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.
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.
AP
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - The 38th running of the world's most famous sled dog race begins Saturday amid depleted finances that have slashed the cash purse even as the cost of competitive mushing continues to climb.
Yet the mystique of the 1,100-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race keeps drawing mushers from around the world, including a first this year — a rookie from Jamaica.
Also running are five past winners, including defending champion Lance Mackey, a throat cancer survivor from Fairbanks who is going for a fourth consecutive win. Another strong contender is Canadian Hans Gatt of Whitehorse who in February became a four-time winner of the 1,000-mile Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race, which Mackey also has won four times.
The Iditarod begins with a ceremonial start in Anchorage. The actual competition gets under way Sunday in Willow, 50 miles to the north. From there, mushers leave festivities behind for a trail that crosses two mountain ranges, scores of native villages, then a stretch of the frozen Bering Sea shore before it reaches the finish line in the old gold rush town of Nome on Alaska's western coast. It's a trail where temperatures can plunge to 50 below zero.
The total purse this year is $590,000 — down from a high of $925,000 in 2008 — with $50,000 of this year's prize money donated by four-time champion Jeff King, who also is in the running. Even the prize for the winner will be nearly $20,000 smaller than the $69,000 of past years. The winner still receives a new Dodge truck.
"We're certainly having to work harder in these challenging economic times to raise the revenue that we'd like to raise to restore that purse to levels we accomplished a couple years ago," Stan Hooley, executive director of the Iditarod Trail Committee, said this week.
This year's race is the first time in Iditarod history in which mushers will be tested for drugs and alcohol, joining the canine athletes that have been tested for years.
Mackey, 39, has acknowledged using medical marijuana on the trail, but said he is abiding by the new rule. He believes it was implemented to single him out and that other competitors have complained about his pot use — contentions Hooley is not denying.
"I don't think he's off base in what he's saying," Hooley said.
Most other mushers interviewed say they have no problem with the policy.
Hooley said one of the Iditarod's newer sponsors is a drug testing company that is providing the service at no charge. "At a time when we've been forced to look and make some really hard budgetary decisions, it would not have been good timing to be spending new money on this program," he said.
Race organizers blame the money woes on a poor economy that led to a loss of almost $1 million in funding, after major sponsors dropped their support and video deals collapsed.
Cushioning the blow somewhat, Exxon Mobil has pledged $250,000 annually in a five-year deal and earlier this year, the city of Nome donated $50,000 to the race. The Iditarod also retains a few dozen other supporters.
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.
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.
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.