Not departed, but moving on, in search of another adventure, | Forum
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Sep 13 '18
This story is part of ESPN The Magazines Oct. Nike NFL Jerseys Outlet . 31 NBA Preview Issue. Subscribe today!Miami DolphinsOverall: 106 Title track: 99 Ownership: 96 Coaching: 98 Players: 113 Fan relations: 115 Affordability: 90 Stadium experience: 98 Bang for the buck:?61 Change from last year: -14This year, the Dolphins fell in almost every category in these rankings, with slight increases only in stadium experience (thanks to a $500 million renovation) and coaching (excitement over new coach Adam Gase). But the Dolphins still have a long way to go to get to the top half of these standings, and none of it will come until the product on the field improves.Whats goodThe Dolphins havent had a winning record since 2008, but at least they still provide good value. With the fourth-cheapest ticket in the NFL, Miamis top ranking this year came in bang for the buck (61st). Stadium experience, though still ranked near triple-digits, did improve this year, thanks to the completion of a major phase of their $500 million renovation of Hard Rock Stadium. Besides the new name, the team has a state-of-the-art canopy which protects fans from the rain and does a better job of making it louder in the stadium. The team also has four new big screens at the corner of each end zone, which are the largest in the AFC East.Whats badA 115th-place rank in fan relations will be disappointing to Dolphins president and CEO Tom Garfinkel, who has spent three years with the team concentrating on community outreach. But he has been hamstrung with a consistently poor product on the field. The Dolphins have made the playoffs just once since 2002. They havent had a playoff win since 2000. Thats 16 years -- nearly a generation -- of fans who have been beaten down and suffered through mostly downtrodden results.Whats newThis year, the Dolphins roster fell 15 places in the players ranking, now ahead of only two other NFL teams (the Lions and 49ers). This team lacks game-breaking talent thanks, in part, to average to subpar drafts over the past few years, and signing big-name free agents hasnt been a cure-all. QB Ryan Tannehill is a middle-of-the-pack performer at the most important position, which means the Dolphins must be deep in other areas -- and that hasnt been the case. Gase is working to get his kind of players in the building, but it will take a few years to accomplish that.Next: Washington Redskins?| Full rankings Wholesale Nike NFL Jerseys . Meanwhile, there were huge victories for Sunderland and West Ham over fellow relegation rivals, leaving the battle to avoid the drop up for grabs with the bottom 11 teams separated by just six points. Eden Hazard and Fernando Torres scored second-half goals to seal a fourth straight victory for Chelsea, which climbed above Arsenal and Manchester City in the standings ahead of their games on Monday and Sunday respectively. Cheap Nike NFL Jerseys China . On Saturday night, the normally free throw-challenged centre did just that. Howard scored 18 of his 25 points in the fourth quarter, including 13 of 19 free throws in a 2 1/2-minute stretch, and the Houston Rockets beat the Denver Nuggets 122-111. http://www.nikecheapnfljerseys.com/ . - Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco is not a fan of his teams use of the wildcat formation, saying "it makes you look like a high school offence. Craig Sager was a king who dressed like a court jester and mixed with royalty and commoners alike.He also was a reporter. Lets not forget that.It will get lost amid all the tributes and colorful video now that he succumbed to cancer, but Sager could gather information and tell stories with the best of them.We were both covering an NBA playoff game in Denver in 2012, when a woman wandered onto the court while the ball was in play. By the time I made my way from my seat down to the court level to poke around and learn more, Sager had already spoken to police and arena personnel and had all of the details and background. Then Sager, being Sager, proceeded to share everything he knew with me. He had provided his update on air, so he was willing to help out another reporter working for another company.Id like to think this was because of our Northwestern bond (he was class of 1973; I was 1992), but he probably would have done it for anybody. He saw everyone who was in and around the league as part of the NBA family. That included the fans, for whom he always took time to take pictures and talk NBA.Ive known him for much of the time Ive been covering the NBA. To have gone to big games over the past 2? decades was to have spent time with Sager. It doesnt feel like our friendship evolved over that time, because it seemed like he was as warm and friendly with me from the beginning as he was so many years and job changes (for me) later.But outside of Sagers wife and children, his colleagues at Turner Sports were closest to him, and they are feeling his loss in ways the rest of us cant imagine.He never had a bad day, Turner Sports Vice President of Talent Relations Tara August said via text message. He once drove me around the ropes in a golf cart at the PGA Championship and told me the entire story of how he fell in love with Stacy on their first date and slept on her couch until she fell in love with him. He always had a story.August doles out the assignments for Turners on-air talent. She bosses around the likes of Charles Barkley and Shaquille ONeal, gets them to move at her whim in a way that a generation of NBA big men failed to do. (Shaq jokingly calls her She-del Castro.) Their obedience often comes with a lot of grumbling. That wasnt the case with Sager.I loved him very much. He was always great to me, August said. Never complained about working a game, no matter how big or small.For one game, we at ESPN called Sager a colleague. Turner loaned him to the Mouse to give him the chance to work Game 6 of the NBA Finals in June.?We should elevate Sagers performance alongside LeBrons when we look back on the 2016 Finals. The reason Sager couldnt work the earlier games -- the guaranteed games -- was because he was getting eight days of chemotherapy treatment in Houston. He came back from eight days of poisonous IVs to do his job when it was an optional assignment. Wholesale Nike NFL Jerseys Authentic. In the ranking of gutsy Finals performances, Im going with Sager grabbing the mic first, Willis Reed limping out of the tunnel second.To see that man ... , said Doris Burke, ESPNs sideline reporter for the series who gladly shared duties with Sager for this special event, with those marks on his face -- lesions, whatever they were -- to know he had to be in extraordinary pain, and to fight through that and to want to be a part of an NBA game. ...If that doesnt tell you about the passion and the drive he had for what he did, I dont know what could.It makes those of us who do NBA sideline reporting more appreciative of what we do. But his mere existence was a little intimidating, because we knew wed never match up to him. Only Sager was getting a hug and a love ya from Pop.Burke had long admired Sagers work from afar and had a unique understanding of how good he was from having done the same job herself.He had such great love for the game of basketball that it allowed him to pull off the outlandish clothing and giant personality, while still commanding the utmost respect from every player and every coach, Burke said. I dont know if people understand how hard that is to do. Theres only one person that I know thats been able to do it, and thats him.When she walked around Quicken Loans Arena with Sager, it reminded Burke of entering an NBA building with Hubie Brown. There was a similar reverence from everyone they came across. Then she saw Sager go to work in the pregame meetings with the coaches.It probably shouldnt have surprised me, but he took it so seriously, Burke said. He embraced the opportunity to work a Finals game. He went into work mode, but it was really cool for me to watch him in work mode. My man started firing questions, and they were all on point. For somebody I had watched work for so long and who I had admired for so long, it was an incredibly special chance to watch him do the behind-the-scenes work.Ive been fortunate enough to see the non-work side of Sager as well. You could usually find him at the bar following the game. Or the night before the game.?One of my enduring memories of Sager comes from after the 2008 All-Star Game in New Orleans. Sunday night had turned into Monday morning, and I had an early flight looming. We crossed paths on Canal Street, chatted a bit, and then I called it a night, while Sager, 19 years my elder, marched off into the French Quarter to see what awaited.Thats the way I prefer to think of him now. Not departed, but moving on, in search of another adventure, in search of another story. 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