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.
Golf's dream pairing - Woods and Mickelson - is on the course in the final round at Pebble Beach. Jason Sobel has 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.
Euro Roundup: First-place Manchester City won 1-0 at Aston Villa on Sunday on Joleon Lescott's goal in the 63rd minute, maintaining its two-point lead over Manchester United in the Premier League.
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.
AFP - Getty Images
PARIS - French prosecutors have launched a preliminary investigation to examine syringes found in medical waste containers during the Tour de France.
The case was opened after the discovery of several suspicious syringes in a container given by organizers to all the teams to collect medical waste, the Paris prosecutors office said Tuesday, on the eve of the 2010 Tour course unveiling.
However, the office said it was not targeting a specific team from this year’s tour, refuting a report by L’Equipe newspaper on Tuesday that said Astana was being investigated.
“Astana Cycling Team is surprised to read in the French press that the team is involved in an investigation by French prosecutors into doping,” Astana said in a statement.
Tour winner Alberto Contador and third-place Lance Armstrong rode with Astana in the sport’s biggest cycling race this summer. The Spaniard is still under contract with the Kazakh-funded team. Armstrong left to launch his own squad, RadioShack.
According to L’Equipe, the syringes will be analyzed by a forensic lab called Toxlab, which is responsible for determining their content.
Gilbert Pepin, a doctor at the lab, was not available for comment and did not immediately respond to an e-mail from The Associated Press.
“The Astana Cycling Team has nothing to hide, the riders use no forbidden substances,” Astana said. “The team is confident in the result of analyses performed or to be performed by a Parisian laboratory and is prepared to cooperate.”
While there were no positive tests at this year’s Tour, authorities did seize drugs that the French anti-doping agency’s scientific adviser said raised questions.
The drugs — which include treatments for diabetes, high blood pressure and convulsions suffered by manic-depressives — are not banned but are “incongruous” in top-level athletes, said professor Michel Rieu last week.
Rieu declined to say which teams had substances examined, noting it was part of a judicial investigation.
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.
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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.