DALLAS -- Larry Allen had just been drafted by the Dallas Cowboys when he found himself standing in front of a couple of hundred kids attending a football camp at Sonoma State, the alma mater that made his future Hall of Fame career possible. Cheap NFL Jerseys China . His coach, Frank Scalercio, knew he was testing the best player he ever coached, coaxing the soft spoken but massive offensive lineman into a few words. "Just say no," Allen blurted out. That was it. "I can see that nothings going to happen, so then I jump in and kind of close it out for him real quick," Scalercio said. "Some of the guys still laugh about it today when theyre around. They talk about the first speech he made." Allen is getting ready for another one. A big one. After 12 dominant seasons and a Super Bowl title with the Cowboys -- and two final years closer to home with San Francisco -- Allens Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinement speech Saturday night will be on national television in front of thousands of people at Fawcett Stadium in Canton, Ohio. Plenty of family and friends will be there -- but not his mother, Vera Allen. The woman responsible for steering him away from gangs as a kid in the Los Angeles area died a year ago. The biggest public speaking gig of his life would have been the perfect time to have her around. "I miss her," Allen said. "Whenever Id get nervous or had a big game and got nervous, Id give her a call, and shed start making me laugh." The six-time All-Pro has already cried once over the Hall of Fame -- the day his name was announced. Hes not ashamed to say hell probably cry again. "She was one of the biggest reasons Ill be up there, and I know shell be looking down on me," Allen said. The soft side of Allen isnt a familiar one to former teammates and opponents. This is a man who silently bench-pressed 700 pounds -- "absurd," says former teammate Daryl Johnston -- in the Cowboys locker room while players screamed and mobbed him. This was a player who made notorious trash-talker John Randle of Minnesota keep to himself when he faced the Cowboys, for fear of making Allen mad. "He never said nothin," said Nate Newton, one of Allens mentors on Dallas offensive line. "Every now and then youd hear him utter a cuss word or hear him laugh that old funny laugh he had. "Other than that ..." Newton said, trailing off. Allen just played, which is how Scalercio discovered him at Butte College. Thats the junior college where the lineman landed after attending four high schools in part because his mom moved him around to keep him away from gangs. Then an assistant for Sonoma, Scalercio was recruiting another player when he saw Allen throw an opponent to the ground for the first time. "I kinda forgot about the guy I was actually recruiting," Scalercio said. Allen ended up tiny Sonoma, a Division II school, because his academic progress wasnt fast enough to get him to Division I, where he probably belonged. He was out of football and living in Los Angeles when Scalercio sent some of his LA-area players looking for him. They tracked him down on a basketball court, the same place Sonoma coach Tim Walsh took Allen when he showed up on campus. Walsh wanted to see the 6-foot-3 Allen lift his 320-pound frame for a dunk. "You could have heard a pin drop when he slammed the ball," Scalercio said. "It was like in the movies where it just goes tick, tick, tick, tick and stops." The Cowboys were coming off consecutive Super Bowl wins when they drafted Allen in the middle of the second round in 1994. He was surrounded by Pro Bowl offensive linemen but didnt take long to get noticed. Late in his rookie season, Allen saved a touchdown by running down Darion Conner when it looked like the New Orleans linebacker only had Troy Aikman to beat down the sideline. Most of the rest of his career was defined by power -- first as a tackle, where the Cowboys figured he would be a mainstay, and ultimately as a guard. "He has to be one of the strongest guys to play the game," Cowboys executive vice-president Stephen Jones said. "I think Larry would have been a Hall of Famer at guard or tackle, and either side. He was special like that." True to his personality as a player, Allen retired to a quiet life in Northern California, with a wife and three kids. Hes helping coach his son, Larry Allen III, who will be a senior offensive lineman at high school power De La Salle and is getting Division I looks. He shows up at Sonoma basketball games -- the football program was dropped a couple of years after Allen left -- and happily signs autographs and poses for pictures. "Hes even bigger now than he ever was on campus," said Tim Burrell, a friend of Allens. "Everybody loves him." He still doesnt talk much, which explains why Cowboys tight end Jason Witten walked by reporters at training camp last week and asked -- unsolicited -- how long Allen was going to speak after Cowboys owner Jerry Jones introduces him. Thats generally the first thing his old Dallas comrades want to know. The answer? About 7 minutes, Allen says. And his oldest daughter, Jayla, has been coaching him. "Its going to be a little rough," Allen said. At least it will be longer than his first speech. Cheap Jerseys China .Y. -- Syracuse has turned up the defence at the right time all season, and when High Point threatened to pull off a monumental upset the second-ranked Orange did what they do best with their quick hands and savvy play. Wholesale Jerseys Cheap .S. Open champion Justin Rose birdied the first hole with a blind shot he hit to a foot of the pin, and he stayed in front Tuesday until he completed a 4-under 67 for a two-shot lead over Jason Dufner in PGA Grand Slam of Golf. http://www.cheapjerseysoverchina.us/ . The 15th-ranked Canadian men lost the opening two games of their European tour: 19-15 to No. 17 Georgia and 21-20 to No. Sri Lanka Crickets newly appointed womens team head coach Hemantha Devapriya is confident that the team will improve despite suffering their second successive series whitewash in the recently-concluded series against England.England are one of the leading sides in the top bracket in womens cricket. Although we lost to a strong side, the girls gave 100% and I can see some improvement, he said. The series was a good benchmark for me to gauge what standard we have to reach. We need to give them confidence, they need to learn to handle pressure situations.We have to improve in all three areas: batting, bowling and fielding and areas like game awareness, thinking ahead of the game, planning can be done but implementing it under pressure has to improve, handling situations and fitness levels. We have to increase all three areas at least by 10% so by a years time it will double. We have to be patient, smart thinking has to come they are not very smart thinkers. There are so many areas we have to improve.Among the areas Devapriya stressed upon was the improved batting. Sri Lanka made totals of 168, 173 and 161 in the first three ODIs against England, unlike in the series against Australia where they passed 150 only once in four matches.This is the first time they have reached totals of 150 plus consistently in a series and in the last match I made a point to give others a chance after talking to the selectors to see how good they are, he said. We have very far to go but one positive thing is the girls are willing and the passion is there. They are eager to learn. I am quite sure in six months they will be on another different level. The results will come gradually.Devapriya had little time to work with the team, considering he was appointed just a ffew weeks prior to the series. China NFL Jerseys. He felt the Asia Cup in Thailand later this month would give him a better idea of where the team stood at Asian level. Among the areas he believes theres bigger scope to improve is in their batting approach.I gave them a singles target, not fours and sixes, he said. The plan was to at least to run 75 to 100 singles, but they couldnt reach that mark. They were always somewhere around 50 singles and we have to avoid a lot of dot balls. In two matches we had more than 200 dot balls, they are very hesitant to leave the crease and come out.I am really working hard on their shots range as well, using their feet to spin and getting onto the back foot for pace. They are committed front foot players and I am developing their back swing. Their bat pick-ups are very poor and generating batting power is the core area.They do a lot of hard work in the gym for their stomach and body but they must learn the art of delivering the power. How much of work you do in the gym the art of delivering the power is something which they dont use.Well-rounded changes to batting technique apart, Devapriya felt translating gym fitness into being an agile fielding unit was equally important. We have to sharpen the fielding also, he said. I am trying to do their physical fitness coupled with fielding.The diving, sliding techniques are poor, sad to say that some girls have been playing for years but they dont know how to slide. The practice systems I have made a lot of changes where everybody gets a batting turn so that when they finish a days practice they will have undergone about 250 different shots. ' ' '