get on base at a high rate and hit the occasional home run. Hell st | Forum

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. Basketball Shoes 2020 . -- Although Jared Goff still isnt getting the keys to the Los Angeles Rams offense, the No. 1 draft pick will get to take it for a spin.Goff will get increased practice time with the first-team offense during the Rams current bye week and again next week before their game against Carolina, coach Jeff Fisher said Monday.While Case Keenum will remain Los Angeles starting quarterback, Goff has a chance to master the details necessary to gain Fishers approval.Hes going to get reps, Fisher said of Goff. I dont feel like Case needs the reps Wednesday and early next week, so Jared will get those reps, which is good.About 4 1/2 hours after stepping off the long flight home from London, Fisher confirmed he hasnt changed his mind about his quarterback situation with the Rams (3-4), who have lost three straight to wipe out their strong start to the season.Keenum, who threw four interceptions in the Rams dull 17-10 loss to the New York Giants at Twickenham Stadium, is still ahead of Goff, who got a four-year, $27.9 million contract with an $18.5 million signing bonus in June after the Rams mortgaged a large chunk of their future to trade up for him.Jared is going to be our starter (eventually), Fisher said. But were going to continue with Case.Although a bye week seems to be an ideal time to make a change thats essentially inevitable, Fisher isnt yet ready.Fisher declined the chance to be specific about whether he feels Goff isnt ready for the job, or whether he doesnt want to risk his prized picks health and development in the NFLs 30th-ranked offense. The Rams have an inconsistent offensive line, a struggling ground game and receivers who arent exactly distinguishing themselves this season.We won three straight games with (Keenum), Fisher said. Yes, I understand weve lost three straight. But the quarterback position, in my opinion, is not the reason why we lost the football games. ... (Keenum) threw four interceptions. You look at the actual plays, and as you guys know, interceptions -- you can place blame wherever you want.Fisher says much of that blame resides with the Rams receivers. Brian Quick ran an incorrect route on Keenums fourth interception, while Kenny Britt made an earlier mistake that ruined a potential TD pass.When youre playing close games, youve got to do everything exactly right, Fisher said. And we didnt do that at the receiver position. Nor did we do it at the offensive line position, or the running back position for that matter.Fisher was noncommittal about the possibility of shaking up the receiving corps with additional playing time for rookies Pharoh Cooper, Nelson Spruce or Michael Thomas.Cooper, a fourth-round pick, has been active for just one game this season. Spruce has yet to get on the field after the Rams kept the promising undrafted free agent on their 53-man roster out of training camp even though he was injured. Thomas is mainly contributing on special teams.Were going to work some of the younger guys in there (in practice), Fisher said. (Cooper and Spruce) going to get a lot of reps, so well see. Michael is doing a good job out there on special teams. We just have to get more production out of the whole group.The Rams will practice only once during their bye. After a peripatetic season that began with the franchises return from St. Louis, the players will have several days off to recover from their London trip while revitalizing themselves for the nine weeks ahead.Those weeks begin with a favorable November schedule. Los Angeles next four opponents are a combined 8-18, giving the Rams a golden opportunity to get back in the playoff hunt despite their offensive woes.But first, Fisher wants his players to get rid of their jetlag. The coach could use some sleep, too.This week is about resting, its about recovering, Fisher said. Its also about getting away and coming back recharged, thats probably the most important thing.---AP NFL websites: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP-NFL Basketball Shoes Online Store . MORITZ, Switzerland -- Fog prevented downhill racers from getting their Olympic dress rehearsal. Cheap Basketball Shoes Free Shipping .com) - Yankee Stadium is the home of the Bronx Bombers, but on Sunday afternoon it will open its gates to host the latest addition of the Hudson River Rivalry. https://www.cheapbasketballshoesstore.com/ . -- Arizona raced out to a big lead and did not back off, hitting the accelerator instead. ST. LOUIS - Within days of the St. Louis Cardinals missing the playoffs for the first time since 2010, the teams front office met and quickly zeroed in on what the club needed to get back to World Series contention. General manager John Mozeliak laid the plan out for the public at the teams annual postseason media conference.The Cardinals needed to be more athletic. They needed to catch and throw the ball more skillfully. They needed to add a dash of menace on the bases. As they discussed potential fixes, one other attribute sometimes entered their thinking. They wanted their team to better reflect the city in which it plays.The player they identified for their search was uniquely qualified to check off each of the boxes. Dexter Fowler has one of the most selective eyes in baseball, making him a perfect puzzle piece for the top of the lineup. He is an established center fielder whose defensive metrics are riding an uptick at age 30, when some players are beginning to slip. He is good for about 19 stolen bases a year, roughly three times what last years leading Cardinal base stealer, Stephen Piscotty, managed.It didnt hurt that the Cardinals were signing him away from the Chicago Cubs, the rival team he had just helped to its first World Series title since the Teddy Roosevelt administration.Nor was it lost on the Cardinals as they began contemplating a multi-year, big-money commitment that finding an African-American star could have social benefits in their community. Their background check on Fowler only reinforced their feeling that he was the perfect man for the job, prompting them to offer him a five-year, $82.5 million deal, which he agreed to last week.One of the things we think was very important about Dexter Fowler besides the baseball side of what he brought to the Cardinals was his understanding of social issues, Mozeliak said. He is very active in understanding whats happening around him. Hes a very bright and intelligent person and doesnt shy away from whats happening in communities.Fowlers signing has already helped reinforce the sometimes rickety bridge between the team and St. Louis large African-American community. It was even greeted with a statement of gratitude from the local NAACP.Me and my friends look up to him as not only an athlete, but a black athlete. Not many athletes playing baseball are of African-American descent, said Tommy Woods, a junior infielder at McCluer North High School. Him being on the Cardinals is just a real inspiration. It helps us stay on top of what we have to and helps us realize theres a chance for us, and we can always keep striving.Woods double-play partner, Dexter Swims, agreed: Dexter Fowler gives us hope that its possible for us to make it that far.Woods and Swims live in North St. Louis County, within a seven-minute drive of the St. Louis airport. Steer just a tick east, and you arrive in Ferguson, a little town that became a flash point for racial tension after the fatal shooting of Michael Brown by white police officer Darren Wilson on Aug. 9, 2014. Hundreds of students at McCluer North, many of whom live in Ferguson, protested by walking out of class with their hands raised, forcing a brief closure of the school.I went down there because I wanted to see where it happened, Swims said. It was kind of touching because the whole community came together, and they were hurt. It was sad to see so many people down and losing hope.Last year, just 8 percent of players on the Opening Day rosters of MLB teams were African-American, holding steady from 2012 but still the lowest it has been since the integration era. That decline is felt acutely in St. Louis, which has a large black population and one of baseballs most adoring fan cultures. The look of the team and the fans in its stadium often hasnt reflected the faces in the streets around the ballpark.The city of St. Louis, where Busch Stadium sits in the shadow of the Gateway Arch, is nearly 50 percent black, and the entire region of roughly 2.4 million people, is roughly 18 percent black. The Cardinals havent had a black All-Star in 19 years.Swims said he frequently hears from his black friends and fellow students that baseball is a white mans game. He counters by filling them in on the history of the sport and the transcendent way his favorite player, Jackie Robinson, changed the game with his bold dashes around the base paths. Both he and Woods have had contact from Division I baseball coaches and are hoping to receive scholarship offers. In that way, they could folloow Robinsons lead. Fake Basketball Shoes. He starred at UCLA before finding fame with the Dodgers.For years, Swims father, also named Dexter, had him watch tapes of baseball from the 1980s and 1990s, when black participation was higher. In 1975, MLB was 27 percent African-American, a number that steadily declined for more than 20 years. At their family gatherings, people openly wondered when the Cardinals would sign or develop another black star. Jason Heyward played in St. Louis for one season but signed with the Cubs a year ago. Fowler could be the star theyve been waiting for.Its a lot to put on one player, particularly one who grew up not in St. Louis, but in Georgia. Fowler, however, sounds up to the task of embodying something more than his ability to catch a baseball or hit one. Before he signed with the Cardinals, he had a telephone conversation with Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith. A day later, at the press conference announcing his signing, he said the talk helped him feel more comfortable about making St. Louis his next baseball home, maybe his last. Fowler has previously played in Colorado, Houston and Chicago. He has a blanket no-trade clause.Just hearing the joy Ozzie had for the city, it definitely helped, Fowler said. You look at Lou Brock and some of these other guys, this is a good organization.Fowler, who is married to Darya Aliya Fowler, a woman of Iranian descent, said he would embrace helping build bridges between communities in and around St. Louis.I wouldnt say its forced. Its just something God has blessed me with, to be able to walk in a room and get along with everybody. My parents are the same way, Fowler said. Youve got to look past everything and realize everybody is themselves, and youve got to be humble about it.Smith would like to see the Cardinals with three or four prominent black players instead of one, but he understands the changing demographics within the game. Last season, reserve outfielder Tommy Pham was the teams lone black player until pitcher Jerome Williams arrived late in the season. The Cardinals had an otherwise diverse roster with players of Cuban, Puerto Rican, Dominican, Mexican, Colombian and South Korean descent.Its very important to have a player like Dexter. An organization has to start looking like its community, Smith said. If it doesnt look like its community, then when you look at the ballpark you dont see the community. Its got to be more inclusive. If you want more African-Americans at the ballpark, the imperative is to get African-American players. If you get them, and they go out and do their job every day and entertain people, youre probably going to get more people out at the ballpark. This is not rocket science.The heir to a team that Branch Rickey ran before he was hired by the Brooklyn Dodgers and broke baseballs color barrier by signing Robinson, Mozeliak is aware of the Cardinals place in the community.Four of the teams 10 all-time WAR leaders are black, and three of those players -- Bob Gibson, Lou Brock and Ozzie Smith -- are in the Baseball Hall of Fame. The 1964 Cardinals, in particular, helped reinforce the idea of integration when, in the World Series, they upset the New York Yankees -- still largely segregated under GM George Weiss -- with a team dominated by stellar black players such as Gibson, Brock, Bill White and Curt Flood. The Cardinals appeared in three more World Series in the 1980s, again behind largely African-American talent such as Smith, Willie McGee, Lonnie Smith, George Hendrick and Vince Coleman.Dexter Fowler has such a unique opportunity to really kind of build on that legacy, and were so proud of the Cardinals, who made not only a great decision on a player, but also in continuing to diversify and to keep inclusion at the forefront of their operation, said John Gaskin, spokesman for the St. Louis County NAACP.The Cardinals seem quietly confident they got the right man. If theyre right, his absence will hurt the rival Cubs. Hell continue to get on base at a high rate and hit the occasional home run. Hell stabilize their outfield and unclog base paths that seemed lined with molasses when the Cardinals were running.If it works out as well as they hope, hell also look around and embrace his new neighbors. Hell make Busch Stadium look more like the blocks around it, and hell make the blocks around it feel more like theyre part of whats happening at Busch Stadium. ' ' '