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.
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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.
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.
Reuters“The scoreline is misleading,” said Ferrero, who will play Stepanek in the semifinals. “It was a very tough match.”
Stepanek ousted eighth-seeded Lopez, despite the Spaniard not dropping his serve in a meeting of two serve-and-volleyers. Stepanek went ahead 6-3 in the first-set tiebreaker but lost two set points before winning 10-8.
“I was simply luckier today,” Stepanek said.
Lopez improved on his form of the previous round and appeared to be moving around the court better. However, he could not break his opponent’s serve and lost the second tiebreaker.
Lopez rejected the notion that he was disturbed by Stepanek’s moans as he was hitting the ball. Stepanek has been asked by several players to stop groaning, but abandoned his attempts when it affected his game.
Fourth-seeded Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia beat Fernando Gonzalez of Chile 6-3, 7-5 to remain the only player in the tournament yet to lose a set.
Ljubicic will play sixth-seeded Tommy Robredo of Spain, who topped Jean-Rene Lisnard of France 6-1, 6-1.
Blake, Rochus reach semifinals
Olivier Rochus rallied from a set down to beat Jonas Bjorkman and James Blake defeated Alberto Martin on to advance to the semifinals of the Stockholm Open in Stockholm, Sweden.
Fifth-seeded Rochus won 1-6, 7-6 (3), 6-2 to snap the Swede’s eight-match win streak, while Blake routed Martin 6-1, 6-2. Blake will face Ruchus on Saturday.
“Alberto is a great player, but he had a bad day,” Blake said. “I’d like to think that was partly because of me. I was putting pressure on him the whole time. I served very well, and once you get rolling with one part of your game the rest of it follows, so it’s a good feeling.”
The sixth-seeded Blake is playing in his first tournament since his run to the U.S. Open quarterfinals in September, where he lost to Andre Agassi.
Blake won his second career title in August at New Haven and played in Belgium two weeks ago in the Davis Cup playoff.
“I’ve come over a few times and not had much success, which is frustrating,” Blake said. “I like playing indoors. I feel really good here even though it’s not the same kind of crowds as I have on my side in the United States.”
Thailand’s Paradorn Srichaphan moved into the semifinals after upsetting defending champion Thomas Johansson 2-6, 6-1, 6-4.
Paradorn, the 2002 Stockholm champion, will play his fourth semifinal of the year against Davide Sanguinetti of Italy, who beat German qualifier Rainer Schuettler 6-4, 6-3.
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.
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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.
