the original results. It is widely considered a more accurate way of testing than the method most commonly used, but is also more expensive and time-intensive.
UCI has begun performing baseline tests. Under Catlin’s program, Armstrong presumably would have been tested the same way — but there were too many moving parts to make it work this year.
Armstrong bristled at an AP report last November, shortly before he was to begin training in earnest, that said the Web site he promised when he announced his return was nonexistent.
“It’s a tough thing to organize, but we’ll make it happen,” he said.
He added that he stood ready to be tested every day. “Whether I’m in France or in LA, no one’s trying to pull a fast one here,” he said.
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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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.