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.
AP file
WASHINGTON - The NFL draft will go on this weekend without Maurice Clarett.
The former Ohio State running back’s bid to enter the draft was turned down by the Supreme Court on Thursday, delaying his attempt to bypass the league’s eligibility rule.
Clarett filed separate emergency appeals with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Justice John Paul Stevens. But both were rejected Thursday, and the player’s lawyer said he will not make a third try.
Neither justice ruled on the merits of Clarett’s claim that the NFL rule that bars him from entering the draft because of his age is arbitrary and anticompetitive, robbing young players of an opportunity to enter the multimillion-dollar marketplace.
But the justices refused to consider a lower-court decision that put the lawsuit on hold, leaving Clarett’s name out of the NFL draft that begins Saturday.
Ginsburg said Clarett could still get to the NFL this year since the league has expressed a willingness to promptly hold a supplemental draft if Clarett prevails in his lawsuit.
Clarett, who is two years out of high school, is challenging the NFL’s requirement that players wait three years after high school before turning pro.
His attorneys cited a court ruling that allows major league baseball players to move among teams, and other court decisions that opened the NBA, the NHL and the now-defunct U.S. Football League to younger players.
The issue is pending before 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York, which put on hold a lower-court ruling that said the NFL can’t enforce its three-year rule.
Clarett lawyer Alan Milstein declined to comment Friday on what his next legal move might be.
The NFL contends younger players are not physically ready to play professional football and may harm themselves by over-training or resorting to steroid use.
“From the NFL’s perspective, this was never really about Maurice Clarett,” NFL attorney Gregg Levy said. “It was about a rule that has served the NFL well, served fans well and served players well for many years.”
Clarett led Ohio State to a national football title as a freshman in 2002, but he was ruled ineligible as a sophomore for accepting money from a family friend and lying about it to NCAA and university investigators.
A victory by Clarett at the Supreme Court would have helped another college player as well: wide receiver Mike Williams of Southern California, who also is seeking to get into the draft in violation of the three-year rule.
“The NFL may have been successful in keeping them out of Saturday’s draft, but there’s always the possibility of the supplemental draft,” said Williams’ agent, Mike Azzarelli.
While Williams would’ve been a first-round pick, Clarett was expected to be a late second-round or third-round choice. Clarett hasn’t played since the 2002 season at Ohio State, showed up out of shape at the NFL scouting combine, and had what most scouts considered a mediocre workout in Columbus, Ohio, earlier this month.
NCAA spokesman Jeff Howard said the schools also could appeal for reinstatement of Williams and Clarett, and such issues would be determined on a case-by-case basis.
“I think it would be premature to decide one way or the other where the membership will ultimately come to rest,” he said.
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.
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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.
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.
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