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It is time for the 49ers offense to step it up and match the consistently good play of the defense. In order for that to happen, conservative head coach Mike Singletary must allow offensive coordinator, Jimmy Raye, to be at least selectively aggressive. After all that was Mike’s trademark in his defensive playing days.

Minnesota- Despite coming ever so close to a trip to the Super Bowl, as of this writing unfortunately the same huge question begins a new: Will Brett Favre be their quarterback?

Having one of the best years in his long career, most Viking observers are inclined that he will return for his 20th season. It is crucial for this franchise’s playoff hopes that he does.

Based on his performance last year there are no signs to suggest other than Favre can continue to play at a high level, especially with all talent on offense. The Vikings finished second in the NFL in scoring (470 points) in a pass-oriented attack. The Vikings became only the second team in NFL history to have six players catch at least 40 passes. With Sidney Rice and Percy Harvin (Offensive Rookie of the Year) are great targets.

The Journey of the Youth Olympic Flame got under way today in Olympia, Greece, with the lighting of the flame at an official ceremony outside the famed Temple of Hera.

In St Andrews, the march of time and golfers goes hand in hand.

Throughout the year, the starter will call a fresh party of players to the tee every ten minutes – and send them on their way round a links course where the game has been played since the early 1400s.

The first three stages through the Pyrenees haven’t yielded the clear leader most of us were hoping for. Instead, the 31 second lead held by Andy Schleck has been erased, and Alberto Contador now holds an 8 second lead. Since my last post, both Denis Menchov (2 minutes back) and Samuel Sanchez (2 minutes 13 seconds back) have been able to close the gap on the leaders.

Can Tiger Woods return to golf glory by winning his third consecutive British Open title at St. Andrews? Is Ian Poulter poised to earn his first major title? What about Lee Westwood or Ernie Els earning the crown of the sport’s oldest major championship? Will Tom Watson or Nick Faldo come from yesterday for one more hurrah? These storylines and more begin playing out Thursday when the British Open tees off at the home of golf in Fife, Scotland.

The sorting continues in the Alps with only 2 riders left within 2 3/4 minutes of the lead. Andy Schleck and Alberto Contador shattered the rest of the contenders on the final climb of the day. Though they did not sprint for the stage win, the two caught the breakaway within a kilometer of the finish, leaving all the other contenders spread across the mountain. Cadell Evan’s, who started the day in yellow, lost over 8 minutes, not only ending his hope for a victory, but probably ending all hope for a podium finish.

Today was a sad day in the history of the Tour de France. Bad luck and age caught up with Lance Armstrong today to leave him 13′26″ off the lead. Compounding his trouble on the cobbles in stage 3, Lance fell 3 times today and at age 38, he just didn’t have the gas to rejoin the leaders. Regardless of the falls, Lance really didn’t have what it took to keep pace on the climb as teams Sky and Astana held a fast tempo up the high mountains. The other contenders, Contador, Evans, Schleck and Menchov were able to stay together. Notably, Lance’s teammate Levi Leipheimer was able to stay with the leaders, and leave team Radio Shack with a shot at the podium.

 
 
On Sunday evening in Johannesburg’s Soccer City, one of the two greatest footballing nations never to have won the World Cup will be joining that exclusive club of the ‘Magnificent Seven’ as champions alongside Uruguay, Italy, Germany, Brazil, England, Argentina and France. That is correct, since the first tournament in 1930, only seven different nations [...]

The 2010 Tour de France had a rough and tumble couple of stages. Stage 2 wasn’t expected to be much trouble, but the slick descents caused Andy Schleck and Christian Vandevelde to fall and lose ground on the other GC contenders. In response, Andy’s teammate Fabian Cancellera slowed down the entire peloton and prevented the bunch sprint as a kind of protest against the tour organizers, and allowing Andy to rejoin the group. Christian was out a a result of broken ribs suffered on the fall.