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.
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.
APThree years ago, Chip Kelly coordinated a Division I-AA offense out of a closet-sized office in Durham, N.H. He was commonplace in college football, a good coach with a good scheme led by a good quarterback. To almost everyone, he was no big deal, just another guy.
Saturday, Oregon introduced Kelly as its head coach, effective for the March 30 start of spring practice in Eugene. The Ducks are an anomaly in college football, a program without a local recruiting base that attracts enough talent to contend for the Rose Bowl far more often than not.
"It's a pretty funny jump," said Sean McDonnell, Kelly's old boss at the University of New Hampshire.
It's a pretty funny game that allows such a jump. And it's evidence of a reality lost whenever these changes occur. For as much as so many people want Kelly to succeed — for his Xbox offense to his fearless recruiting to his blunt sense of humor — no one knows how the guy will do.
Choosing a coach is no different than choosing a mate or a job or, as it turns out, an investment fund. There are signs for sure — Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley talked about an intangible he felt after first meeting with Urban Meyer. (Here's some Kelly humor: Asked about his head coaching role models, Kelly joked to reporters in Oregon that if he tried to be the next Urban Meyer, he'd end up Oscar Mayer). There might even be a formula. But as much as an athletic director or search committee studies and investigates and interviews, there's no sure thing. The chart might say double down, but the next card might be a deuce.
Three things give Kelly a chance to be great, and he can take credit for two. Start with the offense, a spread scheme cultivated over a decade of campus visits to major college programs and through trial and error at UNH. The plan helped morph Dennis Dixon from mediocre to a Heisman hopeful in 2007; it brought the Ducks seven games with 40-plus points in 2008. Kelly might continue to call plays in 2009, though the only guarantee he'd make at a Saturday news conference was that little on offense would look different. "The only thing that will change this year to next year," he said, "is that I hope we score more points."
So give the guy a check mark for what he's done on Saturday afternoons. And keep the pen out for the recruiting category, too. Outgoing coach Mike Bellotti, who built Oregon football to unexpected heights, did so by chasing players who would never before consider the Ducks. But Kelly has pressed that further, going nationwide to chase quarterback Terrelle Pryor and running back Bryce Brown, the nation's No. 1 recruits each of the last two years.
And then there's the third key, the reason why Kelly spurned Syracuse and his other suitors to hang around for this job: Oregon is big-time. The Ducks have a near-permanent place in the top 20. They're entrenched as the Pac-10's maid of honor to USC. Having Nike down the street, and a CEO there who loves his yellow and green, helps, too. And with Bellotti down the hall (he takes over as athletic director July 1), Kelly has a buddy to help him navigate the challenges he's never had to handle before.
Bob Stoops handled those challenges — media and fundraising and discipline — at Oklahoma, which happened to be his first head coaching job. A decade deep, it's safe to say the Sooners' gamble has paid well. But not every first college head coaching job goes smoothly. Ask Notre Dame, which fanned on Gerry Faust and Bob Davie and is cruising toward 0-for-3 with Charlie Weis.
Will Kelly make this funny jump and land clean on the positive side of uncertainty? Probably. His success as a coordinator/recruiter and Oregon's stability make him a near-lock. Truth is, though, it's impossible to know for sure. Everything for now is an intangible feeling. And until the Ducks open Sept. 5 at Boise State, no one will know how he'll do in charge.
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.
CFT: Jordan Jefferson makes it clear he wasn't happy with LSU's game plan in the Tigers' BCS Championship Game loss to Alabama.
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 Memphis fulfills BCS dream Tigers officials thrilled to announce that school has been accepted to join the Big East Conference in 2013. |
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The Week in Sports Pictures The Giants on top of the football world, getting ready for the London Olympics and more. more photos |
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.
