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.
DON’T LEAVE HOME WITHOUT IT
Once you’ve got your course charted, a huge obstacle looms — how to pay for your trip. Gas, lodging, food. And, don’t forget, you’ll need tickets, too. It’s daunting to even think about it, especially in the current economic climate.
According to the Energy Information Administration, the average price of gas nationally as of May 25 was $2.43 a gallon. At that price, and assuming your car gets 25 miles per gallon — and you took our suggested course — you’re looking at more than $1100 for gas alone.
Fluctuating gas prices were frustrating for Foster when he planned his 2008 trip. The former newspaper editor — who has since started his own media company (Foster Group Media LLC) and aims to become a documentary filmmaker — sold his house to help finance his trip.
He convinced two of his closest friends — Daren Many and Nolan Rice — to attempt the ultimate baseball road trip. The idea was to meld business with pleasure, shooting video along the way to eventually produce an in-depth multimedia project.
While selling his house helped set aside financial worries, it was nonetheless jolting watching gas prices soar in the summer of 2008, from $3.06 during the planning stage, to $4.25 by the time they started their trip.
Even more painful, Rice bailed on the trip after seven games, homesick for his girlfriend. Foster and Many forged ahead in a gas-guzzling SUV, while Foster’s hybrid car — too small for three passengers but just fine for two — sat unused at home.
“It would be maddening at times to spend $80 to fill up my tank when I had a hybrid sitting at home,” Foster said.
But while the cost of your trip will remain at the whim of gas prices, there are ways to save money, namely on lodging.
Foster suggests sitting down and writing down all the people you know: Old friends, relatives, former classmates and co-workers. “You’ll find you know people everywhere,” he said.
Furthermore, once word gets out of your trip, unexpected assistance just might surface. Foster and Many said they were contacted by friends of friends, people they didn’t know, who offered them a place to crash for a night or two.
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Photo courtesy of Troy Foster Three close friends (from left) Daren Many, Troy Foster and Nolan Rice set out on the ultimate road trip in 2008, with Many and Foster completing the odyssey. |
“It was amazing how interested people were in the trip. We couldn’t have done it without them. We didn’t have that kind of money for hotels.”
Hartman and Dhaddey also recommended avoiding hotels. Camping is cheaper, as is sleeping, as they did at times, at rest stops.
“Ear plugs and a Benadryl and I was out like a light,” wrote Hartman, “Some of the rest stops in Iowa, if I recall, even had free wireless Internet.”
Hartman stressed what he said was another good source for lodging, a Web site called couchsurfing, a community where people host passing travelers.
“Aman and I met some fantastic people who went out of their way to make us feel at home,” Hartman wrote. “We made some lifelong friends through the process.”
Another way to save money is to contact the teams for tickets. Explain your trip and what you’re trying to accomplish, and you might score some free seats.
Allan Stejskal, who visited all 30 ballparks in 2003 along with his wife Pattie and sons Sam and Max, used this method with some nice success. In addition to receiving free tickets from about a third of the teams, Sam (12 at the time) and Max (11), ended up with some nice perks. The boys were allowed to take the field at Dodger Stadium, to interview Marcus Giles on the jumbo-tron in Atlanta, to catch pop-flies in Minneapolis, and meet the man in Baltimore who rubs down the baseballs before every game.
Freels also received special treatment, helped by the fact his trip was raising money for charity. The Phillies let him drive his motorcycle on the field and he met players Shane Victorino and Brad Lidge. In Arizona, he presented Orlando Hudson with a Livestrong bracelet, and his mother spoke with pitcher Doug Davis, a fellow cancer survivor.
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.