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.
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.
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CLEVELAND - So far, Shaquille O’Neal’s proposal for a superstar dunk contest to raise money for Haiti hasn’t left the ground.
On Tuesday night, O’Neal suggested that he would love to see his Cleveland teammate LeBron James take part in the NBA’s All-Star dunk contest, but only if former champions Vince Carter, Kobe Bryant and another unnamed star also joined the field.
O’Neal said he wanted a large prize, with half of the money going to earthquake-ravaged Haiti.
Carter, who won the contest in 2000, declined the offer and said Orlando teammate Dwight Howard, the 2008 champion, could do it.
“Nobody should feel obligated to do anything they don’t want to do,” Carter said. “I did make Tracy (McGrady) get in the dunk contest in 2000, but he could have said no. It’s up to the individual.”
Miami’s Dwyane Wade heard about O’Neal’s idea and supports the effort to raise more money — he has already donated a one-game check of about $175,000 — but won’t dunk, either.
Only defending dunk champion Nate Robinson of the New York Knicks was behind O’Neal’s philanthropic plan.
“That seems like an awesome idea to me,” he said. “For Shaq to say something like that, that’d be pretty cool and pretty awesome.”
Put on the spot during a TV interview while watching last year’s event, James said he would consider dunking this year in Dallas. It seemed as if James was trying to get some of the league’s top players involved, but none of the game’s premier dunkers wanted in and James recently decided not to participate after hedging for months.
He has been criticized for ducking out.
“LeBron said he would be in and he should be in it,” TNT’s Charles Barkley said earlier this week. “I think there are certain things that guys should do just for the good of the game. Michael Jordan and Dominique Wilkins didn’t have to be in the slam dunk contest but they understood they were trying to push the game.
“It would be great for the game if LeBron was in it.”
James was not available for comment on Wednesday because the Cavs did not practice. Bryant and the Lakers were traveling to Cleveland.
On Monday, the league announced Shannon Brown of the Los Angeles Lakers, Charlotte’s Gerald Wallace and Robinson would take part in this year’s dunk event. The fourth spot in the field will be determined in a dunk off between Toronto rookie DeMar DeRozan and the Clippers’ Eric Gordon.
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.
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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.