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.
AP
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Gang violence is tarnishing the international reputation of Vancouver as it prepares to host the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, the city’s mayor said Friday.
“Vancouver has never been known for this, so in terms of our international reputation it is a problem, and we need to bear down and deal with it,” Mayor Gregor Robertson said during a news conference.
Police have blamed a hike in violence in part on a drug turf war spawned by a Mexican crackdown on drug cartels — local gangs battling over a dwindling supply of smuggled drugs reaching Canada from Mexico.
“As police, we’ve always been told by media experts to never say or admit that there is a gang war,” Vancouver police chief Jim Chu said Friday. “Well, let’s get serious. There is a gang war and it’s brutal.”
There have been 29 shootings in the Vancouver region since late January, 12 of them deadly, according to police.
“They appear all to be gang-related. Some of them still have question marks attached to them,” said Royal Canadian Mounted Police Supt. Pat Fogarty, head of the region’s gang task force.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has said the increasing violence should not worry people planning to attend the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. Officials say a total of 15,000 police officers, private security and military personnel will be providing security for the games.
Local authorities say they stepped up actions to curb the gangs and their violence.
At a news conference Friday, police announced the latest in a series of gang arrests — two reputed leaders and three soldiers. They displayed an array of handguns, a bullet-proof vest and an assault rifle — all seized during the arrests. Five other gang arrests were announced earlier this week.
Chu said police strategy is to detain gang members on as many charges as possible.
“As long as it gets them off the street and into a jail cell, where innocent members of the public can’t be hurt, we’ll continue to pursue them this way,” Chu said.
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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.
After leading by 18 points in the first half, the Los Angeles Lakers were staring at a four-point deficit with less than two minutes to play.
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.