that is absolutely crazy and, given the quality of the cricket on show | Forum
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Jun 1 '18
PITTSBURGH -- Troy Polamalu walked off the Pittsburgh Steelers practice field on Tuesday with rookie safety Shamarko Thomas hanging on the veteran safetys every word. Nemanja Bjelica Jersey . To be honest, Polamalu admits its still a little strange to think that in the last decade hes morphed from precocious talent into respected leader. Yet he knows being a mentor is part of his job description these days, and for a team in the midst of startling change, its a role hell eagerly fill. "The great thing about the people that we have here is that all we are going to do is give knowledge," Polamalu said. "There is no hesitation. Its not like we think this guy is going to replace someone, like other teams." Maybe, but there is little doubt that the Steelers expect Thomas to one day take over for the 32-year-old Polamalu or 33-year-old Ryan Clark. Just not quite yet. For as all the tumult Pittsburgh experienced in the off-season, there was a sense of normalcy during the first day of organized team activities. While locker room fixtures James Harrison, Mike Wallace and Rashard Mendenhall are all gone, a host of veterans remain to help an 8-8 team rebuild on the fly. "It feels new and different every year at this time," coach Mike Tomlin said. "Were working with 90 guys and every year 40 or so of them, minimum, are new guys. From that standpoint, its the same. Were always excited and energized to work with the new faces." So long as the old ones know that needs to be fixed. The Steelers slid to their worst record of Tomlins six-year tenure in 2012 as injuries and uncharacteristic mistakes sent Pittsburgh tumbling out of the playoffs. General manager Kevin Colbert refused to call the Steelers a team in transition during the off-season but allowed changes needed to be made for Pittsburgh to get back to its usual spot among the NFLs elite. Part of the plan was trimming some salary cap fat in cutting Harrison and veteran offensive lineman Willie Colon. Part of it was adding youth like top draft pick linebacker Jarvis Jones and second-round running back LeVeon Bell. And part of it was relying on players like Polamalu and quarterback Ben Roethlsiberger to assert themselves in the locker room. Roethlisberger has spent the majority of his career as the youngest player in the quarterback room. Now hes the oldest after the team jettisoned Byron Leftwich and Charlie Batch in the off-season and brought in Bruce Gradkowski, John Parker Wilson and fourth-round pick Landry Jones. "Im going to do everything I can to help those guys get ready to play because Im here to win games," Roethlisberger said. "Weve had other guys step up and play and win games for us in the past. Im excited to help these guys be ready to go if need be." The quarterback brushed off off-season chatter from several players -- some anonymously -- that the dynamics of the locker room changed last year. He called the suggestions "confusing" and said the team is eager to move on. So is cornerback Ike Taylor. The very un-Steelerlike end to last season left a "sour taste" in the veterans mouth. "Thats something we pride ourselves on is making the playoffs, having the opportunity to go to a championship game and we came up short," Taylor said. When asked if missing the playoffs for only the third time since 2004 is that big a deal, Taylor didnt hesitate. "It is," Taylor said. "When you put all that effort in, training camp, minicamp, going along into the season and have opportunities to make it and you dont make it, its frustrating." And hopefully, a lesson learned. Polamalu missed more than half the season with a calf injury, the first one of his 10-year career he says "could have been avoided." The 2010 NFL Defensive Player of the Year declined to get into specifics on how he could have kept the calf healthy but says his off-season regimen continues to change as he matures. "Time is not stale," Polamalu said. "You have to continue to evolve as time evolves, your career evolves and your body evolves. I think when you become stale in that way, then its just kind of a redundant thing." Like, say, harping on last season. The Steelers arent used to missing the playoffs in consecutive years. They went three seasons without a post-season appearance from 1998-2000, but thats long before the likes of Polamalu, Roethlisberger and Taylor came along. Nevertheless, all have endured bumps in the road throughout their careers. And all have found a way to respond almost immediately. They see no reason it cant happen again. "I think its like coach (Tomlin) says," Taylor said. "Less talk and more work." Marcus Georges-Hunt Jersey . Badenhop was 2-3 with a 3.47 ERA in 63 relief appearances for Milwaukee this season. He is 18-20 in his career with three saves and a 3. Taj Gibson Jerseyhttp:///...-cole-aldrich-jersey . Sulaiman, 44, was chosen unanimously Tuesday in a vote by the leadership, the World Boxing Council said. Sulaiman becomes the sixth president of the organization. Now that the group stage of the inaugural Kia Super League is almost over, with finals day just around the corner, its a good time to look back and assess what we have learned from this exciting new competition. Here are my initial thoughts.1. Tell them about it and they will come Two weeks ago nobody - even, if they are honest, those running it at the ECB - quite knew what to expect from the Super League. It was notoriously difficult to get anyone to say exactly what success for this new competition would look like. Now? Well, lets just say Im pretty sure that Clare Connor, the ECBs director for womens cricket, is sleeping at night again.At the time of writing, there has been an average attendance of over 1000 at the group games so far, and the matches at the Ageas Bowl and The Oval have attracted over 2000 spectators apiece. As someone who is used to turning up to watch womens county games with next to no spectators bar the friends and family of the players, let me tell you, that is absolutely phenomenal.Heres the thing: if you market it right, create a buzz around the teams, and, most importantly, tell people it is happening, people will pay to attend domestic womens cricket in their thousands.2. Different franchise models work in different places The crowds we have seen at the KSL group matches are even more impressive when you consider that, unlike with the Womens Big Bash League, the KSL hosts were starting from scratch, unable to tap into an existing franchise fan base. There were quite a lot of voices prior to this competition questioning the decision by the ECB to take what was actually quite a risk in pushing ahead with a standalone womens competition.What we have seen over the past couple of weeks, though, has fully vindicated that decision. No, these havent been double-header games, but people have still shown up in droves. No, these sides arent attached to mens teams, but kids (and girls, especially) have still turned up wearing their teams colours and gone home with their heroes autographs. Not only is that an incredible achievement, it gives womens cricket something new and different, and the opportunity to forge its own way ahead. I for one am excited to see where that path might lead.Actually theres a good argument that playing copycat to the WBBL wasnt just impractical, given the foot-dragging that takes place every time franchise cricket is suggested within the English mens game, but that it wouldnt have worked anyway. Different contexts require a different approach. In fact, at a time when there are big question marks over the future of the mens T20 competition, this should tell the ECB something important about franchise cricket more generally.3. There is plenty of talent out there Those of us who actually watched womens county cricket prior to the start of the Super League were already well aware of this, but it has been incredible to see players who I am more used to seeing playing in front of 20 people at tiny club grounds launched onto the big stage, with the eyes of the media fully upon them, and flourishing.Whether it be Hampshires Katie George, more used to playing in Division Two county cricket, looking right at home in Vipers world-class bowling attack; or Susssexs Paige Scholfield, coming in to bat at No. Justin Patton Jersey. 9 for Lightning and ending up top-scoring for her side with one of the highest strike rates in the competition; or Lancashires Emma Lamb, only 18, the most consistent opener in any team in the competition; or Berkshire left-armer Linsey Smith, called up to the competition due to injury but stacking up the most successful and the most economical spell in the entire competition so far - it has all been so wonderful to see. Its pretty clear that we dont really need to worry about whether the current county system is producing any talent.One aspect of the system that should still be a concern is the fact that only 19 players in the whole of English womens cricket are being paid to play cricket at any time other than the two-week KSL window. If we dont want to see incredibly talented young players like George, Lamb and Smith walking away from the game prematurely, some kind of progressive pay scale is needed - and fast. 4. Dont rely on your overseas players One of the unforeseen elements of this competition has been the fact that many of the big-name overseas superstars have failed to perform. Ellyse Perry, for example, started the competition with scores of 17 and 2, as well as conceding 39 runs off her four overs in Lightnings first home game of the tournament. Hayley Matthews, star of the Womens World T20 final earlier this year, has hit 7, 11, 0 and 0 in Thunders four group matches to date. Meanwhile Diamonds two overseas batsmen - Alex Blackwell and Beth Mooney - have almost totally failed with the bat, with scores of 3, 23 and 6, and 0, 9 and 17 respectively. It turns out that adjusting to English conditions when youre flown in just a few days before a two-week tournament in the middle of your off season is actually quite tricky.5. You dont need silly boundaries At international level the regulations for boundary sizes in womens cricket differ from those in the mens game - a minimum of 50 metres compared to the mens 60 metres. The KSL playing regulations, in case you havent read them, take this one step further and actually allow for 45-metre boundaries. This, of course, panders to the school of thought that womens T20 cricket is as dull as ditchwater unless there are sixes being hit every other ball.In fact, so far in the KSL, I dont think Ive seen a single boundary that is 45 metres. Most have been 50 or 55 metres. Weve also only had 37 sixes in the competition. And guess what? People still turned up to watch. And most of the cricket has still been utterly enthralling. Lets learn from that and ditch the 45-metre boundary rule for good.6. It should be on TV Rumour has it that fears about the potential quality of the competition led to a reluctance to allow Sky to broadcast any of the inaugural Super League. If true, that is absolutely crazy and, given the quality of the cricket on show, a huge opportunity missed. If the ECB really wants to build a fan base for these teams, TV coverage must surely be top of the priority list for next years competition. Believe in your product and so will other people. Jerseys NFL China Cheap NFL Jerseys Jerseys NFL China Cheap Nike NFL Jerseys Stitched Jerseys China Womens NFL Jerseys Youth NFL Jerseys China ' ' '
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