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.
PBT: Jeremy Lin wasn't his hot self on Saturday, but he still led the Knicks to victory.
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
Top-ranked Lindsay Davenport began her title defense in the Pan Pacific Open on Thursday, beating Japan’s Saori Obata 6-4, 6-2 in a second-round match.
Davenport, seeking her fifth Pan Pacific title, was playing her first singles match since losing to Serena Williams in the Australian Open final Saturday.
“I still feel a little worn down,” Davenport said. “It was a great but demanding two weeks. I started to feel a bit better today but getting over a loss like that is probably the toughest thing you have to do.”
Davenport relied on a strong serve and solid groundstrokes against Obata on the indoor carpet surface Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium.
“This is a difficult surface to get used to,” Davenport said. “Getting broke twice in the first set was tough, but I started to serve well in the second set and that’s the key on this surface.”
Russians Elena Likhovtseva and Elena Dementieva also advanced. The third-seeded Likhovtseva beat American Jill Craybas 7-5, 4-6, 6-2, and the fourth-seeded Dementieva routed Japan’s Akiko Morigami 6-2, 6-2
In other second-round matches, Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic downed Japan’s Aiko Nakamura 3-6, 7-5, 6-4, while eighth-seeded Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia recovered from a slow start to defeat Russia’s Maria Kirilenko 4-6, 6-0, 6-2.
On Wednesday, Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova of Russia beat Maria Vento-Kabchi of Venezuela 7-6 (3), 6-0 in the second round. Sharapova will face Likhovtseva in the quarterfinals.
Gaudio, Acasuso to meet in quarters
Top-seeded Gaston Gaudio of Argentina reached the quarterfinals of the BellSouth Open on Thursday with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over David Sanchez of Spain.
Also advancing was sixth-seeded Jose Acasuso of Argentina, who beat Flavio Saretta of Brazil 6-2, 7-6 (7-2).
Gaudio, the French Open champion, plays Acasuso on Saturday. “I have played Jose 10 times and it has always been tough,” Gaudio said, “so I definitely expect a complicated match this time again.”
Top-seeded Zvonareva advances
Top-seeded Vera Zvonareva of Russia advanced to the quarterfinals of the Volvo Open on Thursday with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Anca Barna of Germany.
Zvonareva, who had nine aces in the match, next plays fellow-Russian Evgenia Linetskaya.
Also moving to the quarterfinals was third-seeded Conchita Martinez of Spain, who saved two match points and beat Silvija Talaja of Croatia 7-5, 2-6, 7-5.
In other second-round matches, eighth-seeded Virginia Ruano Pascual of Spain beat Marlene Weingartner of Germany 1-6, 6-1, 6-4 and Shahar Peer of Israel beat Akgul Amanmuradova of Uzbekistan 6-4, 6-2.
Novak advances at Delray Beach
Second-seeded Jiri Novak of the Czech Republic easily advanced to the quarterfinals of the Delray Beach ATP Tour event Thursday, beating Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-2, 6-1.
“I definitely played a much better match than I did two days ago, which was my first match of the season,” Novak said. “Today, I was playing great at the baseline, had a good percentage on first serves and I didn’t let him play.”
In the quarterfinals, Novak will play seventh-seeded Kenneth Carlsen of Denmark, a 2-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 winner over American Brian Vahaly.
“I think I came out poorly and made a lot of mistakes and he was playing solid,” Carlsen said. “In the second set, I started to try to play more aggressively, more controlled aggressively.”
Two-time Delray winner Jan-Michael Gambill beat Peter Wessels of the Netherlands 6-4, 6-7 (3), 6-3 in a night match to set up a quarterfinal against Wesley Moodie of South Africa. Moodie beat fifth-seeded defending champion Ricardo Mello of Brazil 6-4, 6-4.
“Losing is never fun, especially here where I played well last year,” Mello said. “And there were expectations to do well again.”
Paraguay’s Ramon Delgado also advanced Thursday, beating China’s Peng Sun 6-7 (6), 6-1, 6-1. Delgardo will face third-seed Xavier Malisse of Belgium in the quarterfinals. In the other quarterfinal, top-seeded Vince Spadea will play fellow American Kevin Kim.
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.
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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.
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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.
