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.
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POREC, Croatia - Radek Stepanek overcame a record 78 aces to defeat Ivo Karlovic in five sets in one of the longest matches in tennis history, giving the Czech Republic a 1-0 lead over Croatia in the Davis Cup semifinals Friday.
Stepanek won 6-7 (5), 7-6 (5), 7-6 (6), 6-7 (2), 16-14 in a grueling match that lasted 5 hours, 59 minutes. The longest known Davis Cup match was 6 hours, 22 minutes between John McEnroe and Mats Wilander in 1982.
"I feel like I was in a 10-round boxing match," Karlovic said. "Everything hurts."
The 82 games equaled the Davis Cup record since tiebreakers were introduced in 1989.
Karlovic wasted four match points in the final set. Stepanek won when the 6-foot-10 Croat sent a smash wide. The were only five break-point chances in the match.
"I fought for my country," Stepanek said. "It was an amazing game."
This marathon equaled the number of games from a 1991 Americas Zone Group II match when Richard Ashby of Barbados beat Jose Medrano of Bolivia.
Karlovic obliterated both the men's record and Davis Cup record for aces -- marks he held. He had 55 aces in a loss to Lleyton Hewitt at the French Open in May. His previous Davis Cup mark was 47 when he defeated James Blake at the World Group quarterfinals this year.
Croatia's Marin Cilic plays Tomas Berdych in the second singles on Friday. The winner of the best-of-five series will face Spain or Israel in the final.
Croatia, the 2005 champion, has lost only once at home in its past 12 Davis Cup series. The Czechs, who won in 1980 when the nation competed as Czechoslovakia, are playing their first Davis Cup semifinal in 13 years.
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.
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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.
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.
