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.
NORMAN, Okla. - Once Blake Griffin stopped and really thought about his future, it didn’t take long for him to reach a decision.
Griffin announced Tuesday that he will give up his final two years of eligibility and head to the NBA after a sophomore season in which he was honored as college basketball’s top player. It was a choice coach Jeff Capel called a “no-brainer,” with Griffin establishing himself as a likely candidate to be the No. 1 overall pick in the draft this June.
“I felt in my mind from the time that I actually thought about it that this would be the right decision,” said Griffin, wearing a black suit, a grey shirt and a tie. “I remember talking to Coach Capel last year after I made my decision of coming back and he said I had the chance to be in this position and I should take it.
“This has been a dream for me. It has been a dream for a lot of guys. I was really comfortable with the decision this time around.”
Griffin helped the Sooners win 30 games in a season for only the fifth time in school history, shattering the school records for double-doubles and rebounds along the way. He said it was now time to take his game to the next level.
“It’s tough to walk away from something like this but at the same time, it’s a big opportunity and I felt like I was ready for it this year,” Griffin said.
After declaring last year he would stay at Oklahoma for at least one more season, Griffin said he wanted to be able to contribute immediately in the NBA before he would turn pro. For him to feel like he was “100 percent sure” that he was ready, he said he’d probably have to be in line to be the No. 1 pick in the draft.
Griffin couldn’t have done much more to make his case for that spot.
He was honored by The Associated Press and several other groups as college basketball’s player of the year after leading the nation with 30 double-doubles and 14.4 rebounds per game while also averaging a Big 12-best 22.7 points. In the NCAA tournament, he was even better — averaging 28.5 points and 15 rebounds to lead the Sooners to the regional finals, where they lost to eventual national champion North Carolina.
“This is the right decision. In my mind, it’s a no-brainer,” Capel said. “It wasn’t a decision to really debate because it’s the right one, and it’s the best thing for Blake.”
For two days after the Sooners got eliminated from the NCAA tournament on the brink of the Final Four, Griffin was too disappointed to think about the NBA. He then left for Detroit and a whirlwind circuit of awards presentations. When everything settled down, it was time to look toward the future.
“Once I started thinking about it, it was an easy decision,” Griffin said.
Griffin got to spend two more seasons playing alongside his older brother, Taylor, after the two teamed up to win back-to-back state championships in high school. At Oklahoma, they helped rebuild a program that was on shaky ground because of NCAA sanctions left over from Kelvin Sampson’s telephone recruiting scandal.
“It will be weird not having these two guys around,” said Capel, who just finished his third season at Oklahoma. “Since I’ve been here, they’ve kind of been a security blanket for me. ... I think the thing that both of those kids have done is that they’ve made this a place where other guys want to come, where we’re able to attract really good talent.
“I think that’s going to be their legacy as they move on to better things, both Blake and Taylor, just kind of being the guys that made it cool to come to OU.”
Capel has two more McDonald’s All-Americans coming to campus next season in Keith “Tiny” Gallon and Tommy Mason-Griffin, but there’s still a chance he could lose another beyond Griffin. Willie Warren, the Big 12’s freshman of the year last season, hasn’t announced yet whether he’ll be back for another year with the Sooners.
“I don’t know if it’s settled,” Capel said.
Had Griffin decided to stay, it would have added another layer to Oklahoma’s unprecedented feat of having the Heisman Trophy winner and the AP men’s basketball player of the year in the same year. Sooners quarterback Sam Bradford already passed up the chance to make an early jump to the NFL after his sophomore season, and he and Griffin could have both returned for another year of college.
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
 | Slideshow |
 |
NBCSports.com |
 | Slideshow |
 |
The Week in Sports Pictures The Giants on top of the football world, getting ready for the London Olympics and more. more photos |
ProBasketballTalk tweets |
|
Source: Twitter. For more, follow @basketballtalk. |
 | Video: NBA from NBC Sports |
 Knicks, Lin still streaking Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni and point guard Jeremy Lin discuss the team and Lin's recent success. |
| Slideshow |
 |
more photos |
Ask the NBA expert: Ira Winderman |
Do you have a burning NBA question? Submit it now, and then check back for our reader mailbag. |  |
 | Special feature |
 |
Who will be MVP? Interactive: Rank each player on a scale of 0 to 10 (10 = best player, 0 = barely worthy of consideration). NBCSports.com |
| Slideshow |
 |
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.
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.
NBC Sports TV and livestream listings