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 three goals as the New York Rangers beat Philadelphia 5-2 on Saturday for their seventh straight win over the Flyers.
Jeremy Lin hit a free throw with 4.9 seconds left to overcome a dreadful second half and lift the New York Knicks to their fifth straight victory, 100-98, over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday night.
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.
CFT: Jordan Jefferson makes it clear he wasn't happy with LSU's game plan in the Tigers' BCS Championship Game loss to Alabama.
Move over, Hollywood and NFL types, golf's two real A-listers take center stage Sunday at Pebble Beach, both in need of a win.
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.
Luis Suarez's refusal to shake hands with Patrice Evra overshadowed Manchester United's 2-1 win over rival Liverpool that lifted the defending champions to first place in the Premier League on Saturday.
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.
NEW YORK - Baseball salaries went down in 2004 for the first time in a decade and only the third time since record-keeping began nearly 40 years ago.
The average dropped 2.5 percent this year to $2,313,535, according to final figures released Tuesday by the Major League Baseball Players Association. The average had been $2,372,189 in 2003.
Since the union started keeping track in 1967, the only previous decreases had been an $86 drop in 1987, when owners were found to have conspired to hold down salaries among free agents, and a 4 percent decline in 1995, following a 7½-month strike that wiped out the World Series for the first time since 1904.
The players’ association has spent the last two years trying to determine whether to file a new collusion grievance but has not taken any action. Union head Donald Fehr said he hadn’t determined what to attribute the drop to.
“Obviously, we’ve been looking at things closely the last couple of years and we’ll have to see how things play out,” he said. “It’s too early to tell.”
There was no spending drop for the New York Yankees, who established a record with a $6.38 million average, more than $1.4 million above the previous mark they set two years ago.
World Series champion Boston was second at $3.71 million — the $2.67 million gap between New York and the Red Sox was greater than the averages for 20 of the 30 major league teams.
Anaheim was third at $3.64 million, followed by the Chicago Cubs ($3.5 million), the New York Mets ($3.34 million), Los Angeles ($3.29 million) and Atlanta ($3.27 million). St. Louis, which won the NL pennant, was ninth at $3.19 million.
The Angels climbed to third from 14th in 2003, while Seattle dropped from fifth to 16th, Texas from ninth to 21st and Arizona from 11th to 22nd.
Pittsburgh had the lowest average, $917,126, just below Milwaukee ($1.04 million) and Tampa Bay ($1.1 million).
The survey was based on the 927 players on Aug. 31 rosters. Final management calculations, usually slightly different, are not yet available.
First basemen were the highest-paid players at an average of $6.8 million, followed by outfielders ($4.5 million), third basemen ($3.8 million), starting pitchers ($3.7 million), catchers and shortstops ($3.5 million), second basemen ($2.9 million), designated hitters ($2.6 million) and relief pitchers ($1.4 million).
SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?
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.
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Jeremy Lin hit a free throw with 4.9 seconds left to overcome a dreadful second half and lift the New York Knicks to their fifth straight victory, 100-98, over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday night.
Doron Lamb hit a 3-pointer with 3:18 left to put No. 1 Kentucky ahead to stay, and the Wildcats took a big step toward a Southeastern Conference regular-season title by beating Vanderbilt 69-63 Saturday night for their 17th straight win.
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.