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.
Red Sox signed RHP Sean White to a minor league contract.
It's not clear whether he'll receive an invitation to spring training. White spent all of 2011 at Triple-A in the Rockies organization, posting an ugly 5.68 ERA and 1.85 WHIP over 53 appearances. He'll serve as minor league depth.
Red Sox signed INF Mauro Gomez to a minor league contract.
Gomez posted a promising .304/.356/.522 batting line with 34 doubles, 24 homers and 90 RBI in 135 games last year at Triple-A Gwinnett. But the 27-year-old infielder is doubtful to climb to the major leagues with Boston.
Tim Wakefield's agent, Barry Meister, told Scott Lauber of the Boston Herald on Thursday that the knuckleballer will make a decision within the next few days whether he'll continue his playing career in 2012.
"We're discussing the options ' and he has some options ' and over the next few days, we're going to try to figure it out," said Meister. "These next few days is just a period of introspection, where he's trying to decide what to do, whether to play, who to play for." Wakefield has made it clear that he would like to pitch one more season in Boston, but it doesn't appear as though the interest is mutual. Meister said Wednesday that his client hasn't ruled anything out, including possibly accepting a minor league deal with a spring training invite. The 45-year-old compiled a 5.12 ERA and 93/47 K/BB ratio over 154 2/3 innings last year.
The Red Sox and designated hitter David Ortiz will go to an arbitration hearing Monday.
Ortiz requested a salary of $16.5 million and was offered $12.65 million by the Red Sox when arbitration figures were exchanged last month. The two sides have failed to make much progress toward finding a number they can both agree on, but that could change within the next handful of days. Ortiz, 36, batted .309/.398/.554 with 29 home runs and 96 RBI in 146 games last season.
Ryan Kalish (shoulder) is currently working out, but won't be able to hit or throw for about a month.
Kalish is currently working his way back from surgery in November to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder. The 23-year-old outfielder could still make an impact with the big club at some point this year, but he's not expected back until around June.
Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington said Wednesday the team will have some sort of definitive resolution on Jason Varitek and Tim Wakefield by next week.
The Red Sox don't really have a role for Varitek or Wakefield their projected roster, so we doubt this will end with either getting a contract. Varitek's agent, Scott Boras, was recently quoted as saying that the 39-year-old backstop was still "deliberating what he wants to do," but he is believed to have a job with the organization waiting for him if he decides to hang up his shin guards. Wakefield, 45, doesn't appear interested in pitching anywhere other than Boston, so the knuckleballer may also be forced to walk off into the baseball sunset.
Rob Bradford of WEEI.com was told by a major league source that the Red Sox have signed Australian left-hander Daniel McGrath.
McGrath's team, the Doncaster Dragons Baseball Club, originally broke the news via their Twitter account. The Red Sox have since confirmed the signing. We don't have much information on the 17-year-old yet, but he stands at 6-foot-3 and has a fastball clocked at 91 mph. The southpaw is slated to visit Fort Myers during spring training for about a week, but he'll then return to Australia where he won't graduate from high school until December.
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.
