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?
LIVE VIDEO: NBCSports.com shows Washington-New York, with alternate camera angles, HD views and more.
PBT: Jeremy Lin wasn't his hot self on Saturday, but he still led the Knicks to victory.
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.
Getty ImagesThough Giacomo didn’t win any of his races this year until Saturday, Smith said the colt was making small strides forward with each start, building toward the ultimate goal of the Derby.
“Every race was just a little step ahead, a little step ahead,” he said.
Shirreffs said that even though most experts gave his colt little chance in the race, he had faith in his horse and believed he would give a good account of himself as the distance lengthened to the Derby distance of 1 ¼ miles.
“I was thinking the East Coast horses were getting a lot of the press,” he said. “But horses can peak for races and then they could drop off. I knew Giacomo was a pretty steady performer and I knew he hadn’t peaked yet.”
Shirreffs became the third straight trainer to win the Derby on his first try. John Servis won with Smarty Jones last year, and Barclay Tagg won with Funny Cide in 2003.
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Meanwhile, Zito was left with only questions about what happened to his cadre of contenders.
“It looked pretty good turning for home with High Fly and Bellamy Road, but it didn’t happen for us today,” he said. “… I don’t know really. It’s racing, obviously, and I guess you just keep trying.”
Bellamy Road’s disappointing finish comes three weeks after an astonishing 17½-length win in the Wood Memorial. Steinbrenner watched the race from a private suite and wasn’t available for comment, but Zito said afterward the owner told him: “Just keep trying.”
Don’t Get Mad was fourth, followed Buzzards Bay, Wilko, Bellamy Road, Andromeda’s Hero, Flower Alley, High Fly, Greeley’s Galaxy, Coin Silver, Greater Good, Noble Causeway, Sun King, Spanish Chestnut, Sort It Out, Going Wild, Bandini and High Limit.
Giacomo also returned $45 for a place bet and $19.80 to show. Closing Argument, ridden by Cornelio Velasquez, paid $70 and $24.80. Afleet Alex, with Jeremy Rose aboard, paid $4.60.
If Giacomo goes on to win the Preakness in two weeks, the stage would be set for a fourth straight Triple Crown try in the Belmont Stakes on June 11. War Emblem in 2002, Funny Cide and Smarty Jones each won the Derby and Preakness, but came up short in the Belmont.
The first of three pools of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager begins its three-day run on Friday and the bet's opening scenario is very similar to each of its opening pools since the wager was created in 1999.
It's first time that Classic will be broadcast in primetime on Nov. 3.
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Images of the Triple Crown See images from the 2005 Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes. |
 | INTERACTIVE |
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 | Slideshow |
 | Derby celebs Plenty of stars from the entertainment and sports world attend the 136th Kentucky Derby. more photos |
| INTERACTIVE |
 | Triple Crown winners The horses that have won the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont in the same year. |
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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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.
