Playoff the solution?
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The debate is only a few losses from raging once again. As college football approaches the first week of the Bowl Championship Series rankings (Oct. 15), which will determine the national championship game participants, teams around the country are wishing, hoping, and praying for the right results. Once the first rankings are released, there will be weekly arguments about who ...
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The Bruins' road to a postseason berth remains steep, but it would be more difficult today if two other teams also struggling for a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference hadn't also squandered points last night.
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Wow, wouldn&#39;t that be something if the NBA season ended with Ron Artest holding the championship trophy? It&#39;s not out of the realm of possibility.
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The Atlanta Falcons and Washington Redskins have reached the point of the season where thoughts can get a bit fanciful. Maybe we can win the rest of our games. Maybe 9-7 will be good enough to get into the playoffs this year. Maybe even 8-8.
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I don&#39;t know if the Buffalo Bills make the AFC playoffs, but I know they should. And they&#39;re in the right place at the right time to get there.
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TORONTO -- The goaltending issue? The search for a red-hot backstop? Panic in the pipes?
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For the Carolina Panthers to make the playoffs, they must beat New Orleans in their regular-season finale and get a little outside help. As it turns out, none of the playoff-bound teams have any interest in giving the Panthers an assist.
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Are we the reverse Tevyes? Apparently so. It appears that allowing the Red Sox, Patriots, and Celtics to shower the sports fans of New England with victory after victory - with one championship secured, another very likely to follow, and a third now a reasonable goal - does not spoil any vast eternal plan whatsoever.
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There is no secret that time is running out to save the NHL season. How the NHL and the players association are working to prevent that has become a very big mystery.
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To some San Diego Chargers, there's a playoff seeding to secure and a rushing title to win.
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The American League playoff teams are set. All that remains to be determined are the first-round matchups.
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TORONTO -- Last week of August, the playoff race is heating up, and a Red Sox player's thoughts turn to . . . football? In some ways, these guys are no different from the typical sports fan on the cusp of an NFL season. Sure, they're focused on the business at hand, winning a spot in their own postseason tournament ...
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MINNEAPOLIS -- It's that time again. Time to see whether the Celtics can do what they've been unable to do for 2 1/2 months, something their Atlantic Division brethren seem equally incapable of doing.
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San Diego -- The sports cliche about taking them one game at a time does not apply in a final-week drive for the playoffs. That, the players say, is looking too far ahead.
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As Saturday nightâs game against the Patriots showed, the Giantsâ inability to finish big games is a big issue as the playoffs arrive.
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Half the teams in the National League still have playoff aspirations. The World Series champs are no longer one of them. The Florida Marlins were eliminated from postseason contention Sunday when they lost 6-3 in Atlanta, ending their defense of a surprising 2003 title.
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By H. Darr Beiser, USA TODAY. Back when Bill Parcells was coaching deep into the playoffs, you knew what he would do if he went into the fourth quarter with a 10-point lead.