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.
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
WASHINGTON - Looking up at dozens of empty black leather chairs and a lone lawmaker, a former NFL player testified to Congress about his use of steroids and how that might have contributed to his heart disease.
As someone out of pro football for two decades, Steve Courson said he couldn’t address whether steroid use is prevalent today.
In a hearing that produced far less theater, attention and acrimony than last month’s look at steroids in Major League Baseball, House lawmakers who are skeptical that professional leagues are doing enough moved forward Wednesday in their work toward a law setting drug-testing rules for major U.S. sports.
NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue told the House Government Reform Committee that such legislation would be a mistake.
|
Worried that steroid use among pro athletes encourages youths to try the drugs, the committee is examining the testing policies of more than a half-dozen sports.
“How is the average American supposed to look at the size, strength and speed of today’s NFL linebackers and not conclude that they might be taking performance-enhancing drugs?” asked committee chairman, Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va.
Said Tagliabue: “We don’t feel that there is rampant cheating in our sport.”
The proceedings were not as contentious as on March 17, when Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and other current and former baseball stars were compelled to appear and faced direct questions about whether they and other players used steroids. Baseball commissioner Bud Selig, also a witness, was roundly criticized for his sport’s policy, which lawmakers said was too lenient.
On Wednesday, the committee never heard an estimate of how widespread steroid use might be in the NFL, in part, perhaps, because they didn’t have many players to ask.
Only two NFL players — both retired — were present. One was Hall of Famer Gene Upshaw, who retired from the game in 1982 and was invited because he is chief executive of the NFL Players Association.
The other was Courson, an offensive lineman for the Pittsburgh Steelers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 1978-85. He was on a heart transplant list for four years but credited diet and exercise with reversing the condition.
In a hearing room where all but one congressman left because of a floor vote, he said steroid use in the NFL began in the 1960s and was prevalent in his day.
But asked by the committee’s top Democrat, Rep. Henry Waxman of California, what percentage of pro football players use steroids today, Courson said: “That would be very hard for me to determine. I’ve been out of the game for 20 years.”
Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., said if Congress was “serious about investigating steroid use among football players today,” lawmakers should hear from current players.
Davis promised more hearings and said the NBA will be next.
“As of yet we have not been invited by the committee,” NBA spokesman Tim Frank said.
Davis said he and Waxman are working with Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., on legislation that would put sports’ banned substance lists and testing protocols under the auspices of the White House drug chief, but might leave penalties up to the leagues.
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.
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.
 | FREE VIDEO |
 |
Focus on NFL, steroids April 27: Lawmakers question NFL officials about the steroid testing policy in professional football. NBC's Tracie Potts |
 | Slideshow |
 | Super Bowl XLVI shots See the best moments before, during and after the Giants' win over the Patriots more photos |
Latest from ProFootballTalk |
 | Video: Football from NBC Sports |
 Getty Images |
| Slideshow |
 | NBCSports.com |
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.
NBC Sports TV and livestream listings
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.
