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
Fleece Blanket Night at Dodger Stadium sure seemed like a good idea. Some 54,387 fans turned out earlier this week, lured by a game with the Arizona Diamondbacks and the promise of a Dodger blue blanket celebrating past World Series championships.
Sure, the blankets celebrated titles in 1962 and 1966, years the Dodgers didn’t win. But at least they were warm.
The Dodgers passed them out anyway, along with a voucher for a new blanket with the corrected years of 1963 and 1965. Some of the originals, meanwhile, are already on sale on eBay.
The blankets aren’t the only thing Frank McCourt has been accused of botching since buying the Dodgers in a highly leveraged deal before last season.
The new owner upset holders of once prime seats by cramming new rows onto the field in front of them, letting go a popular radio announcer (no, not Vin Scully) and replacing images of Dodger icons such as Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale on the outfield walls with ads.
Much of last year’s feel-good team is no longer around, it’s hard to recognize the new guys without programs because names have been taken off their uniforms, and some of the beautiful people in the pricey new seats next to the field can’t see home plate.
Even the new selection of food was trashed in the Los Angeles Times this week by a writer who pointed out — correctly, of course — that Chinese food and baseball aren’t exactly a proper mix.
True Dodger fans should be aghast by now. They should, but something else is happening in Chavez Ravine that has their attention.
Amazingly, amid the changes and chaos, the Dodgers are winning.
Though the team has slumped in the past week, the Dodgers surprised even themselves by getting off to the best start in the majors this year, winning 12 of their first 14 games. That they did it with closer Eric Gagne on the disabled list and by coming back with late-inning rallies made it even sweeter.
Fans who began the season upset by the trade of Shawn Green to Arizona and the way Adrian Beltre was allowed to leave didn’t take long to warm to this new collection of talent, even if they had trouble figuring out who the players were.
Always a good draw, the Dodgers are doing even better this year. Going into the weekend, the team is averaging nearly 50,000 fans a home game, up about 20 percent from a year earlier.
McCourt might be the owner, but the architect of this team is a baby-faced general manager schooled in the ways of baseball first in Cleveland and then with “Money Ball” in Oakland.
SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?
DeMarco: Plug in a well-heeled ownership group and negotiate one of those mega-bucks TV deals that are going around, and the Dodgers could become the west coast version of the New York Yankees or Boston Red Sox.
HardballTalk headlines |
 | Interactive |
 |
 | Slideshow |
 | Unbreakable records in baseball A look at the most unbreakable records in baseball including Nolan Ryan's seven no-hitters. |
| Slideshow |
 | The top tools of baseball You hear a lot about the tools of baseball, but who are the best hitters, fielders and pitchers? We break it down. more photos |
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.