Marsh would put his hand up and mov from corse178's blog
MINNEAPOLIS -- Like a lot of NFL veterans on teams that travel out of town to start summer practices, Adrian Petersons enthusiasm for the approaching season has often been temporarily dampened by the drive to training camp. Wholesale Stars Jerseys .Arrival at the familiar site of dorm room life, two-a-day workouts and overall drudgery, however brief, can prompt unpleasant feelings.This time, vibes around the Minnesota Vikings might be good enough to make even a player with 10 years of experience embrace the trip.Im excited as far as what we have and the vision that we have for this season, Peterson said. So that makes things better. Itll make it a lot better going into camp this year.The Vikings will report to Minnesota State University on July 28, bringing expectations of postseason success as high as theyve been since 2010. That became an ugly year for the Vikings. The picture for 2016 has a pretty frame, and now its time to fill in the illustration.Peterson sounded as resolute as ever when he declared recently the Vikings should be seriously considered as a Super Bowl contender. Theyre coming off an NFC North title, their first since 2009.We have the pieces and what it takes to accomplish that. So theres nothing wrong with saying it, Peterson said last month. If any other guy on this team doesnt feel that way, then we need to be trading him and bringing somebody in that feels that way as well.The timing is right for Peterson, who rushed for a league-high 1,485 yards and 11 touchdowns last season and turned 31 in March. His contract will carry an $18 million salary cap hit in 2017, so his future with the Vikings beyond this upcoming season is unclear.I dont see an end in my future anywhere soon, but of course I know Im coming around the last lap. And Im itching to get a couple before Im done playing this game, said Peterson, referring to a championship that the franchise has unsuccessfully chased since its inception in 1961.Here are some key angles to follow around the Vikings this season:BRIDGING THE GAP: Teddy Bridgewater finished in the bottom third of the NFL in most quarterback categories in 2015, and his accuracy on deep throws was perhaps the most problematic. He connected on just 11 of 42 passes that traveled 21-plus yards in the air, according to STATS research.For Bridgewater to take a meaningful step forward in year three, and for the Vikings offense to improve upon its 29th-place ranking in total yards last season, hell have to hit more long targets. Drafting Laquon Treadwell in the first round ought to be a boon for Bridgewater.He wins games, and to me thats the most important thing, coach Mike Zimmer said. Theres a lot more to playing quarterback than just throwing the ball through the wall.ON THE LINE: The biggest weakness over Bridgewaters first two years, the offensive line has been significantly upgraded. Its now the most expensive in the league. Alex Boone left San Francisco for a lucrative deal to be the left guard. Andre Smith, who left Cincinnati, is the front-runner at right tackle. Hell compete with Phil Loadholt, who like center John Sullivan has returned from an injury that sidelined him for the 2015 season.WILL WALSH BOUNCE BACK?: For all of the highlights from last season, the most memorable moment was the improbable miss by Blair Walsh of a 27-yard field goal that wouldve given the Vikings a victory over Seattle in a frigid first-round game in the playoffs. Walsh followed an off year in 2014 with a solid regular season in 2015. But a strong start to 2016 would go a long way toward ensuring hes not negatively affected by that heartbreaking shank.THE TIME IS NOW: The teams backbone lies in recent first-round draft picks such as Bridgewater, linebacker Anthony Barr, cornerback Xavier Rhodes and safety Harrison Smith. The soul rests in the veterans such as Peterson, linebacker Chad Greenway, defensive end Brian Robison and cornerback Terence Newman whose Super Bowl pursuit is still hot. Greenway and Newman signed one-year contracts, deferring retirement to remain with a team thats in prime position to make a run.BANK ON IT: The ship-shaped, glass-fronted $1.1 billion U.S. Bank Stadium will soon be unveiled, with the Vikings set for their first performance on Aug. 28 for an exhibition game against San Diego and the regular-season home opener on Sept. 18 against rival Green Bay.---Online:AP NFL website: http://www.pro32.ap.org and AP NFL Twitter feed: http://www.twitter.com/AP-NFLCheap Stars Jerseys For Sale . But Bourque, who has missed three games with a lower-body injury, wont be in the lineup when the Habs travel to Buffalo to take on the Sabres on Wednesday. Cheap Stitched Stars Jerseys . It is a cliché dragged out by fans and pundits regularly when discussions take place around which teams are better than others. http://www.wholesalestarsjerseys.com/ . Mats Zuccarello and Derek Stepan scored shootout goals, and backup goalie Cam Talbot earned his second win in two nights as the Rangers shook off a late tying tally and beat the Maple Leafs 2-1 Monday night. The 1981 Ashes was the culmination of a five-year period where Bob Willis was Englands leading fast bowler. At his best, Willis was one of the worlds best.From the beginning of the 1977 Ashes to the end of the 1981 Ashes, Willis took 149 wickets from 39 Tests at an average of 23.46.In the previous seven years since he made his debut, as a replacement for the injured Alan Ward on Ray Illingworths Ashes tour in 1970-71, hed managed only 78 at 28.35 from 24 Tests.It all changed in 1977, at the Centenary Test, when England captain Tony Greig brought Willis on for a late spell. Australia were racking up a decent second-innings total and Greig needed someone to break through to the lower order before the Australians were out of sight. Unfortunately, when Greig turned to his premier strike bowler, Willis wasnt up to the task.Tony gave me a rollicking after the game, and from then on, I got myself properly fit for the job in hand, Willis says. I started a regime of slow long-distance running and the injuries mostly disappeared after that. From then on my bowling was far more controlled. I had the ability to take the second new ball at a quarter to six in the evening and turn in a performance.The following year Willis went on Englands tours to Pakistan and New Zealand, where, he says, he played some of the most boring cricket ever.Mudassar Nazars hundred in the first Test, at Lahore, was the slowest ever in Test Match cricket [Mudassar scored 114 from 449 balls in 591 minutes]. John Wright batted at the same pace to get 55 at Wellington, but at least it was on a dodgy pitch. First ball of the match, I bowled and Wright edged one, which wicketkeeper Bob Taylor took in front of second slip. Not out, the umpire said.Mike Brearley had his arm broken by Sikandar Bakht in a provincial game in Pakistan and Geoffrey Boycott took over the captaincy, which was an interesting experience.In the second Test, at Christchurch, we just failed to enforce the follow-on. We were about 180 ahead with a day and a session to go, and needed to score 100 to 120 runs in that session and then declare and have the whole day to bowl at them.Brian Rose, whod been in terrible form all tour, opened with Boycott and couldnt hit the ball off the square. Ewan Chatfield ran Derek Randall out, backing up, without warning him, which didnt please many of us. I was vice-captain and I sent Ian Botham in to quicken the pace of the innings. Conveniently, he ran Geoffrey out. Did I instruct him to run out the captain? Yes, I suppose I did.Trying to persuade Geoffrey to declare was a very difficult task. But eventually he did, and then Ian and I bowled New Zealand out in about three hours. We didnt have a very good team for that tour. Wed lost players to World Series cricket. Without Packer, some of those players would have never played Test cricket.In the next three years, Willis was at his peak as Englands strike bowler. He missed just two Tests, in 1980 against West Indies and the return Centenary Test against Australia, dropped for bowling too many no-balls. In his early years as an international bowler, Willis spent almost as much time on the physios table as he did on the field.Willis says that his golden period as a world-class fast bowler culminated in the 1981 Ashes and the Headingley Test. What happened in that match has become part of cricketing folklore. England followed on and were seven wickets down for 135 in their second innings. Botham, sacked as captain before the Test, smashed a remarkable149 not out. And then, supported by Graham Dilley and Chris Old, he gave England a lead of 129 runs.Then, with Australia poised to go two up in the series, Willis charged in and took 8 for 43 to bundle Australia out for 111 and see England home by 18 runs.One of crickets greatest stories. But it nearly didnt happenWillis had taken eight wickets in the first two Tests, which was okay. But England had lost the match in the first and drawn the second. Mike Brearley was coming back as captain for the Headingley Test. Back then, England had a tendency to change the team around when they lost a few games, so Bob Woolmer was left out to accommodate Brearley. Seamer Chris Old replaced offspinner John Emburey. And the third and final change was going to be Mike Hendrick for Willis.I nearly got left out, yes, Willis recalls. I had flu during the Lords Test. So I didnt play in the subsequent Warwickshire game against Surrey at The Oval, the only round of county games before the Headingley Test.On the second morning, the phone rang, and it was Alec Bedser saying, Im sorry, Bob, youre not selected for Leeds. Mike Brearley is keen to have everybody 100% fit. I told Alec that the only reason I wasnt playing in the Warwickshire match is so that I could shake off the flu and be fit for England. He said, Is there any cricket you can play to prove your fitness? and I ended up playing a one-day 2nd XI game back in Birmingham.Alec rang up Donald Carrs brother, who was the secretary at Derbyshire, to intercept Mike Hendricks letter of invitation to play for England. I persuaded Alec that I was fit to play. Thats how close I got to not playing in that game.After the Lords Test we all felt desperately sorry for Ian, who we thought had a pretty rough deal. He skippered a home Test series against the West Indies and then the rained-off Centenary Test at Lords and then off to the West Indies for another drubbing. Not an easy tenure. We were all great mates with him, so there was a lot of sympathy, and of course, the popular press were seriously on our backs.Mike Brearley was very much a uniffying force and stood no nonsense, though. Cheap Stars Jerseys Online. It turned out to be an incredible game.What was it like in the dressing room when Botham and Dilley were smashing it all over the place?Well, it was jocular. Wed given up all hope. Wed checked out of the hotel on the Monday morning, thinking that the game might be over and our careers might be over.It was almost comic entertainment. We didnt think that the result was going to change. Ians innings was nothing like the quality of the Old Trafford century later in the series. He had an awful lot of luck.There was some pretty indifferent captaincy by Kim Hughes. If hed have brought [left-arm spinner] Ray Bright on, Ian might have hit a few sixes but hed have eventually hit one up in the air soon enough. But Hughes persisted with his seamers, who disappeared to all parts. Ians first 50 runs were mostly thick edges and slogs. But after that it was pretty dramatic stuff.When the 500-1 odds came up on the big screen, was anyone in the England dressing room tempted to take a flutter?I think Bob Taylor tried to have small investment on England. I cant remember who he asked to put the bet on, but they didnt do it. I think Godfrey Evans was the Ladbrokes adviser. Just like we wont see odds of 5000-1 on Hull City winning the Premier League after Leicester won with those odds, this year, I dont think odds of 500-1 have ever appeared in a cricket match since.On the last day, when did England think they had a chance of winning the game?At the lunch interval. Theyd got to 52 for 1 and then we picked up three wickets just before lunch. Thats when the balance of power shifted. We had nothing to lose. A few of us were performing for our Test careers. I think if wed have lost that game, it would have been the end for myself and probably several others in that side. There would have been a mass clear-out and that would have been that.Willis didnt open the bowling. It was a decision by Brearley that rankled.Yes, it annoyed me. But it was a little bit like these days, swing was king, particularly at Headingley, and Mike wanted Botham and Dilley to try and swing the new ball. Beefy was a little bit weary after his exploits with the bat. But he picked up the first wicket, Graeme Wood.I changed ends from the Football Stand end to the Kirkstall Lane end. Mike said, just run in, forget about any no-ball problems and just bowl as quickly as you can. The pitch was playing tricks by then. There were some pretty nasty bounces from a good length.After lunch, Australia never really looked like they were going to score those runs.There wasnt too much front-foot play and the game stultified as far as run-scoring went. Dennis Lillee scored a few late on, improvising. He stepped away and hit my short-pitched deliveries over the slips.I got some great support from the bowlers at the other end. Chris Old, in particular, kept the runs down. They were stymied. We had brilliant fielders in front of the wicket - David Gower and a slightly more mobile Mike Gatting than the 2016 version. I wont say it was plain sailing, but some brilliant catches were taken and everything clicked into place. The pressure was on Australia and they collapsed under that pressure.Of course, there wasnt the sort of team ethic that there is now. After the game, Mike, Ian and myself were at an extended press conference. By the time we returned to the dressing room, all the other players had gone off down the motorways to play in the Gillette Cup second round the next day. There was no celebration of the win whatsoever.Australia were shell-shocked, but they were completely gone after they lost the next Test, at Edgbaston. Lightning struck twice. Another small run chase and that time it was Ian who bowled them out, a spell of five wickets for one run and they capitulated once again. They were a broken team after that.By Old Trafford, the balance of power had changed in the series, but even after that, the England selectors changed the side. The side changed every single game that series, whether we won, lost or drew. Both Graham Gooch and David Gower were dropped for the final Test at The Oval. No one felt very secure about their place.The Aussies werent the same side as theyd been in the mid-70s and again in 1979, when all their Packer players came back and thrashed us 3-0 in Australia. There was a fair amount of animosity in the Australian side in 1981. Rod Marsh and Lillee didnt get on with their captain at all. That discord filtered through the whole team. I remember Marsh changing the field when Kim Hughes had already set it. Marsh would put his hand up and move players around. They demonstrably indicated that they didnt think much of Kims captaincy.It was a little bit of a hangover from World Series Cricket, with Hughes seen as an establishment figure. And clearly they [Lillee and Marsh] were major players in WSC. We werent privy to that. And they were still playing for Australia and giving of their best, but a bit like the 1977 side, they were a divided camp.The 1977 Australian side was split down the middle too. Those whod signed with Kerry Packer and those who werent. Greg Chappell didnt come on the 1981 tour. Lillee wasnt there in 1977.Greg Chappell came back for the 1982-83 Ashes, in Australia, when I was captain. Wed lost 15 players, who were banned for going on the rebel South Africa tour. Australia were a totally different outfit to the 1981 team. Completely ruthless and much better than us. 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