Rotoworld: Oregon RB LaMichael James and Oklahoma State WR Justin Blackmon among top 10 players who are being overhyped for the 2012 draft.
SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?
The Detroit Red Wings equaled an NHL record with their 20th straight win at home, beating the Philadelphia Flyers 4-3 Sunday night on the strength of Johan Franzen's tiebreaking goal early in the third period.
PBT: Boston's Rajon Rondo continues to be named in trade talks, which is madness. The Celtics guard creates offense and makes everyone around him better, which was evident in Sunday's win over the Bulls.
Arc: Syracuse is among a solid group of No. 1 seeds in our latest tournament projections, but the middle of the pack is much more murky.
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.
Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods greeted their Sunday pairing at Pebble Beach with optimism. But the day would end happily only for one.
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.
Getty Images for NASCARJamie McMurray wins the 2010 Daytona 500, eh? At first thought, that is not a sexy story. But upon giving it more consideration, I think it qualifies as a great story. Even better, it qualifies as a great racing story – the kind which make the sport so dang fun.
McMurray was not exactly a legend when he was running the short tracks of Missouri and Kansas in the 1990s. In fact, his story back there was fairly ordinary. He was a great kart racer who went on to become a very good Late Model racer.
He moved up to NASCAR in the early 1999 and 200, he drove Camping World trucks out of the Mike Mittler stable.
In ’01 and ’02, he drove for Brewco in Nationwide, winning a couple races and apparently the notice of Chip Ganassi.
In late ’02, McMurray was given a Cup ride by Ganassi. It was to spell ailing driver Sterling Marlin, who was injured in a wreck at Kansas Speedway.
Around the Midwest, some of those who drove against McMurray on short tracks were a bit puzzled. One driver from the Kansas City area told me shortly afterward that McMurray was a good driver, but not worthy of a Cup ride.
It took McMurray two races to prove the guy wrong: McMurray won at Charlotte that fall.
But from there, McMurray’s story was one of mysterious frustration.
Hailed as the next big thing, he would be good but not great for Ganassi and then worse for Jack Roush. Few, including McMurray, could figure out why.
At the end of 2009, he was let go by Roush, apparently destined to go down as a driver who never really delivered after getting his big shot.
When he signed to drive again for Ganassi in the off season, it was Page 2 stuff: Struggling driver goes to struggling team – prognosis is for more struggling.
Then there he was, beating Dale Earnhardt Jr. to the finish line and exploding in tearful, Gatorade-soaked emotion in Daytona. On to morning and late night talk shows. New York. Top of the world.
It was a story of great expectations finally realized.
Now is that the basis of a great story or what?
Jim Pedley is managing editor of Racin' Today. Read more NASCAR news at racintoday.com.
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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.
The Red Wings have finally started to embrace a record they've been chasing.
