Super Bowl XLVI
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.
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.
Pavel Datsyuk and Todd Bertuzzi scored shootout goals to give Detroit a 2-1 win over Anaheim on Friday. The victory was the Red Wings' 19th consecutive at home, one shy of the NHL record.
Jeremy Lin had the most astounding performance of his remarkable week, scoring a career-high 38 points and outdueling Kobe Bryant as the New York Knicks held off the Los Angeles Lakers 92-85 on Friday night.
Arc's weekend preview: The way you beat Kentucky is by getting physical with their big guys, and the Wildcats don’t have much depth up front.
CFT: Jordan Jefferson makes it clear he wasn't happy with LSU's game plan in the Tigers' BCS Championship Game loss to Alabama.
Despite an injury scare and a few missed opportunities at Monterey Peninsula CC, Tiger Woods remains in contention at the AT&T.
John Isner jolted Roger Federer with his big serve and booming groundstrokes Friday, winning 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-2 to give the United States a 2-0 lead against Switzerland in the first round of the Davis Cup.
Manchester City will find at least three highly motivated players in its way Sunday when it tries to improve upon its flagging away form in the Premier League at Aston Villa.
All that stuff about the Olympic ideal, how it's all about taking part, not winning, can often seem like so much hot air, rendered hopelessly quaint and outdated by the ultra-competitive and mercenary world of modern sport. Until, that is, you speak to Kieran Behan.
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
EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. - The big 4-0 is right around the corner for Brett Favre. You’d never know it.
The Minnesota Vikings quarterback played his last game of his 30s Monday night against the Green Bay Packers and showed everyone that his surgically repaired right arm has new life.
“My arm feels great,” said Favre, who threw for 271 yards and three TDs to beat his old team. “It didn’t feel very good last year. I’m not going to make excuses.
“But my arm feels a lot better and I think it’s showing.”
That’s for sure. After his first four games in purple, Favre has completed 68 percent of his passes for 837 yards, eight touchdowns and just one interception to lead the Vikings to a 4-0 start.
It’s a far cry from how he ended his only season in New York. Favre suffered a partially torn biceps in his throwing arm last season. He threw nine interceptions and only two touchdowns as the Jets lost four of five down the stretch and missed the playoffs.
Dr. James Andrews performed surgery on his biceps in May, cutting the partially torn tendon to alleviate the pain that caused Favre, whose birthday is Saturday, to (temporarily) retire for a second consecutive season last spring.
It’s a procedure that’s growing in popularity and allowing older athletes to extend their careers, according to Dr. Anthony Romeo, section head of shoulder and elbow surgery at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.
“Not only do they do well,” Romeo said, “but they get better faster.”
That certainly seems to be the case with Favre, who had two options this summer. First, he could have had Andrews repair the torn tendon, which calls for a much longer recovery time.
“If they did that for Brett Favre, he would not be playing this year,” Romeo said.
Instead, Andrews cut the tendon to relieve the pain. The recovery time is much shorter with that option, which paved the way for Favre to go through about six weeks of rehabilitation and join the Vikings in mid-August.
“That’s a pretty significant, painful injury,” Vikings coach Brad Childress said. “He couldn’t have come here if he wouldn’t have had the surgery. He knows that.”
The biceps tendon may look impressive on a body builder, but Romeo said it doesn’t factor much into the throwing of a football. “That tendon is relatively unimportant,” he said. “The key to his result is, he got rid of his pain.”
Broncos quarterback John Elway went through a similar injury and was able to play two more years after his biceps ruptured, winning two Super Bowls. Without the pain, Favre is enjoying a career renaissance in Minnesota few athletes his age even dream about.
That was never more evident than on Monday night, with millions of eyes on the first game between Favre and his once-beloved Green Bay, where he spent 16 seasons. He completed 20 of 24 throws for 242 yards and three touchdowns in the first three quarters to get out to a big lead, and the Vikings held on for an important division win.
It wasn’t just the numbers for Favre, it was the way he racked them up.
During the first two games of the season against overmatched opponents in Cleveland and Detroit, the Vikings played it conservative with short passes and handoffs to Adrian Peterson.
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.
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.
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Jeremy Lin had the most astounding performance of his remarkable week, scoring a career-high 38 points and outdueling Kobe Bryant as the New York Knicks held off the Los Angeles Lakers 92-85 on Friday night.
Plenty of people are telling the Jeremy Lin story, because it's just a good story. The underdog, the unexpected and the first player since LeBron James nearly a decade ago to put up at least 20 points and eight assists in his first two NBA starts.
Chris Paul had 24 points, including the game-winning 17-footer with 3.2 seconds left, Blake Griffin added 16 points and 11 rebounds and the Los Angeles Clippers defeated the Philadelphia 76ers 78-77 on Friday.