rove your worth. As always, it was an interesting process at Rad

Time to go to work. cheap jerseys . After four months of everyone telling you how good you are, the transition of now proving how good you are begins. Yes, the contract still has to be signed and a residence found, but in a matter of 30 days for those drafted in the first round of this years NFL Draft, expectations will be high, as now you have to prove your worth. As always, it was an interesting process at Radio City Music Hall with limited drama and more logic than risk. The logic began early with with Jadeveon Clowney and Greg Robinson going #1 and #2 to the Houston Texans and St. Louis Rams, respectively. Blake Bortles at #3 was a surprise, but then again the Jacksonville Jaguars have serious quarterback developmental problems, so this was a need pick more than a move for the best available player. Where the draft became interesting was when the Buffalo Bills moved up to take Sammy Watkins out of Clemson. As an organization, I doubt they will regret the move 365 days from now, as Watkins is about as sure as you can get (barring injury, of course). When you look at the Bills right now, and this is despite the trade earlier today of Stevie Johnson to the San Francisco 49ers, Watkins and Robert Woods make for a solid tandem at wide receiver. Add CJ Spiller at running back and EJ Manuel has a lot to work with. And all four are similar in age , that age being young . A #1 pick in 2015 is a lot to give up, but Watkinss ability to take a short pass and make it into a major gain is phenomenal. A good aggressive move by the Bills. The next 3 picks (Khalil Mack to the Oakland Raiders , Jake Matthews to the Atlanta Falcons and Mike Evans to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers) were expected. But then how about the Cleveland Browns? Justin Gilbert at corner to work in tandem with Joe Haden, also a first-round pick, was a bit surprising, but getting Johnny Manziel buy trading up four spots with the Philadelphia Eagles was smart, Draft day football. So the Browns created a top cornerback and a new quarterback and will have two first-rounders in 2015 with the Bills pick. Nice day of Draft strategy for Cleveland. I think Manziel will do well in the NFL. Kyle Shanahan will be his offensive co-ordinator and personal coach and that is significant in that it was Shanahan who coached Robert Griffin III in Washington. Whatever developmental mistake he made, if any, in Washington, he will not make in Cleveland with Manziel. The next seven picks had reason and thought about the until # 16 with the Dallas Cowboys. Now Zack Martin from Notre Dame will be a solid player, but Dallas allowed the third-most points in NFL history last year, so it did not make sense to draft a guard/tackle with their first. Yes, their center and last years first-rounder, Travis Frederick, was outstanding last year, but there were glaring needs ignored. The Pittsburgh Steelers beat Dallas to the Ryan Shazier pick one spot before and he was a player who Dallas wanted, but Calvin Pryor and CJ Mosley went to the New York Jets and Baltimore Ravens with the next two picks! Both would be instant starters in Dallas. This one made no sense unless Zack Martin is a star very soon. Another team that made a good move was the New Orleans Saints with Brandin Cooks. They traded up with the Carolina Panthers and took the player who most emulates Darren Sproles, who is now an Eagle. Sean Payton is a master designer of both physical football on offence and speed football the next series. Cooks is a speed element that, in the Mercedes Superdome, could be difficult to contain. Pick #23 by the Kansas City Chiefs was pretty smart too. Dee Ford of Auburn fell off the evaluation radar completely as the Draft came closer to happening. He is a good speed rusher and now the Chiefs have three of them on their Roster. The Seattle Seahawks beat the Denver Broncos because of the pass rush in this years Super Bowl and the Chiefs took notice. Maybe the biggest risk/reward draft pick was #29 by the New England Patriots. i dont know much about Dominique Easley, a defensive lineman out of Florida, other than that he has had two ACL surgeries. If you are unfortunate to have a third, it is tough to remain explosive as your main body part is wearing out. I am sure the Patriots investigated his health intensely, but it is a risk, especially when you consider Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez, that I am surprised they would take. Finally, Mike Zimmer and his Minnesota Vikings had a good day. Anthony Barr at # 9 out of UCLA could be a star on the horizon and then trading up with Seattle to get Teddy Bridgewater was also smart. The fans at Radio City Music Hall gave Bridgewater a standing ovation for a quarterback who lives for his mothers heath and dropped hard after his pro day. It will be really interesting to see how he does and, if he does well, it will put into dispute the emphasis on physical skills versus football skills coming out of college. He is in a great situation as Mike Zimmer will improve the defence, Adrian Peterson will be Adrian Peterson and with Phil Loadholt at right tackle and Matt Kalil at left tackle, Teddy Bridgewaters in-pocket skills will be supported. Bridgewaters coach by position is Norv Turner, who is responsible for Troy Aikmans success and Alex Smiths best year in San Francisco. Its a nice place to be. The first round is over in the NFL Draft and you know every team will say they got precisely what they wanted. We know thats not the truth, but with six more rounds to go, there still is optimism for all involved . jerseys from china . Kane returned to score a goal and added an assist, leading the Winnipeg Jets to a 3-2 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday night. wholesale jerseys . The Denver Nuggets played as though they were already relaxing on a tropical beach. Love started practicing early for All-Star festivities, making six of 11 shots from 3-point range and totalling 32 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists to lead the Timberwolves to a 117-90 victory over the Nuggets on Wednesday night.Got a question on rule clarification, comments on rule enforcements or some memorable NHL stories? Kerry wants to answer your emails at [e-mail]! Hi Kerry, I was wondering what influence, if any, the home team fans can have on the on-ice officials? If a referee misses or blows a call, but its not missed by the other 18,000 refs in the arena and lets the referee know about it by booing and such, does that impact any future calls or how the game is further officiated? Does the name calling and heckling by the fans get under your skin or just fall on deaf ears? Always looking forward to your column, Stephen Lee Stephen, In theory the objective of every sports official is to remain focused and in the moment, regardless of mistakes that have been made. Dwelling on a missed/wrong call or to be intimidated by the fallout from players, coaches and of course, the fans is a recipe for a ref to compromise his integrity and/or commit further errors. It is best to keep all mental thoughts in perpetual motion to allow your brain to function in the moment. A missed opportunity is one youll never get back. A makeup call diminishes any credibility and respect that every official works so hard to achieve. In practice however, we must recognize that refs arent mechanical robots but human beings with feelings, emotions and individualized character traits. These traits are developed over a lifetime but especially during the early formative years. Positive and negative elements of an individuals personal makeup and self-worth are brought into the arena every game and will often dictate how an official responds in stressful situations. One of the most basic human instincts is a desire to be loved; okay maybe way over the top here but how about a need to be liked, appreciated and accepted? If we can agree on that premise then, now place yourself as a referee in front of 20,000 out-of-control hockey fans chanting in unison "Ref, You SUCK," throwing debris at you and threatening your personal safety. How would that make you feel? More importantly, how would you respond? Would you have the courage and personal strength to stand tall in the face of adversity or would you give in to the pressure and alter your judgment in their favor? The flip side is, if you possessed a combative nature, stubbornness and/or arrogance as dominant traits, you just might stick it to someone! What Im really saying here is that the response and action taken by an official when hes pushed to the wall results from his unique internal makeup. All referees will rely on their strengths (skating, judgment, positioning, communication skills etc.) but I found it was most important to recognize my personal deficiencies and keep them in check. I never lacked courage but I recognized very early in my career that positive trait could quickly erode to a stubborn Ill show you attitude that was very counterproductive once my authority was challenged. I have observed a potential infraction and, as the information was being sifted through my brain, the crowd reaction beat my switch to pull the trigger, giving the impression that the crowd made the call. nfl jerseys china. We have all witnessed situations (or been involved in them) when the ref has been jolted to a better sense of awareness as a result of the crowd reaction. Whenever the ref raises his arm, the call should be scrutinized based on its merit and not through the reaction time it took for the referee to make it. I saw old-school referee Wally Harris (excellent ref and great guy) call an infraction that happened behind his back when he caught the reflection of the play in the glass. It was a legitimate infraction but unorthodox in Wallys detection method. Nothing ever phased Wally. A game was held up for over 20 minutes in the Boston Garden to clear debris from the ice that was thrown at this courageous ref. While I experience many emotionally charged moments from fan vitriol, allow me to share one unusual incident. It resulted from ejecting Blackhawks coach Orval Tessier from a game in the Chicago Stadium just prior to him being terminated and replaced by Bob Pulford Feb. 4, 1984. Tessier was feeling intense pressure with speculation of his imminent termination. His players were still smarting from the coachs public suggestion they required heart transplants from the Mayo Clinic. The comment backfired and their ongoing play reflected a seeming lack of interest. When Mt. Orval erupted to incur the game ejection, Hawk fans (21,000 strong) started throwing everything that wasnt nailed down. I was their intended target and the ice became a sea of debris. A chair even flew over the glass from the high-priced seats. I took safe refuge underneath the big clock above centre ice. Coach Tessier walked across the ice to make his way to the Hawks dressing room and slipped as he kicked at a popcorn box in his path. My mouth was dry as sawdust and the blood felt like it had drained from my entire body, causing numbness in my extremities as shock and awe rained down from the rafters in the Madhouse on Madison. My emotions were raw. I felt vulnerable and alone as Hawk fans did their very best to inflict some form of retribution against me. Moral support then came to me from the most unusual of places. Captain Doug Wilson and alternate captain Bob Murray skated up to me. I was expecting additional protests to be lodged against me by the two captains. Instead, they thanked me for ejecting their coach and expressed a wish that I had done so earlier in the game! I thank them sincerely for the support they provided but suggested they should move away since the three of us made a bigger target and I feared for their personal safety. When the fans had nothing left to throw, the rink attendants filled wheelbarrows with the trash and the game resumed without further incident. Buoyed in part with the support I had received from the Hawks captains, in addition to my personal character traits, I weathered the storm. I did not allow the fans to dictate what I called moving forward in that game. After all, they had nothing left to throw at me!   cheap jerseys cheap jerseys from china ' ' '