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.
Kobe Bryant hit a baseline jump shot with 4.2 seconds left and the Los Angeles Lakers wrapped up a six-game road trip by holding on to beat the Raptors 94-92 on Sunday, their eighth victory in nine meetings with Toronto
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.
Eleven shots separated Phil and Tiger Sunday at Pebble Beach as Lefty secured his 40th Tour win. Jason Sobel had 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.
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 ImagesHow are the Heat? Contused and confused. That covers it all as they finally trudge to the playoffs.
Contused, because when Shaquille O'Neal suffers a deep thigh bruise, as the Big Franchise did Sunday to miss the final week of the regular season, it's a contusion felt by the whole team. It's amazing Damon Jones, who says "100 percent" of his career rejuvenation is due to O'Neal, hasn't adopted a sympathy limp this week.
Confused, because without their lineup anchor, and in the mild throes of a mild downswing, it seems playoff panic has overtaken some outside the castle. They lost four straight recently? Couldn't close out middling playoff foes like Memphis, Boston and Philadelphia?
Isn't that the look of a team stumbling down the stretch, and a sign it will tumble early on out of the playoffs?
This is just the latest in a season-long string of over-reactions regarding the Heat, replacing the previous one that Alonzo Mourning would wreck the team chemistry. Seriously, that was a weeks-long debate in Heatland. No matter the cost to put Mourning in uniform was to take Wang Zhi-Zhi out of one.
And so let's put into a similar perspective this thought about the contused and confused Heat. Here it is: They'll play Cleveland or New Jersey in the opening series.
They are 3-0 against each this season.
Their second-round opponent would be Washington or Chicago.
Either would be delighted to make the second-round. That only adds to ease with which the Heat should have here. Miami is 4-0 against Washington and 3-1 against Chicago. The lone loss came in overtime, at Chicago, when Ben Gordon threw in a prayer at the regulation buzzer and O'Neal missed the game.
You see where this leads?
The Eastern Conference finals, for starters, before the Heat break a worthwhile sweat.
Kobe Bryant hit a baseline jump shot with 4.2 seconds left and the Los Angeles Lakers wrapped up a six-game road trip by holding on to beat the Raptors 94-92 on Sunday, their eighth victory in nine meetings with Toronto
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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.
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