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hinnest position on an otherwise stacked roster.
Faced with uncertainty, the human mind devises narratives to feign predictability. Darron Lee Super Bowl Jersey . Uncertainty comes in various forms - from fundamental questions such as Why are we here? to more humdrum ones - Will I get wet later?Humdrum it may be but, dealt a 13-week season, impinged upon by football, school trips and family holidays, knowing whether it will rain later has become one of the determining considerations of my life as a junior cricket organiser. Yesteryear, when the weather was really significant, we would consult seaweed, or the posture of cattle. Nowadays, theres a very modern indicator of coming rain: text messages.It starts in the late morning. Parents: Will tonights game be rained off? Im out of town, so would be good to know. I understand the need to drive out uncertainty, the modern middle-class parents desire for the one quiet evening at home that a cancellation can deliver. The thing is, Im out of town as well.Six years into this role and I am also very clear that if we decided whether matches in Englands north-west should be played based on weather conditions at 11am and forecasts for the early evening, our youngsters would play very little cricket at all. The UKs temperate maritime climate, with very few climatic extremes, means that the weather is a state of mind as much as it is an objective fact. For cricket enthusiasts in this damp region, there is a pragmatism about conditions: Well start if its not raining (hard) and carry on if its not pouring.Recently, I drove through heavy traffic and heavier rain to a friendly local club. As I pulled onto the driveway that skirts the grounds southern boundary, I saw a heron wading on the outfield. But the rain had stopped. Our hosts put the kettle on, joined me in conference with the neutral umpire and agreed wed give it half an hour - but would mark the boundary anyway (cordoning off the wading bird reserve at wide long-on).Thanks to the practicality of our hosts and the shared view that its only a game that nobody gains from cancelling, our teens played on. Two-hundred-and-seventy runs in 34 overs showed it was a batters night and that weather is, within parameters, a state of mind.To agree that its only a game may be a luxury thats being depleted. Umpires have a responsibility for ensuring the safety of playing conditions. Thats well understood. An opposition first team player umpiring an Under-13 game once tried to bring the teams off in light rain. His legitimate concern was that the boys didnt have spikes and were slipping. The opposition coach and I walked out to the middle to assess conditions. The boys were loving it, performing sliding stops and soft-landing dives. No more long run-ups, the other coach and I decreed before returning to the scorebox, out of sight of the parents fretting over laundry.With that responsibility placed on the umpires comes an opportunity for litigation. A case has already reached court (Bartlett v ECB Coaches Association, 2015). A fielder was injured on a wet outfield after having argued with the umpire that the game shouldnt take place. The court, in this example, dismissed the claim against the umpire, perhaps noting that the fielder, concerned about the conditions, had nonetheless attempted a sliding stop. The very fact of this legal case, though, will cause a ripple through our recreational umpires, like a cricket bag dragged through a carpark puddle.Theres another impediment to a laissez-faire approach to the weather and junior cricket. Its the hierarchy of needs within the club. Ten-year-olds share the same square as the clubs senior teams. Allowing an Under-11 match to go ahead and damage the first XI track is heresy. The balance is tightest on a Friday night, when the pitch will have little time to recover before the weekends big fixture.On many a Friday afternoon, watching drizzles pathetic, stubborn dampening of the street outside my office window, my duty to play and play on, has shunted up against a wish for it to just rain properly and put us out of this misery. I check my iPhone weather app with the compulsion normally reserved for the Test score. The teasing of rain specks on the windscreen continues on the drive to the ground. The texts are coming in thick and fast. Were on, I announce with fingers on keypad when I get to the ground and find the moisture hanging in the air, making the grass greasy, the square so inviting for a young cricketer to skid across and wreck tomorrows track.As long as it doesnt get any heavier, I explain to opposition, umpire, parents. We dig out bar towels for the fielding team to dry the ball that will still swell like a raisin in a Moroccan stew. Bats left carelessly on the grass will lose their sharp report. The fielders hair, that started in a variety of self-conscious shapes, becomes uniformly flattened on their scalps. Meanwhile, the pitch for our first teams match takes on more water. Should I or shouldnt I just call the game off? I can cope with the rain; its the drizzle I cant stand.This season, Ive been spared the Friday game of cat and mouse with the elements, with the matches I organise occurring on Wednesday evenings. But back in May, we played at home on the eve of a county second XI match at our ground. This was a prestigious fixture, for which we wanted the ground and in particular the square, looking its best. We got under way with grey clouds occluding the sun in the west. Club officials, looking more often at the sky than the play, stood on the boundary. Soon after the second innings started, the clouds began to leak and the covers made it to the pitch before the players reached the pavilion. Three of us stood sentry in the middle, heads cocked upwards like men have done for millennia. Then each of us 21st century men would look down and consult our smart phones, two of which told us it was raining and one claimed sunshine. Meanwhile, the square, the covers, the outfield, our heads and shoulders were rapidly filling in white as snow fell.Want to be featured on Inbox? Send your articles to us here, with Inbox in the subject line.Larry Johnson Super Bowl Jersey . Gerald Green and Miles Plumlee? Green had bounced around the NBA when he wasnt playing overseas. The Pacers gave up on Plumlee after just one season. Now Green and Plumlee are key cogs in the Suns surprising breakout season. Emmanuel Ogbah Super Bowl Jersey . After Gasquet beat fifth-seeded Ivan Dodig of Croatia 7-5, 6-3, Tsonga followed up with a 6-7 (3), 6-2, 6-2 win against sixth-seeded Edouard Roger-Vasselin in an all-French match. http:///...agnon-Chiefs-Jersey/ . -- Jonathan Drouin gave Halifax the boost it needed to edge host Sherbrooke Phoenix 3-2 in a shootout in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action. The NHL and the NHLPA got creative when they devised teams for the World Cup of Hockey, which kicks off in Toronto on Sept. 17. Sure, star-studded rosters representing Canada, the United States, Sweden, Finland, Russia and the Czech Republic were no-brainers.But organizers then added a European team made up of players from countries not competing in the tournament as well as a North American team made up of that continents best players aged 23 and under. But even with all those creative ways of adding teams, some prominent and talented players will be missing from the tournament.Which raises a question: How would a team made up entirely of snubs contend at the World Cup?Its not an outlandish concept, especially considering Canada could probably ice a second World Cup team with enough talent to at least compete.The first step in finding out for sure was to compile a full 23-man roster made up entirely of players not named to any of the tournaments eight teams. Which is exactly what we did:ForwardsTaylor Hall - Tyler Johnson - Corey PerryMilan Lucic - Nick Bjugstad - Wayne SimmondsJames Neal - Ryan Johansen - Phil KesselRick Nash -?Ryan OReilly?- Justin WilliamsKyle OkposoThis group was diluted recently by late roster additions. Kyle Palmieri was added to the American roster to replace the injured Ryan Callahan while Logan Couture was recently named to a Canadian team that lost Jamie Benn, who is recovering from abdominal surgery. Even with those two players removed from the talent pool, the all-snubs team features an awfully impressive group up front.It starts with a top line made up of three All-Stars in Canadians Hall and Perry, and American Johnson. All three could have -- some might say should have -- earned greater consideration for a roster spot on their respective national teams. Especially Perry, who is a Hart Trophy winner, Stanley Cup champion, three-time All-Star and all-world agitator.After them comes a bruising second line centered by American Bjugstad that would have been arguably the tournaments most terrifying trio. The group, featuring Bjugstad flanked by Canadas Lucic and Simmonds, boasts an average height of 6-foot-4 and average weight of 211 pounds. The third line should have instant chemistry with Johansen skating alongside his Nashville Predators linemate and fellow Canadian Neal.Johansen is a little young but they sure work well together. James Neal is a great player who works hard. The two of then would be very good together, said longtime Predators assistant coach and current broadcaster Brent Peterson, who loved the idea of the speedy Kessel playing the other wing on their line. That would be an awesome line. Youve got speed, youve got tenacity, two guys who can score with a guy who likes to set them up. Johansen can score, but hes looking for Neal all the time.Add a fourth unit centered by All-Star Ryan OReilly and this is a formidable grroup. Christian Okoye Super Bowl Jersey. DefensemenMark Giordano - P.K. SubbanCam Fowler - John KlingbergT.J. Brodie - Kevin ShattenkirkJustin FaulkOn practically any other team in this tournament, either Canadians Giordano or Subban would have been considered a shoe-in for the top pair. That Team Canada called on Jay Bouwmeester to replace the ailing Duncan Keith over either of them was something of a controversial move.Subban and Giordano would be amazing, and T.J. Brodie would be another guy that I would throw in there, said longtime NHL goaltender and current broadcaster Jamie McLennan. T.J. Brodies really good. Hes one of those guys who distributes the puck really well and makes everyone around him better.Hampus Lindholm would have earned consideration for this group had he not been called on to sub in for Niklas Kronwall on the Swedish team. Instead, his Anaheim Ducks teammate Cam Fowler of Canada skates alongside one of the worlds top young defensemen in John Klingberg. That Klingberg wont be skating for Sweden speaks to that teams all-world depth along the blue line. American All-Stars Kevin Shattenkirk and Justin Faulk shore up a defensive group that any nation would be happy to have.GoaltendersMartin JonesDevan DubnykBrian ElliottThe truly elite goalkeepers will be stacking their pads at the World Cup, and theyll mostly be suiting up for Canada, Finland and the United States. Some of the games top goaltenders will likely be relegated to tournament third-string duty, including two-time Stanley Cup champion Corey Crawford of Canada. Just three months after leading the Pittsburgh Penguins to a Stanley Cup win, Matt Murray finds himself battling John Gibson to be the No. 1 for Team North America.Taking all that into consideration, this team of also-rans would likely turn to some of the NHLs more experienced backstops, with one notable exception.Considering his consistent play and unflappable demeanor through the 2016 playoffs, Jones might have shown enough to shine in this international tournament. A backup before emerging with the San Jose Sharks last season, Jones already has some international experience, having won silver at the 2010 World Junior Championships and gold at the 2015 World Championships for Canada.People just waited for Martin Jones to show he could be a starter, and he did last year. He proved any doubters wrong, said McLennan, who wouldnt mind seeing one other big-name goaltender added to this group. What about Roberto Luongo? I know hes coming off hip surgery. If he wasnt injured, maybe thats a guy Id have on this list.Overall, this would likely be the thinnest position on an otherwise stacked roster. But the unit still includes a pair of All-Stars in Canadians Dubnyk and Elliott and wouldnt be considered a team flaw by any measure. ' ' '
- Created: Feb 20 '20
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