The Spurs and the Clippers have staked out their places in the NBA Western Conference Finals while the Eastern Conference has yet to be decided. Takeaway sports contributor Ibrahim Abdul-Matin lays out what to expect for the rest of the playoffs.

A tragic and disturbing day for football fans yesterday as former NFL All-Pro linebacker Junior Seau was found dead at his home in Oceanside, California. He was 43 years old apparently dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound although an autopsy will be conducted to confirm the cause of death. The Takeaways’ sports contributor Ibrahim Abdul Matin tells us about Seau's death and career.

The NBA playoffs got underway this weekend and the playoff picture has already been flipped on its head. Ibrahim Abdul-Matin, Takeaway sports contributor, recaps the action and makes a few predictions about what's coming in the rest of the playoffs.

For today's sports fans, it’s hard to imagine professional teams segregated by color. That changed 65 years ago when Jack Roosevelt Robinson, the son of Georgia sharecroppers, joined the Brooklyn Dodgers to become the first African-American in major league baseball. American sports have come a long way since 1947, but maybe not far enough. This season, just over eight percent of professional baseball players are black. That's less than half of what it was in 1959, when the last team was integrated. Are we living up to or failing Jackie Robinson's legacy? Author of "Opening Day: The Story of Jackie Robinson’s First Season", Jonathan Eig, explains.

The baseball season began just over a week ago with the Mariners and the Athletics facing off at the Tokyo Dome. But there remains a long way to go before the season ends in October, and anything can happen before then. Offering their analyses and predictions of the season to come are Steven Goldman, editor-in-chief of Baseball Prospectus, and Ibrahim Abdul-Matin, Takeaway sports contributor.

Tonight, Kansas and Kentucky face off in New Orleans for the NCAA Championship. Over the weekend, Kentucky beat Louisville in an intra-state match while Kansas rallied against Ohio State to win 64-62. Today two super-fans argue their case for each team. Kim Parks roots for Kentucky, and she's ready to defend the Wildcats against Mark Domitrovich, a Kansas Jayhawks fan. Also with us for NCAA analysis and more on the latest in sports news is Ibrahim Abdul-Matin, Takeaway sports contributor.

Every Friday, The Takeaway assembles a panel of cultural and political experts to chew over the past week's stories. This week's panel includes Latoya Peterson, editor of Racilicious.com, Ibrahim Abdul-Matin, Takeaway sports contributor, and Ron Christie, Takeaway contributor and Republican political strategist.

The NFL yesterday handed out penalties for a scandal involving coaches tolerating and even setting bounties for tough hits on the field. New Orleans Saints coaches have been accused of paying players for hitting an opponent so hard as to knock them out of the game. Ibrahim Abdul Matin, Takeaway sports contributor, joins us to talk about the suspensions and the recent news of Tim Tebow's move to the New York Jets.

March Madness is turning out to be not that mad. Not too many bracket busting upsets this year. In fact, all but two of the Sweet 16 teams are from power conferences. The NCAA championship has become a kind of "who's who" in big basketball schools.

Sports Illustrated called it the greatest college basketball ever played. It took place in the NCAA basketball tournament 20 years ago. With just moments left in the game Duke was trailing Kentucky by a point. Duke's Grant Hill threw a pass all the way down the length of the court to teammate Christian Laettner who put in a final jump shot as time ran out. Takeaway sports contributor Ibrahim Abdul-Matin remembers that moment well -- and he says it holds the key to understanding why March Madness is so special.

Former New Orleans Saints assistant coach Gregg Williams is being called to New York to discuss an alleged bounty fund he employed with his players. The fund rewarded players for game-ending injuries inflicted on an opposing team’s players, and targeted superstars such as Brett Favre and Kurt Warner. The fund reached its height in 2009, the year the Saints won the Super Bowl. Williams is alleged to have maintained when he ran the Washington Redskins’ defense as well.

This weekend is the NBA All-Star game, the unofficial half-way mark of the NBA season. The Miami Heat overwhelmed the Knicks last night as Jeremy Lin was shut down. LeBron James is having a historic season as the team looks to win the championship. But Oklahoma City and Kevin Durant are making waves in the Western Conference. Here to give us his thoughts on the season's first half, and to tell us what he's going to be looking for in the second half, is Takeaway sports contributor Ibrahim Abdul-Matin.

The NBA season is on full throttle as the New York Knicks played the champion Dallas Mavericks Sunday afternoon and Jeremy Lin was able to hold off the team and the Knicks cruised to yet another win. There were also exciting games around the league as Kevin Durant scored a stunning 51 points for Oklahoma City. The question for Linsanity remains: how long can it last?

The New York Giants beat New England 21-17 in a game that most certainly would be consider an instant classic. Eli Manning was the game's MVP, completing 30 of 40 passes and engineering the late 4th quarter touchdown drive that would win the Giants the game. Tom Brady could not execute a successful one-minute drive after launching a Hail Mary pass that went unanswered.

In a world where one team must face off against another not once, but twice, on the world stage tempers will flare, bodies will be pushed to the limit, and reveling fans will discover if the underdog can triumph over tragedy… or if the top dog will rise again. Cliched? Absolutely, but appropriate: just as they did in 2007, the New England Patriots will face off against the New York Giants in this year's Superbowl.

It'll be Eli Manning leading the New York Giants to a Super Bowl rematch against the New England Patriots. The Giants came out on top as they won their fifth straight road playoff game. But even kicker Lawrence Tynes says it's no miracle. Tynes kicked a 32-yard field goal in overtime to send the Giants to the Super Bowl. Eli Manning played like his brother last night, setting a franchise records for completions and attempts, even in the bad weather.

Joe Paterno, the most successful coach in major college football history, the face of Penn State University, and at one point, among the most admired figures in the entire sporting world, is dead at the age of 85. News of Paterno’s death from lung cancer came early Sunday morning. At the center of one of the worst scandals to ever hit the sports world, what JoePa's legacy will be, once the dust clears, is up to more people than just Lions fans.

Time is short in the 2011/2012 NFL season, but this past weekend certainly left behind some incredible moments. The New York Giants pulled off a huge upset by pummeling the Green Bay Packers. And speaking of a pummeling, that is exactly what Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow received from the New England Patriots as his offensive line could not hold.

It seems like every time Tim Tebow is about to run out of miracles, that's when you're most likely to watch him kneeling in the end zone with another crazy victory in hand. And after taking down the Pittsburgh Steelers in overtime last night, maybe the Denver Quarterback has stopped the calls to bench him for at least one week.  

Takeaway sports contributor Ibrahim Abdul-Matin looks back at the last 17 weeks of the NFL season and gives his analysis of this weekend's games.