Tuningbörse Forum
»
Treffen und Veranstaltungen
»
2012
»
Maddinson in their pocket since then, never quite trusting themselves to pick a player so give
GLENDALE, Ariz. -- The Arizona Cardinals concluded their first day of training camp with a flurry of personnel moves, led by the announcement that rookie wide receiver Ryan Swope is retiring because of concussion issues. The Cardinals placed the former Texas A&M star on the reserve/retired list, meaning he would be Arizonas property if he returned to the sport. Swope, drafted by Arizona in the sixth round, set school records for receptions and yards receiving for the Aggies but was plagued by concussion issues and had a serious setback in the early summer. The team added two experienced players, agreeing to a one-year deal with offensive tackle Eric Winston and a two-year contract with outside linebacker John Abraham. The Cardinals also released outside linebacker OBrien Schofield, a former starter, and signed linebacker Kenny Rowe. Swope announced his decision in a statement released by the agency that represents him. "As a result of a concussion I suffered during OTAs, I was advised by doctors that there were serious risks in returning to play football at this point," Swope said. "It has been a life-long dream to play in the NFL but my long-term health interests outweigh my current goals in football. Because of that, I am electing to retire from the game for now and then reassess my future after this season. In the meantime, I plan to return to Texas A&M to pursue my degree." Cardinals general manager Steve Keim said the team was aware of Swopes concussion history when the decision was made to draft him. "But weighing all the elements -- the medical information available, the particular position in the draft -- it was a decision we were comfortable making," Keim said. "As it turned out, he had a setback after he got here. Over the course of the subsequent evaluations, we all decided that Ryans long-term well-being was the No. 1 priority and this was the best course to take." Winston, a starter in all six of his NFL seasons, signed a one-year deal after failing to find a better offer. He says he knows he has to compete but expects to win the right tackle job. Abraham is a 14-year NFL veteran and the leagues active sacks leader with 122. Winston said he understands he will be competing for playing time but he expects to be a starter. "I think its kind of a perfect storm for me in the sense that I could come in and compete for a spot and maybe be the guy at right tackle," he said, "and I feel I will be." Winston also talked about joining the Cardinals in a tweet to Arizona kicker Jay Feely. Winston started all 16 games for Kansas City last season but, when the team underwent a change at head coach and general manager, was released in March. He played just one season for the Chiefs after playing the first five years of his NFL career with Houston. Winston, who has started every game of his NFL career, had to settle for a one-year deal after failing to land a better offer. He said he hopes to show the Cardinals he deserves a longer-term contract down the road. Before Winstons arrival, the Cardinals had gone with second-year pro Bobby Massie at right tackle and Levi Brown, coming back after missing all of last season with a torn triceps,, on the left side, although Massie worked some at left tackle late in off-season workouts. Nate Potter eventually became the starter at left tackle as a rookie last season and has practiced at both tackle spots in the off-season. Because the acquisition of Winston had not been announced officially, new coach Bruce Arians wouldnt talk much about the big tackle when he met with reporters after the players reported to camp and went through a brief run at University of Phoenix Stadium. He wouldnt say that dissatisfaction with the tackles he had led to the team seeking another player. "Its just a matter of if theres somebody out there to make our football team better, thats our job to go get them," Arians said. "The more competition the better." The same could be said of Abraham, who although in the latter stages of his career, still could fill a role as a situational edge pass rusher, something Schofield had struggled with in his time on the job. The 35-year-old Abraham has played in 175 games, 160 as a starter. A four-time Pro Bowl player, he was a first-round draft pick of the New York Jets out of South Carolina. He played six seasons for the Jets and the last seven with Atlanta. Abraham started 15 games for the Falcons last season and led the team with 10 sacks along with 41 tackles, 15 for loss, and set a franchise record with six forced fumbles. Schofield was drafted in the fourth round out of Wisconsin by Arizona in 2010. He began his pro career sidelined while recovering from a torn ACL. He started the first nine games of 2012 before going down with a season-ending ankle injury. Rowe was with San Francisco in training camp the last two seasons.Wholesale Hockey Jerseys Online . Aduriz headed home Markel Susaetas cross in the sixth minute to open the scoring at San Mames Stadium. He bettered that with a long-range blast that went in off the goal frame in the 18th, and converted a penalty in the 72nd after Diego Mainz was sent off for fouling Aduriz with only the goalkeeper to beat. Cheap Adias NHL Jerseys Free Shipping . -- Matt Kuchar and Harris English ran away with the Franklin Templeton Shootout, shooting a 14-under 58 on Sunday in the final-round scramble to break the tournament course record. http://www.cheapjerseysnhladidas.com/ . Dusautoir, the former World Player of the Year, sustained a torn bicep playing for Toulouse in the Heineken Cup on Saturday. The flanker, who has played 65 times for France, is expected to be out for up to four months. Adidas NHL Jerseys China . -- The proud fathers huddled near the Dallas Stars dressing room, smiling, laughing and telling stories while wearing replica green sweaters of their sons team. Cheap NHL Jerseys Authentic .Y. - General manager Billy King says the Brooklyn Nets are looking to add a big man and confirmed the team worked out centre Jason Collins, who would become the first openly gay active NBA player if signed.Australian crickets great selection U-turn started to gather pace well before the Hobart Test was over, and well before the chairman Rod Marsh handed in his resignation.Having witnessed Australias dismemberment for 85 on day one of the the second Test, Marsh summoned the remainder of his panel - Trevor Hohns and Mark Waugh - to speak together at the Bellerive Oval. For much of the third day of the Test, the trio could be seen sitting and talking together in the front row of the chairmans suite.By the definition of their roles, it is unusual to see more than a couple of the selectors together at any one time, for they are usually flung across the country watching matches. So the sight of Marsh, Hohns and Waugh all together - only the coach Darren Lehmann was absent, sitting with the team - was an ominous one indeed for Australias Hobart incumbents.How much of the team for the Adelaide Test actually took shape in the midst of the previous match will be something that remains in the confidence of the panels members. But it is abundantly clear that the selectors had decided they needed to change tack, and do so definitively, a long time before the final wicket fell at Bellerive.Hohns, well into his second stint as a selector after having a decade in the role from 1996 to 2006, made sure to assert that the six changes made for Adelaide were not a reaction to downward pressure on the selectors, but rather a proactive move on their part.Prior to Rod Marshs departure, the panel then had these discussions about where we needed to go with a view to the future, Hohns said. As weve seen we havent won very much, weve lost a lot of Test matches of late, so we considered it was time to start to revamp and look to the future.Those discussions occurred early enough for the captain Steven Smith and the coach Lehmann to assert immediately after the Tests conclusion that there would be widespread changes to the team. They were also weighty enough for the chief executive James Sutherland to be able to state something similar the following day, even if there seemed a contradiction in stating the team needed to close ranks in one breath, then stating those very ranks would be turned over quite dramatically the next.You cant just flick a switch when youre in a rut like this, Sutherland said. You actually need to close ranks work very hard, be very focused on process and work together as a team and I know theyre the things people within the group are thinking about. Now clearly theres going to be changes for the next Test match and it will be a different group of players that gather for the next Test match.I dont know how many changes there will be or anything like that. But those players that are there from this Test match need to be very clear about the challenge and how they bring people, maybe some new people into the team. Theres no short cuts and in the short term weve got to just knuckle down and work very hard.Where all this gets tricky, of course, is in the nature of the U-turn. How could opinions change so quickly and virulently on the likes of Joe Mennie, discarded after two Tests with the squad and one appearance in Hobart? Further questions were raised by the eclipse of Callum Ferguson, flown into Hobart as injury cover, then thrust into the team, then dumped again just as quickly.A major clue to all that was provided by Smith in his emotive post-match press discussion. He was unable to answer in the affirmative to questions about whether hhe was getting the teams he desired, while at the same time all but begging the selectors to find him some sturdy foot soldiers to ensure next time around he wont be the lone batsman able to stand fast amid a first innings collapse.ddddddddddddTo that end, the most significant selections among the six inclusions for Adelaide were arguably those of Matthew Wade and Nic Maddinson. Wades recall is at great cost to Peter Nevill, as studious and thoughtful as Wade is brash and outspoken. There is no doubt Nevill is the better gloveman, and little between the pair as first-class batsmen. Wade will puff his chest out as Smith prefers, though what that means in terms of runs or catches is debatable. More significant is this: Wade was twice able to guide the Australian tail to a match-turning total while making a fine hundred himself, in the space of 12 Tests. Nevill has now played 17, not yet passed 70, and only once could he claim to have played a match-shaping innings, ironically enough in Adelaide last year. Stolid occupations in vain search of draws in Pallekele against Sri Lanka and Perth against South Africa have failed to hide the fact that in his time the Australian lower order has become the longest and least effective of tails. Wade must help the bowlers find their former quotient of imp.Maddinsons call-up intrigues still further, for it would seemingly run contrary to the captains desire for batsmen to stick out the tough periods. Spectators to Sheffield Shield, Big Bash League or even Sydney grade matches would all agree Maddinson is one of the foremost talents of his generation, but also among the most profligate with that talent. Away from the batting crease he is equally unpredictable, the sort to be referred to as a strange unit by skeptical team-mates. He has seldom seemed the man to scotch a batting slide.However in this pick can be seen the hand and example of Mark Waugh, and also Smith. Australia want to find another match-winner for their team alongside Smith, David Warner and Mitchell Starc, and Maddinson fits the bill after the batting fashion of Waugh or, in earlier years, Doug Walters. Smith believes he has been able to help coax some of Maddinsons more consistent displays over the past couple of years, and firmly believes he can do so again for Australia, where the reward for this risk can be so much greater.Never was that better illustrated than three years ago, when Maddinson pummelled 181 from 142 balls for Australia A against Gloucestershire at Bristol while the tour vice-captain Smith, the captain Brad Haddin, the tour manager Rod Marsh and assistant coach Darren Lehmann looked on. It was an innings that prompted Scyld Berry to write the words: Australian batting dead? No mate.Marsh and others have kept Maddinson in their pocket since then, never quite trusting themselves to pick a player so given to bouts of obvious boredom and subsequent ruinous stroke choices. But the circumstances in Hobart were desperate enough to have the soon to resign chairman throwing up other options in conversation with Hohns and Waugh, and for Smith to gain a greater say in affairs than previously. A bit like the panel of Andrew Hilditch who bequeathed the likes of Smith, Warner, Nathan Lyon and Pat Cummins to their successors, Marshs men hoped to leave a better legacy than the misery of Bellerive. ' ' '