Rotoworld: Oregon RB LaMichael James and Oklahoma State WR Justin Blackmon among top 10 players who are being overhyped for the 2012 draft.
SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?
The Detroit Red Wings equaled an NHL record with their 20th straight win at home, beating the Philadelphia Flyers 4-3 Sunday night on the strength of Johan Franzen's tiebreaking goal early in the third period.
PBT: Boston's Rajon Rondo continues to be named in trade talks, which is madness. The Celtics guard creates offense and makes everyone around him better, which was evident in Sunday's win over the Bulls.
Arc: Syracuse is among a solid group of No. 1 seeds in our latest tournament projections, but the middle of the pack is much more murky.
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.
Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods greeted their Sunday pairing at Pebble Beach with optimism. But the day would end happily only for one.
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
SOMERVILLE, N.J. - Former NBA star Jayson Williams will be retried on a reckless manslaughter charge in the death of a limousine driver two years ago, prosecutors said Friday.
The widely expected announcement came three weeks after a jury delivered a mixed verdict in Williams’ trial. The judge set a tentative date for the new trial on Jan. 10, 2005.
Williams was acquitted of the most serious charge last month, aggravated manslaughter, but the jury was deadlocked 8-4 on reckless manslaughter. The charge carries up to 10 years in prison.
The former NBA All-Star also was cleared of aggravated assault and a weapons charge, but convicted on four counts stemming from a failed effort to conceal the shotgun shooting of Costas “Gus” Christofi.
Williams’ defense maintained the shooting was an accident, and that the weapon misfired. Defense attorneys said Friday that they were not surprised by the retrial announcement.
Williams, 36, remains free on bail. He faces anywhere from probation to about five years in prison on the cover-up charges, but Superior Court Judge Edward M. Coleman ruled Friday that Williams will not be sentenced on those counts until the reckless manslaughter case is resolved.
Family members of the victim praised prosecutors for pursuing another trial, but were upset that Williams will not be sentenced sooner.
“He’s going to be out on the street for another eight months,” said Christopher Adams, Christofi’s son.
Christofi, 55, was among a group of friends and Harlem Globetrotters who were touring Williams’ mansion in the early hours of Feb. 14, 2002. He had driven some of the players from their hotel to a late dinner at a restaurant with Williams and his friends, and then took some of them to the estate.
Testimony in the 12-week trial showed that Williams took a loaded shotgun from a cabinet in his bedroom, cracked it open, turned, uttered an obscenity at Christofi and snapped the weapon closed. It fired once, sending 12 pellets into Christofi’s chest. He died within minutes.
Several witnesses testified that Williams then wiped down the shotgun and placed it in the victim’s hands.
The houseguests also testified that Williams persuaded them to tell authorities that they were downstairs at the time of the shooting, and that Christofi shot himself.
Defense lawyers asserted that Williams was so distraught afterward he could not organize a cover-up.
Williams retired from the New Jersey Nets in 2000 due to leg injuries.
PBT: Boston's Rajon Rondo continues to be named in trade talks, which is madness. The Celtics guard creates offense and makes everyone around him better, which was evident in Sunday's win over the Bulls.
Paul Pierce has been around long enough to know what Rajon Rondo's performance can mean for the aging Boston Celtics.
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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.
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The Red Wings have finally started to embrace a record they've been chasing.