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 swept favored Switzerland out of the Davis Cup on Saturday when Mardy Fish and Mike Bryan beat Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3.
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.
Bernard Hopkins says he’ll make other plans if Jermain Taylor doesn’t quickly accept a $1.5 million offer to fight him for the undisputed middleweight title on July 16.
Hopkins said Wednesday that the purse being offered by his promoter, Golden Boy Promotions, is fair enough if Taylor is serious about trying to win the middleweight title.
“Jermain Taylor has his opportunity, and his opportunity in the next 24 hours is probably over,” Hopkins told The Associated Press. “We’re not begging these guys to fight.”
Taylor’s promoter, Lou DiBella, said Hopkins should begin looking for other opponents if he thinks Taylor will fight for what he said was the first offer placed on the table.
“If that’s his position, then it’s over,” Dibella said. “Jermain wants a fair deal and that’s now what they offered. We could probably do better than that in a purse bid.”
Taylor staked his claim as the top contender when he appeared last month on the undercard of the fight between Hopkins and Howard Eastman in Los Angeles. The member of the 2000 U.S. Olympic team stopped Daniel Edouard in the third round to remain undefeated in 23 fights and move himself in position to challenge Hopkins.
Hopkins, though, said that Taylor wants too much money for the proposed pay-per-view fight considering has never fought for the title and will be fighting a champion who has defended the title 20 times.
“I did the research and got accurate numbers to justify what would be a fair offer,” Hopkins said. “I started out with a million dollars based on what he received in his last fight.”
Hopkins declined to say how much he would make in the fight, which isn’t the most attractive pay-per-view date because it is in the summer when viewership is generally down.
Hopkins made $10 million to fight Oscar De La Hoya last year, but has never been a proven ticket seller. About 12,000 people attended his fight last month at Staples Center, but many of those got in on discounted tickets.
Still, Hopkins said he should be able to dictate terms for the fight.
“The bottom line is who is the name, who is the star, who is the undisputed champion,” Hopkins said. “He’s not a gold medal winner, he’s never beaten anyone in the top three.”
Hopkins said if Taylor doesn’t agree to his price he could fight Felix Sturm, the German who nearly beat Oscar De La Hoya last year.
Hopkins said he went public with the offer to Taylor because he doesn’t want to be portrayed as the bad guy in the negotiations. Hopkins has been sensitive to charges in recent years that he badly mismanaged himself before getting his big payday with De La Hoya.
“I was a rabbit all these years and they always had me on the run,” Hopkins said. “Now the rabbit has got a gun. How do they feel now?”
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 (AP) - As the glow fades from the Giants' Super Bowl triumph, some New York sports fans are tuning in to basketball and hockey, with the Rangers in first place and the Knicks' overnight sensation, Jeremy Lin, sparking "Lin-sanity.''
Robins: This year, six new breeds will be making their debut on the green carpet for the Westminster Dog Show, which begins Monday.
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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.