Rotoworld: Oregon RB LaMichael James and Oklahoma State WR Justin Blackmon among top 10 players who are being overhyped for the 2012 draft.
SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?
The Detroit Red Wings equaled an NHL record with their 20th straight win at home, beating the Philadelphia Flyers 4-3 Sunday night on the strength of Johan Franzen's tiebreaking goal early in the third period.
PBT: Boston's Rajon Rondo continues to be named in trade talks, which is madness. The Celtics guard creates offense and makes everyone around him better, which was evident in Sunday's win over the Bulls.
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.
Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods greeted their Sunday pairing at Pebble Beach with optimism. But the day would end happily only for one.
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.
APNOBODY IS PERFECT
Everyone has their bad moments they’d like to take back. When I was a rookie, pitching at Anaheim for the first time, I had one of those moments. I was pitching a shutout, but my manager Bill Rigney came out to pull me from the game, I didn’t even wait for him to make it all the way to the mound. I flipped the ball to him and walked off. I let my emotions get the better of me and I knew it was wrong as soon as I did it.
As soon as the game was over, I went to Rigney’s office and he just let me have it. He put me in my place and I deserved it. But I learned from it.
I did other bad things as well, I was hardly an angel. I flipped off some fans once, and got suspended for it. I once flipped off a cameraman and got suspended for that, too.
And in 1979 with the Pirates, I left the team for a couple weeks because I wasn’t happy about the situation there. I wasn’t used to the NL game and being pinch-hit for in the fifth or sixth inning. But that wasn’t so bad. I never had an issue with being pulled from a close game like that. The problem was that we had a five- or six-man rotation. I was throwing a lot fewer innings and I wasn’t used to such a long layoff between starts.
I didn’t feel like the Pirates were getting the best out of me, so I left the game. It was selfish of me and I soon realized I was wrong. When I came back, some of the players told me what they thought — strongly — and I didn’t blame them at all. I had put myself over the team, and I let them down.
I grew up a lot because of that incident.
IT’S ABOUT MATURITY AND ATTITUDE
It’s not like Milton Bradley is a rookie. He already had a track record. The Cubs were willing to give him a three-year deal and looking for his natural ability to finally come out. He’s put up great numbers at times in his career. But he just hasn’t been able to maintain them, and part of the problem is attitude.
While I would listen to my veteran teammates, it doesn’t seem like Bradley cares to listen to anyone. Baseball has been very good to him, and he has a lot of talent, but he just can’t seem to see that. He is very competitive, and puts a lot of pressure on himself. But everybody in the majors is competitive. Everybody gets upset when they strike out or make a bad play. It happens. It’s just that you hope to learn from how you deal with adversity and failure.
I think that at this point only Bradley can help Bradley. He puts a lot of pressure on himself to succeed, but he really needs to look in the mirror and ask himself what he has done, and where he can go from here. I think he loves the game of baseball, but he has really hurt himself.
As a guy who played a long time in the majors, I feel sorry for Milton Bradley. I felt sorry for myself when I made stupid mistakes, but I also learned from them. I was respected as a player who wasn’t afraid to speak his mind, but I also went out and performed. I knew that we were never granted tomorrow and we had to give it our all.
Hopefully he will realize this someday.
SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?
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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.
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The Red Wings have finally started to embrace a record they've been chasing.