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?
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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.
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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.
BIRMINGHAM, England (AP) -England defender Joleon Lescott preserved Manchester City's two-point lead in the Premier League by scoring a second-half winner in a 1-0 victory at Aston Villa on Sunday.
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 file“You can’t have a perfect ballclub. You can’t have a ballclub and not have raised voices. It’s supposed to be like that,” Francona said. “That’s pretty much the way it’s been every year. Have a couple fiascos and he drives in 140 — I hope it continues.”
Francona said he didn’t expect any more problems from Ramirez this season.
“They’re done,” he told reporters. “You saw him.”
Ramirez sat out on Saturday night, but when he came onto the field for the postgame handshake, a section of the crowd broke into a brief “Manny!” chant. On Sunday, his appearance in the on-deck circle sent the crowd into a frenzy.
Before four pitches could be thrown on an intentional walk to David Ortiz, the Fenway crowd was on its feet. And when Ramirez bounced a single through the middle, things got even louder.
“That was total Hollywood,” outfielder Johnny Damon said. “We talked to him, told him we loved him and missed those hugs. He’s going to be happy the rest of the year.”
Ramirez signed an $160 million, eight-year contract during the baseball-wide spending spree after the 2000 season. And even though he has produced, the contract has become a burden for a team trying to remain in contention and under budget.
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Under Epstein, the Red Sox have repeatedly tried to trade Ramirez, famously dangling him in an aborted deal for Alex Rodriguez after the ’03 season. And Ramirez has annually made it clear that he didn’t like Boston, either.
He has complained that he hasn’t been comfortable since leaving the spacious and relatively low-pressure Cleveland clubhouse. He has asked to be traded annually, but few teams are able to take on the $63,885,246 remaining on his contract for the next three years.
The Red Sox had been in talks for a three-team deal that would send Ramirez to the Mets, but those talks stalled. After the season he will have the right to veto any trade.
With rumors swirling as the deadline approached, Francona met with Ramirez before Saturday night’s game and gave him the weekend to clear his head; an off-day Monday gives him three days off. Francona said he would avoid using Ramirez as a pinch-hitter, but Ramirez said in the manager’s office he was willing to pitch in.
And that he did.
As the media began filing out of his office in the morning, Francona threw his head back with a laugh.
“This place,” he said, “it’s not boring.”
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.
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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.
