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ideal, how it's all about taking part, not winning, can often seem like so much hot air, rendered hopelessly quaint and outdated by the ultra-competitive and mercenary world of modern sport.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.
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NEW YORK - After grinding out a victory over No. 13 Jurgen Meltzer, the names opposite Roger Federer's in the bracket will start looking more familiar. Maybe uncomfortably so.
The five-time U.S. Open winner beat Melzer, 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-3 Monday, for yet another straight-set victory at Flushing Meadows on Monday. Next up - a meeting with one of the few players who has enjoyed success against both Federer and Rafael Nadal on the sport's biggest stages.
That would be No. 5 Robin Soderling, who defeated No. 21 Albert Montanes 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-3 to reach the U.S. Open quarterfinals for the second straight year.
The runs at the U.S. Open are nice, but where Soderling has really made his name is against Nadal and Federer at recent French Opens.
He beat Federer at this year's French to end Fed's string of 23 straight Grand Slam semifinal appearances. Last year, Soderling notched a fourth-round victory over Nadal at Roland Garros that, coincidentally, simplified Federer's path to finally complete the career Grand Slam. With Nadal out of the way, Federer's opponent in last year's French final: Soderling.
The Swede, ranked a career-high fifth at this year's U.S. Open, is one of only two players (Juan Martin del Potro is the other) with Grand Slam victories over both of the world's top two players.
"I think it's always a very nice feeling to play against the world's best," Soderling said. "It's matches like that that you train for. It's matches like that I've been dreaming of playing since I started playing tennis. You know, playing at the big courts in the big tournaments. It's very fun."
So far, Federer has been enjoying his stay at Flushing Meadows, where he has won 44 of his last 45 matches - the only loss coming to del Potro in last year's final. The second set of the Melzer match offered some perspective into how difficult it can be to break through against the player with a record 16 major titles.
After exchanging early breaks, the players held serve to play it out to a tiebreaker.
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It was there that Federer, who doesn't need any extra help, twice hit balls that dribbled off the net cord and over for winners. He also won a point after a replay that came when a bad line call nullified Melzer's solid return of Federer's serve. It added up to a 7-4 win in the breaker, and when he lost set point, Melzer looked skyward and screamed in frustration.
"I wasn't happy with my fortune. Let's put it that way," Melzer said.
When they shook hands at the end, Federer apologized to him about the second-set tiebreaker.
"I think I deserved the second set," Melzer said. "You couldn't be more lucky in a tiebreaker than he was in this tiebreaker."
Federer admits he is taking nothing for granted against Soderling, whose victory at the French this year was the first in 13 meetings between the players. The match came after a rainstorm, when the red clay at Roland Garros was moist and slow. Still, Federer knows, a win is a win.
"I expect it to be really tough, especially now that he's gotten a taste of how to beat me," Federer said. "It's up to me to clean up my game and put in a good performance."
In the quarterfinal opposite Federer-Soderling, No. 3 Novak Djokovic will play No. 17 Gael Monfils. Djokovic dispatched No. 19 Mardy Fish 6-3, 6-4, 6-1 to leave only one American man in the draw, No. 20 Sam Querrey.
Querrey plays No. 25 Stanislas Wawrinka on Tuesday in a quarter of the draw that doesn't have a top-10 seed left.
"I think the world of Sam's game," Fish said. "I really think he's got a lot of upside. If he were a stock, I'd buy big time."
The men's fourth-round matches feature an all-Spanish quadrant: No. 1 Rafael Nadal vs. No. 23 Feliciano Lopez and No. 10 David Ferrer vs. No. 8 Fernando Verdasco
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.
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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.
