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.
Getty ImagesYou look at every pitching number except runs and they’re well above average — strikeouts, walks. But you look at the bottom line and you have to ask, what’s wrong with this pitcher?
Seven base runners were all Boston got against Randy Johnson Thursday night, then six more for Tampa Bay on Tuesday. But against Boston, five of those runners scored, because three of the four hits were home runs. Against the Rays, he was again victimized by the home run, two by Eduardo Perez. After four starts, Johnson’s ERA is 5.13.
And if you’re a Yankee fan, you have to be wondering when the real Randy Johnson is going to show up. Because right now the Big Unit is on his way to becoming the Big Disappointment.
This isn’t what the Yankees were supposed to get when the worked an off-season trade with the Diamondbacks for the lanky lefty who was the biggest, scariest, most dominant pitcher in the game.
You figured if he just pitched as he did last year, he’d be a lock to win 24 games, minimum. His ERA was 2.60 with the D-Backs and he gave up just 177 hits in 246 innings, and if he played for one of the game’s most dreadful teams, thus the 16-14 record.
But he will if he keeps pitching like this. The strikeouts are still there. But he’s also given up 14 earned runs in his last three starts.
Joe Torre said before the Boston game that Johnson would get stronger as the season went on and that he expected the real Randy to arrive shortly. Yankee fans probably feel the same way.
There is reason for that belief. Except for 2003, when he was hurt and limited to 18 starts, Johnson’s ERA hasn’t been higher than 2.64 since 1998, when he was trying as hard as he could to get out of Seattle and punctuated his disaffection by pitching as badly as he could manage.
SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?
HBT: Prince Fielder is gone and Ryan Braun will likely miss a third of the season because of a failed PED test. Can Milwaukee stay in contention until he gets back?
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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.
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.
The Red Wings have finally started to embrace a record they've been chasing.