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.
Getty ImagesI just sat in the media room at the Spelling Bee as a pair of Korean journalists interviewed an American freelancer about this cultural phenomenon. One of the questions was, what makes this a sport, more or less.
The answer? Well, ESPN, chiefly. Plus Erin Andrews, with whom I had lunch today. (More on that tomorrow.) The kids themselves have a sort of strange relationship toward the ESPN-ness of this whole event: they talk about wanting to advance to the finals on ABC tomorrow night, but they don't say much about ESPN. They do, however, wear their complimentary t-shirts, which describe tomorrow as the "Best Day of the Year to Watch SportsCenter."
Some of them say they have siblings who like sports. And I'm sure some of them like sports themselves, though not the ones I've met thus far.
"Sports is, like, athletics," said Caroline Bell of California. "This isn't athletic at all."
Which makes the whole ESPN thing a bit odd. But there are definitely some sports-like characteristics. There are favorites; Darren Rovell listed four , complete with the equally sports-like meaningless stats: "Spellers of Indian decent have won six out of the last 10 years ... The girls have only won two times in the last decade." There are betting odds , including whether the winner will wear glasses, whether the winner will be an only child, and whether anyone will puke. There's that media buzz; the lobby of the Grand Hyatt here in downtown Washington is crawling with reporters and TV cameras.
And there are underdogs, kids who are like the SWAC or OVC champion in March, kids who are actually just happy to be here. They know they're not North Carolina or UConn., and they're not going to pretend otherwise. They're proud of being Middle Tennessee.
Like, I asked Juan Jose del Valle Coello what his chances were.
"Point 00000001 percent," he told me. "Not a high chance."
Ditto from Bell, a 14-year-old from California, who said her total study time before leaving home was about an hour. I asked her if she considered going all out, like the Sidharth Chands of the world.
"Yeah, I thought about it," she told me, "but I decided it wasn't really worth it. I was already at the National Spelling Bee, I already won $100."
Remember that next time someone tries to tell you how much purer amateur athletics are than the pros. Even at this level, it's all about the Benjamins. Or Benjamin, I guess.
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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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.
