Im in.Suhr missed a medal at last years worlds but her best mark of 4.91 places her second on the all-time list behind Isinbayev | Forum

They get downgraded in the draft and told their NFL lifespan rarely goes beyond their 30th birthdays. Larry Nance Jr. Cavaliers Jersey .In the pass-happy pro football world, running backs sometimes become afterthoughts. Then, guys like C.J. Anderson, DeAngelo Williams, Matt Forte and Carlos Hyde go wild on the field.Yes, the Patriots and Saints have found ways to prosper chucking the ball all over the yard. But as the first 17 games this season proved -- including Fortes 100-yard, three-touchdown extravaganza for the Jets on Thursday night against Buffalo -- the ground game still matters.Bigtime.Just ask one of the NFLs top passers.With all the fantasy football and all the stuff, from a players perspective, you have to stop the run first, Arizonas Carson Palmer says. Thats what every defense wants to come in and do. You dont talk about it maybe as much, you hear so much about protecting quarterbacks, passing games ... but every team is trying to give up big chunks of yards in the run game, and every team is trying to run the football successfully. From a players standpoint, its a focal point of everything we do.From some coaches standpoint, too.Obviously, they are a huge part of what we like to do. There is not a substitute for a good runner, says Browns coach Hue Jackson, a noted offensive mind. If you have a guy who can wear the defense down a little bit and a guy who knows how to carry the ball, be physical and make those tough yards, there is no substitute for those guys.Would the Broncos have been champions without the performances of Anderson last year? In some ways, hes more valuable than Peyton Manning and his replacement at quarterback, Trevor Simian.No team has a better aerial game than the Steelers. Yet what makes it even more dangerous is what Pittsburgh gets from its backfield.With LeVeon Bell sidelined by a knee injury for much of 2015 and suspended for the first three games this season, Williams has soared. At 33, he appears in his prime -- something Washington learned Monday night when Williams scooted for 143 yards and two touchdowns . He also had six receptions, and he can handle onrushing blitzers.Its one of those things if you can carry the load, you can carry the load, says Williams, who has prospered from splitting carries in Carolina with Jonathan Stewart before landing in Pittsburgh. In this league now, youve got to have two backs if you want to be where you want to be, and thats the Super Bowl.Few teams get that far without a strong passing attack, of course. With all the rules changes favoring throwing, and the onset of fantasy football, it sometimes seems like getting down and dirty with the running game is, well, down and dirty.But one of the real pleasures of watching the NFL is how Adrian Peterson can befuddle defenses while bedazzling viewers. All-around backs such as Williams, Forte, Doug Martin, Jamaal Charles and LeSean McCoy spice up the sport.Youngsters Hyde, Todd Gurley, David Johnson and Devonta Freeman add even more juice.Maybe fans cant wrap their allegiances around running backs (except in fantasy football, of course) because many teams use several RBs each game. The wear and tear of the position warrants a rotation, something inconceivable at quarterback and unlikely at wideout -- no teams take out the top target when they go to multiple-receiver sets.Behind the QB, though, sometimes theres a committee toting the ball, catching it or blocking.No club handles depth at running back better than Kansas City. Even with its star, Charles, hobbled, Andy Reids team can send Spencer Ware , Charcandrick West and Knile Davis at opponents. When Charles gets back to full health, that makes him even more dangerous: Reid can pick and choose when and how to use the versatile Charles because his other backs are dependable.Every running back is a little different and thats the beauty of our guys, theyre all a little different, says Chiefs co-offensive coordinator and running game mastermind Matt Nagy. You have Jamaal with the speed, Spencer with the power, Charcandrick with the mix, and Knile with the power and the mix. So for us, its just a matter of us putting them in and letting them roll to their strengths.Its a matter of identifying what your backs do well, and its dictated more by the player than the team.When teams can dictate the pace of a game on the ground, they can control the clock and, often, the scoreboard.Thats not to say having a star or solid quarterback doesnt lead to winning. But ask Ben Roethlisberger or Alex Smith or whoever lines up behind center in Minnesota about the importance of running the ball.They know.---AP Sports Writers Dave Skretta, Tom Withers, Bob Baum and Will Graves contributed.---AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP-NFL Matthew Dellavedova Jersey . 24 Baylor in a Big 12 clash between teams trending in opposite directions. Andrew Wiggins made 10-of-12 from the foul line and scored 17 for Kansas (14-4, 5-0 Big 12), which capped a stretch of four straight games against ranked opponents unscathed. Dylan Windler Jersey . -- Aldon Smith believes he is on the path to being sober for good. https:///...City-Edition-Jersey/ . 1, meaning problems for the doping controls at both major international sports events next year. The World Anti-Doping Agency provisionally suspended the Moscow Antidoping Center on Sunday, saying its operations must improve or a six-month ban on the facilitys accreditation will be imposed. With so much focus on Usain Bolts injured hamstring and the Russian teams ban amid charges of systematic doping, its easy to lose track of who could be making the headlines at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.Always among the marquee Olympic attractions, the track and field competition runs Aug. 12-21. From the 100-meter sprints to the marathons, there are 47 gold medals up for grabs. Some athletes and events to watch:---BOLT, OR UNBOLTED: Even if he was fully fit, Bolt, the world record-holder and two-time defending champion in the 100- and 200-meter sprints, will have plenty of competition. World championship silver medalist Justin Gatlin recorded the two fastest times of the season to July 3 with a 9.80 and 9.83 at the U.S. trials, holding off Trayvon Bromell in 9.84.Gatlin won the 100-200 double at the trials, a feat 2011 world champion Yohan Blake was matched at the Jamaican championships after Bolt withdrew.After edging Nickel Ashmeade to win the 100 in 9.95, Blake -the silver medalist in the 100 and 200 in London -- said he felt his confidence coming back.----WORLDS FASTEST WOMEN: Dafne Schippers wants to break the Jamaica-U.S. dominance in the womens Olympic sprints by improving one place on her performance at the world championships, where she won the 200 and took silver in the 100.After winning the European 100-meter title, the Dutch former heptathlete she said Im shaping up well for Rio.Her personal best of 10.81 is well off the world-leading 10.70 set by Elaine Thompson at the Jamaican trials.Thompsons time equaled the Jamaican record Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce set in 2012, and relegated the defending Olympic champion to second place.Thats not a position that sits well with Fraser-Pryce, a championship specialist who has won three world and two Olympic golds in the 100.Theres extra incentive for the 29-year-old Fraser-Pryce, too -- the chance to be the first woman to win the same individual event at three successive Olympics.English Gardner leads the U.S. contingent after a personal best of 10.74 at the trials, where she edged Tianna Bartoletta and world championship bronze medalist Tori Bowie, who both ran 10.78.---ALMOST A PERFECT 10: Ashton Eaton is a hot favorite to win another prize for most versatile athlete at the Olympics. Even with a tender right hamstring, Eaton won the U.S. trials with 8,750 points in the decathlon, well below the world record 9,045 he set in winning the world championships last year but also well clear of all his peers.Eaton warmed up for London in 2012 with a world record in the U.S. trials (9,039) and won the Olympic gold with 8,869. His aim now is to surpass 9,000 points at every major event. Roman Sebrle is the only other decathlete to break the 9,000 barrier, with 9,026 back in 2001.----SEMENYA READY: CCaster Semenya has been just about unbeatable this season over 800 meters and is the favorite for gold at Rio, entering with a world-leading time of 1:56. J.R. Smith Cavaliers Jersey. 64 for the first half of the year.Semenya has had a tumultuous career since winning the world 800 title at age 18 in 2009. The issue of gender verification and hyperandrogenism -- the presence of high levels of testosterone in female athletes -- gained global attention after that win and Semenya was ordered to undergo testing.She eventually was cleared to compete and won silver in the 800 at the 2012 Olympics to get her career on back on track. But she missed the 2013 world titles because of injury and didnt make the final at the 2015 worlds.After setting Olympic qualifying times in the 400 and 800 within hours at the South African championships in April, Semenya said she felt like she was starting to enjoy the sport again.Sprinter Dutee Chand , who was suspended by the IAAF and missed two big meets in 2014 because of hyperandrogenism, took her case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport and had the IAAF rules suspended last year, clearing the way for her to compete for India in Rio.----SUPER SATURDAY: Rule Britannia echoed around the Olympic stadium in 2012 when Mo Farah won the 10,000, Jessica Ennis-Hill won the heptathlon and Greg Rutherford won the long jump to give Britain three gold medals on one Saturday night.The way the schedule works out for Rio, they have the chance to do it again on Saturday, Aug. 13.All three won their events at the world championships last year -- Ennis-Hill successfully returning to competition after having a baby, and Farah completing the 5,000-10,000 double again.---SETTING THE BAR HIGH: If Russias ban is upheld, the absence of world record-holder and two-time Olympic champion Yelena Isinbayeva will leave a hole in the womens pole vault competition -- particularly for American Jenn Suhr .I always said I wanted to compete against the best, said Suhr, who won Olympic gold in 2012 on a countback from Yarisley Silva and took silver behind Isinbayeva in 2008 at Beijing. If everything is on the up and up -- and the people who know more than I do say, `Yeah, shes in, shes in. Right now, I have no control over it. Im happy that Im in.Suhr missed a medal at last years worlds but her best mark of 4.91 places her second on the all-time list behind Isinbayeva.Facing heavy expectations is Brazils Fabiana Murer, who won the 2011 world title, the silver in 2015 and set a South American record 4.87 to qualify for her home Olympics.There is a lot of pressure, before a home Olympics, Murer said, but I have the experience to deal with it. ' ' '