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.
APBoth starters retired the first nine batters before hitting trouble in the fourth.
Rafael Furcal doubled down the left-field line leading off the top half of the inning and moved to third on Giles’ sacrifice bunt. Jones then pulled a 3-2 pitch to the last row of the bleachers in right. After going 2-for-4, he is batting .312.
“I want to produce,” said Jones, who spent nearly six weeks in June and July on the disabled list with an injured ligament on the second toe of his left foot. “My body hasn’t allowed me to do it much over the past couple of years, but I’m healthy now, in there and producing.”
Andruw Jones followed the homer with a single. But Zambrano, who had allowed three earned runs in 25 1-3 innings before Monday’s start, struck out Adam LaRoche and Jeff Francoeur to end the threat.
The Cubs loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the inning but scored just one run.
Hudson hit Matt Lawton leading off. After Todd Walker doubled to the right-field corner, Lee walked to load the bases. Aramis Ramirez, who was 3-for-7 with a grand slam this season and 29-for-78 in his career with the bases loaded, hit a double-play grounder to short. Lawton scored, making it 2-1, but Jeromy Burnitz struck out.
“That’s the sign of a good pitcher,” Lee said. “Not many times are you going to get Aramis in that situation.”
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After Lee’s homer in the seventh, Michael Barrett singled with two outs and moved to second on a wild pitch. But he was thrown out trying to score on Neifi Perez’s single to left.
The loss was another blow to the flickering playoff hopes of the Cubs, who trail Philadelphia by seven games in the wild-card race.
“Each loss makes it tougher,” Lee said. “But we’re not out of it.”
Notes: The Braves activated C Johnny Estrada, who missed 14 games with a lumbar and cervical strain, from the 15-day DL on Monday and sent C Brayan Pena to Triple-A Richmond. Estrada is batting .255 with three homers and 35 RBIs. ... Cubs SS Nomar Garciaparra, who had two hits Sunday against Colorado after missing two games with a stiff lower back, did not play. “He’s day to day,” manager Dusty Baker said. “He’s no better or worse than he was yesterday.” ... Banks hit 37 homers in 1962.
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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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.
After leading by 18 points in the first half, the Los Angeles Lakers were staring at a four-point deficit with less than two minutes to play.
