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.
AP
INDIANAPOLIS - Dale Earnhardt Jr. had no trouble qualifying Saturday at Indianapolis.
Finishing 400 miles in Sunday’s race may be a different matter.
Earnhardt fought off a stomach virus that sapped his energy and forced him to take intravenous fluids this weekend to qualify third at 180.567 mph.
But a carefully scripted backup plan fell apart because of a rain delay that lasted about four hours.
Junior’s team wanted Hendrick Motorsports developmental driver Brad Keselowski to run laps in the No. 88 car later Saturday, just in case Earnhardt needed a relief driver Sunday. Instead, the 25-year-old Nationwide Series regular had to get to O’Reilly Raceway Park for the start of his own race, leaving Earnhardt likely on his own.
“I don’t think Brad is going to be able to come out and run it today. So we’re not going to have a backup plan, but that’s all right. We’ll see how it goes,” Earnhardt said. “It was a 24-hour stomach bug and I guess I lost a bunch of fluids during that whole deal. I feel real good right now, I’ve just got to get a lot more fluids back in me.”
Earnhardt’s biggest concern: Dehydration.
He had a fever Thursday night and was vomiting Friday morning. The illness limited Junior to only 19 laps in practice Friday, and the fever returned Friday night.
By Saturday afternoon, Earnhardt was feeling better.
“I feel about 90 percent today,” he said. “It was real frustrating yesterday because we didn’t come in till Friday morning and I felt so terrible before we flew out.”
The illness didn’t hurt Earnhardt’s performance.
If Junior can build on his qualifying performance Sunday, he could end his 40-race winless drought, which dates to June 2006 at Michigan.
“I feel tons better,” he said Saturday. “I used to think a sore throat was the worst thing, but I’m not a very big fan of stomach viruses now.”
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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.
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.
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.