10:49 AM ET 05.20 | Last season, Matt Hasselbeck and Jake Locker combined to throw 584 passes, the most by the Titans in six years. Sounds like they were just getting warmed up. Based on reports coming out of minicamp workouts last week, the Titans are preparing to spread the field with more receivers and ??? I can???t believe I???m writing this ??? use the pass to set up the run. In other words, these aren???t your grandfather???s Titans. They really have matriculated into the 21st Century. Veteran wide receiver Nate Washington, who is coming off a career-best 74-catch season, joked that offensive coordinator Chris Palmer ???has been in the lab all offseason,??? formulating a system that will attack defenses in new and different ways.

Tennessean

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10:40 AM ET 05.20 | Despite a streak of 40 at-bats without a homer and unimpressive stats through a quarter of the season, struggling Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez declared that when the year's over, he will have delivered his customary big production. "My numbers are going to be there at the end of the year - there's no question about it," Rodriguez said after yesterday's 6-5 loss to the Reds. "The thing is, we've got to put it to work right away because our team needs victories and our offense, our coaches, players expect a lot from me. And I'll be there." Rodriguez, who took an 0-for-4 yesterday, has not gone deep since May 6 and has one home run in his past 20 games. In 40 games, approximately a quarter of the year, he has five homers and 15 RBIs, meaning he is on pace for just north of 20 homers and 60 RBIs. Yesterday Rodriguez, who will turn 37 in July, insisted his confidence is unshaken and he still forecasts a major season.

New York Post

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09:44 AM ET 05.20 | The Los Angeles Lakers trudged off the Staples Center floor late Saturday, a single loss now separating them from season's end, another fourth-quarter collapse once again causing their undoing. They didn't show much poise in the locker room, either, with Kobe Bryant and Andrew Bynum pointing blame at others for allowing the Oklahoma City Thunder to steal their second victory in three games. Bryant left no question which teammate deserved the most blame for the 103-100 loss in Game 4. Pau Gasol. Bryant faulted Gasol for not playing aggressive enough. It was also Gasol's turnover that led to Kevin Durant making the winning 3-pointer with 13.7 seconds left. "Pau's got to be more assertive," Bryant said. "He's the guy they're leaving [open]. When he's catching the ball, he's looking to pass. He's got to be aggressive. He's got to shoot the ball or drive the ball to the basket. He will be next game."

Yahoo! Sports

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09:34 AM ET 05.20 | The Phoenix Coyotes could play their last game of the season Sunday afternoon. It could also be their last game as the Phoenix Coyotes. While talks continue on a deal to have a group fronted by former San Jose Sharks executive Greg Jamison buy the team from the NHL, which bought the club out of bankruptcy three years ago, the deal still isn't done. Until the members of Jamison's group put pen to cheque and close the deal, there is going to be justifiable healthy skepticism about the Coyotes' future in Glendale, Ariz.

Toronto Sun

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08:36 AM ET 05.20 | Though a Yahoo story suggested the Big 12 - which has more a lucrative TV deal than the Atlantic Coast Conference - might pursue Florida State and Miami, two UM Board of Trustee members said it hasn't been discussed inside UM and they could not envision Miami being interested. One pointed out UM would need to pay more than $15 million in ACC exit fees even if it wanted to move.

Miami Herald

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10:14 AM ET 05.20 | UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones had long ago developed into a dominant fighter, but only recently had he taken that next step and become a massive box-office star. That's why his arrest early Saturday in Binghamton, N.Y., on a charge of driving under the influence has to be so troubling to the UFC brass. The UFC is in dire need of new stars and Jones has given every indication he's ready to ascend to the top in that realm. Though UFC officials do not release pay-per-view figures, media estimates were that Jones' last bout, at UFC 145 in Atlanta on April 21, sold in excess of 700,000 units. The event attracted a crowd of 15,545, which paid a live gate of $2.3 million. Those are the kind of numbers which stamp a fighter as a legitimate box-office star.

Yahoo! Sports

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10:44 AM ET 05.13 | After three rounds of The Players, Kevin Na has the fewest strokes, by one, and the most waggles, by about 500. A gun-hating liberal probably has an easier time pulling the trigger. Na shot 68 Saturday at TPC Sawgrass. But people seemed to spend more time counting his long waggles, short waggles and whiff-like swings when stepping out of address than his number of strokes. Na and playing competitor Zach Johnson were put on the clock on the 10th tee and taken off on the 17th tee. In between, Na got a bad time when hitting his second shot on No. 16. Two bad times in a round call for a one-stroke penalty, though the PGA Tour hands those out like manhole covers. The last player to be docked strokes for dallying was Dillard Pruitt at the 1992 Byron Nelson. To his credit, Na knows he has a problem. He says it stems from his inability to get comfortable over the ball since he changed swing coaches in the spring of 2011. "Because my balance at the setup is totally different, I don't feel comfortable," he said. "I'm trying to get comfortable with my waggles." He wants his routine to go like this: little waggle, half waggle, little waggle, half waggle, go. But when it goes longer, he said, "there's a lot going on in my head."

Golf Week

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09:13 AM ET 05.20 | Nearly every major American sport has black stars, including Tiger Woods, LeBron James and Serena Williams, but the top three Nascar national series have none. It is a glaring absence in a sport desperate to attract new fans and diversify its audience. Darrell Wallace Jr., 18, who is scheduled to make his debut in the lower-level Nationwide Series on Sunday at Iowa Speedway, just might be the one to finally break through. "We really feel that Darrell is a guy that has a gift behind the wheel," said J. D. Gibbs, the president of Joe Gibbs Racing, one of the top teams in Nascar. Gibbs has been searching for Nascar's first black star for nearly a decade, beginning with a collaboration with Reggie White before he died in 2004, and signed Wallace in 2009, when he was 15. "I think it's a real value to this sport if you can kind of have that piece fit in," Gibbs said. "Other sports, it kind of happens naturally. This sport's hard because of the barriers to entry because of the cost standpoint." Darrell Wallace Sr., who owns an industrial cleaning business, has spent nearly $1 million to support his son???s racing. Now Gibbs has taken over. The plan is to have Wallace race in four Nationwide events this year, with the possibility of a full schedule in 2013. Nascar officials will be among those watching closely on Sunday.

New York Times

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10:08 AM ET 05.19 | While Juan Agudelo has stated that he feels new club Chivas USA values him, the Red Bulls insist they valued their 19-year-old phenom, enough that they'd spent years rejecting legitimate offers for him and would've turned down this one as well if Agudelo himself hadn't desperately wanted to leave. "Juan has (been) asking for a move for quite awhile. It makes no sense to keep an unhappy player. But it's been going on for awhile," coach Hans Backe said at today's practice, the first since Agudelo was officially dealt yesterday for Heath Pearce, allocation money, salary cap relief and a cut of any future transfer fee. "I've been speaking personally to Juan a number of times over the past months about his future, his wishes, our wishes. How we can work together, not work together," said GM Erik Soler. "As I said, some people think it's wrong to let him go; I think it's a perfectly right thing to do. I need to think about his career, his wishes but also the club."

New York Post

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