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.
Eleven shots separated Phil and Tiger Sunday at Pebble Beach as Lefty secured his 40th Tour win. Jason Sobel had 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.
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.
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A day of drama that pushed Tennessee and USC back into the spotlight — this time for all the right reasons.
A whirlwind fortnight of accusations and investigations, of poaching recruits and turning commitments, and the next thing you know, national signing day finishes with USC and Tennessee in the top 10 rankings and no one worse for the wear.
OK, almost no one.
"It was a crazy couple of weeks," USC coach Lane Kiffin said.
The craziness concluded with a hectic day full of surprises. Among the highlights:
"These last three days in this process," said UT coach Derek Dooley, "are the worst three days of the year."
And somehow, Dooley and Kiffin made it all work. Considering the mess both walked into in mid-January, the turnaround is stunning.
When Pete Carroll left USC for the NFL, a potential top-three recruiting class was rocked — with many key players teetering — before USC hired Kiffin away from Tennessee.
When Kiffin left UT after one season, after pledging to build the Vols into the USC of the SEC, it not only crushed Tennessee, it left a critical recruiting class scrambling for answers.
Dooley was hired on Jan.15, and had all of one day to convince eight mid-term enrollees, including potential starting quarterback Matt Simms, to stick with their commitment and sign with the Vols. He then had to address a fractured program (and the remainder of the recruiting class) falling apart because of a coaching search that included too many public rejections — and one seemingly odd hire.
Dooley wasn't Tennessee's first choice, nor the second or even third. You could argue that he was, more than anything, the panic choice. And now look: If this remarkable recruiting recovery is an indicator of things to come on the field, maybe Tennessee found the right guy.
It's way too early and recruiting rankings are notoriously overblown, but you have to start somewhere. And considering where the Vols were three short weeks ago, what Dooley and his staff accomplished is staggering.
"It's shocking because of name recognition," said Sporting News recruiting expert Brian McLaughlin. "How many of those big (recruits) knew of Derek Dooley at Louisiana Tech?"
That's where Kiffin, the mouth formerly of the South, had the advantage. Love him or hate him, Kiffin quickly is proving he can recruit as well as any coach in the nation. In his only two national signing days as a coach — each time at an extreme disadvantage because of coaching change — he landed a top-three player.
Last year, it was tailback Bryce Brown at Tennessee, and this year Henderson. One can only imagine how well Kiffin would recruit if he, you know, decided to stay at a school longer than it takes me to brush the beautiful, flowing locks on my cue ball.
When Kiffin arrived in Los Angeles, the nation's best wideout, Kyle Prater, had delayed his early enrollment and was considering visiting other schools. Less than a week later, he was enrolled at USC.
When Dooley arrived in Knoxville, it took all of three days for him to get his first big commitment: elite safety Eddrick Loften backed away from Oklahoma to join the Vols, and kicked off nearly three weeks of traveling and selling and securing a class that could be the beginning of something big.
"Don't get too excited about these rankings," Dooley said.
You're better off getting excited about the future.
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.
CFT: Jordan Jefferson makes it clear he wasn't happy with LSU's game plan in the Tigers' BCS Championship Game loss to Alabama.
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 Memphis fulfills BCS dream Tigers officials thrilled to announce that school has been accepted to join the Big East Conference in 2013. |
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 | Coaches who made the NFL jump With Pete Carroll leaving USC for the Seattle Seahawks, how have other coaches fared with similar jumps in the past? NBCSports.com |
Kiffin replacing Carroll at USC |
Top Signing Day classes |
The best recruiting classes as rated by five of the major recruiting analysts: |
| Rivals | Scout | ESPNU | SuperPrep | MaxPreps |
| 1. USC | Florida | Florida | Florida | Florida |
| 2. Florida | Oklahoma | Texas | Texas | Texas |
| 3. Texas | Texas | Alabama | Oklahoma | USC |
| 4. Auburn | Alabama | Auburn | USC | Alabama |
| 5. Alabama | USC | Oklahoma | Alabama | Auburn |
| 6. LSU | Auburn | Florida St. | Auburn | Oklahoma |
| 7. Oklahoma | LSU | USC | LSU | LSU |
| 8. UCLA | UCLA | LSU | UCLA | UCLA |
| 9. Tennessee | Penn St. | Tennessee | Penn St. | Tennessee |
| 10. Florida St. | Florida St. | UCLA | Florida St. | Penn St. |
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.
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.
After leading by 18 points in the first half, the Los Angeles Lakers were staring at a four-point deficit with less than two minutes to play.
