• We're seeing injuries from top to bottom, and while upper extremity injuries will kill power at the plate, bad wheels will definitely kill speed. Just ask Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Rajai Davis, who is a new member of the April DL fraternity. Davis rolled his right ankle in the Blue Jays' home opener, the typical mechanism for an ankle sprain. On Sunday, Davis aggravated the still ginger ankle, and thus it became clear he would need more down time. Now he officially has at least two weeks for rest and rehab, and hopefully the injury will not linger beyond that time.
• Ankle issues certainly have been problematic for a couple of players this spring. Magglio Ordonez, who underwent season-ending surgery for a broken right ankle in July, has dealt with intermittent soreness (not uncommon after surgery) this spring. On Monday, however, Ordonez left the game early with what was called tightness in his Achilles tendon. The Detroit Free Press reported Tuesday, however, that an MRI revealed "fluid buildup in the bursa behind his right ankle." As Tigers athletic trainer Kevin Rand told the Free Press, "It's just the stresses that he's going through as he's putting greater stress playing here in the regular season." Rand called Ordonez's situation day-to-day, and the team is not setting a specific timeline for his return. While the uncertainty might be frustrating for fantasy owners, it is neither unusual nor is it unrealistic. Following surgery, ankles are often prone to increased swelling, particularly with initial increases in activity. As the body acclimates, those responses tend to subside. At 37 years old, Ordonez might need a little extra time.
• Meanwhile, Los Angeles Angels first baseman Kendrys Morales has not progressed as swiftly as hoped from left ankle surgery last summer. Morales has struggled with running, and when he tried to press this spring, he developed new pain in the ball of his foot. After successful running efforts on the treadmill, Morales is again scheduled to test the ankle by running on the field, according to the Los Angeles Times. Ground running leads to base running, and once Morales can handle that, the Angels can start thinking about his return. The progression might yet take a couple of weeks and would necessitate some rehab games to test Morales in all dimensions. He is not likely to be ready for competition until sometime in May.
christian louboutin peep toe christian louboutin platforms christian louboutin pumps christian louboutin sandals christian louboutin slingback christian louboutin wedgesThe things we do best are the things we do without thinking.
Watching an NFL quarterback move through his progressions or a race-car driver work a high-speed turn is daunting because we amateurs see their actions as a series of discrete choices. Plant your feet here, move your hands there, turn your eyes in this direction and then the next.
Top athletes don’t perceive these choices. They perform a pattern that’s been burned into their lizard brains — or, more precisely, their basal ganglia — by years of practice. When the pattern requires a tweak, instinct and muscle memory take over. The conscious brain has nothing to do with it.
This is where the sports choke begins — in the moment when an athlete suddenly begins to think about what he or she is doing.
In the language of psychology, they move from implicit actions (those done mindlessly through habit) to explicit actions (those in which each step requires a conscious thought). As children, we learn everything explicitly until we can do it implicitly — from walking to riding a bike.
Try to think about riding a bike while you’re doing it. Make sure you’re wearing a helmet first.
In terms of sports clichés, a choke is cast as a failure of character. A man “panics” or “buckles” or “unravels.” The image brought to mind is someone huddling in a corner while the building around them burns.
By comparison, an athlete who comes from behind has “dug deep” or “stepped up” or “found an extra gear” — as if you could ascend to the top of any sport without already having a pretty good handle on exactly how many gears you have access to.
Again, it’s character that’s being alluded to — champions will themselves to win while losers lack that fire. In fact, the very act of willing is likely to undo your efforts.
Research has in fact shown that a mild distraction — whistling, for instance — tends to improve a golfer’s putting. Nobody wills themselves to victory, unless by that they mean becoming less and less mindful of what they’re trying to win.
“Unravel” was Rory McIlroy’s own choice of words to describe his historic collapse on Sunday at Augusta National.
It began with a drive hooked outrageously from the 10th tee into the neighbouring county. In that instant, he was still in the lead after suffering from one failure to perform and already doomed. The gears had begun to spin. All the flubbed shots and missed putts that came afterward were down to his own focus operating on destructive overdrive.
This is what makes golf so terrible, and nearly synonymous with the idea of the choke.
Unlike a team athlete, you’re alone. When things begin going wrong, there must be no more terrible place on Earth than deep in the rough.
supra shoes on sale cheap supra shoes supra skytop supra societyKroenke, an American billionaire businessman, has agreed to buy the shares of two other major shareholders, Danny Fiszman and Lady Bracewell-Smith, at a combined cost of around £230 million.
Fiszman, who is seriously ill with cancer, has a stake of 16.1 per cent and Lady Bracwell-Smith, who was ousted from the board of directors in 2008, owns 15.9 per cent. Kroenke was already the largest shareholder on 29.9 per cent and his next transaction, whether it is with Fiszman or Lady Bracewell-Smith, will take him beyond the 30 per cent threshold at which he is obliged to launch a formal takeover offer. An announcement is expected shortly after the stock exchange opens this morning.
Kroenke’s offer for the remaining Arsenal shares is automatically at the highest price he has paid on a single transaction over the past year, which is understood to be the £11,500 he has agreed with Fiszman and Lady Bracewell-Smith. That would value Arsenal at £715.5 million.
It is four years since Kroenke first became an Arsenal shareholder and he has since steadily increased both his shareholding and influence.
He was invited onto the Arsenal board in September 2008 and has since bought shares from fellow directors, including chairman Peter Hill-Wood.
Kroenke shares Arsenal’s basic philosophy of running a self-sustaining business and regularly flies to London for the club’s monthly board meetings. His role for the past two and a half years as a director means that he already has good relationships with Hill-Wood and the club’s chief executive Ivan Gazidis.
He is also an admirer of manager Arsene Wenger and, although he will be determined to drive forward further improvements in the club’s commercial operation, changes to senior personnel are unlikely.
Kroenke must now wait for the reaction of Alisher Usmanov and Farhad Moshiri, who are the second largest Arsenal shareholders. Their Red and White Holdings company currently own just over 27 per cent and they could theoretically also try to take themselves beyond 30 per cent and launch a counter takeover offer.
Yet with Kroenke having secured agreement on 62 per cent of the shares, that would surely be doomed to failure.
With more than 50 per cent, Kroenke will have the power of appointment over directors and subsequent board decisions, including issues such as Wenger’s eventual successor.
However, he would require 75 per cent support from shareholders to make any major capital structuring decision regarding the company. It all means that, unless Usmanov and Moshiri agree to sell their stake, the club would remain listed on the stock market.
However, if Kroenke were to reach a 90 per cent shareholding, the remaining shareholders would be obliged to accept his offer and he could then delist the club from the stock exchange.
Although his purchase of Fiszman’s stake had long been expected, the decision of Lady Bracewell-Smith to sell her stake to Kroenke has come as a surprise. This is because of the sense of letdown she felt at being removed from the board of directors almost three years ago.
There were unconfirmed rumours last night that Lady Bracewell-Smith might still be holding out for a higher price but, according to informed City sources, she is happy with the offer from Kroenke. Even without Lady Bracewell-Smith, Kroenke would be almost certain to get beyond 50 per cent.
It’s 25 years since Jack Nicklaus pulled off the most astonishing victory in Masters history but Fred Couples brought those stunning memories into clear focus yesterday as he leapt into contention with a remarkable second round 68.
At age 50 and with his aching back creaking almost as loudly as a rusty bedspring, Couples once again defied the march of time at August National and at least kindled hopes that he may be able to pull off what he reckoned would be “the greatest miracle in golf history” tomorrow.
Though just one off Geoff Ogilvy’s early clubhouse lead on five-under, Couples has been around professional golf much too long, however, to engage in idle fantasy.
And as Holywood youngster Rory McIlroy raced to double-figures under par by playing the first nine holes of his second round in three-under yesterday, Couples candidly admitted: “He was my pick at the start of the week.
“I love the way Rory plays and he certainly has the game for Augusta National. Looking at that scoreboard right now, he looks as if he’s going to be very hard to beat.”
If McIlroy is playing mind-blowing golf at present, Couples certainly is not far behind him on the seismic scale at Augusta — the only shot he dropped yesterday came at the treacherous par three 16th, where he three-putted from distance.
Couples, who won four times following his graduation last year onto the Seniors Tour, feels so at home at Augusta that he rates it as “probably the only event that I am capable of winning on the main tour these days.”
Needing shots in his aching back to get through four rounds at last weekend’s Shell Houston Open, he compared the persistent pain to a toothache. Yet the 1992 Masters Champion was relying on the Augusta galleries to help carry him through the pain barrier at the weekend.
One man unlikely to have that chance was Padraig Harrington, who was headed for his fourth missed cut at The Masters after failing to rediscover his usually deft putting touch on yesterday’s second round.
While Harrington’s efforts on Thursday were stymied by a neck muscle strain picked up as he swung a club left handed on the range beforehand, the problem had cleared sufficiently for him to dispel any doubts about starting yesterday’s second round.
“I will play. Why wouldn't I?,” said Harrington on arrival yesterday morning. “There certainly was a reason not to play yesterday but it is not an option today.”
Yet he was not prepared to place blame for Thursday’s opening 77, his equal-worst round at Augusta National, on the injured neck or the fact that he had to play with his head titled to the right.
“My short game was poor and I putted badly,” he confessed, a problem which persisted into Harrington’s second round, even after he changed his pre-shot routine. He abandoned his recent policy of taking three practice swings over the ball on the 14th green on Thursday and once again took them to the side of the ball yesterday.
The British Olympic Association has agreed to suspend its legal action against the London 2012 organisers in the wake of pressure from the government and the International Olympic Committee.
The bitter legal dispute over how any profits from the Games would be defined and shared has cast a shadow over the recent IOC inspection and this week's SportAccord conference in London. It will be put on hold while the BOA seeks a compromise agreement.
The wrangle centres on the BOA's claim that the Olympics and Paralympics should be treated as separate entities for accounting purposes. Locog – the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games – disputes that and the matter had been due to go to the Swiss-based court of arbitration for sport.
The BOA has promised to make a new proposal by the end of the week, which is likely to centre on ways in which Locog could assist it in bringing in money from Olympic sponsors after the Games. That may enable the BOA to guarantee funding for the four years beyond 2012.
However, Locog insiders say that, if the proposal centres on any sort of financial guarantee – even of the £5m the BOA is entitled to in the event of a profit – it will be knocked back.
Five fingers shoes Vibram 5 Fingers vibram fivefingers Fivefingers shoes vibram Fivefingers vibram The BOA has argued vociferously that it would be due a share of up to £400m if the Paralympics and the Olympics were accounted for separately. Its attempt to negotiate a compromise is likely to be seen as a climbdown, although both sides say they remain open to discussion.
Locog, backed by a ruling from the IOC, says the two events have been considered as an integrated whole since 2001 and has budgeted to break even.
The culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt, and the sports minister, Hugh Robertson, were involved in attempts behind the scenes to apply pressure on Lord Moynihan, the chairman of the BOA, to find a solution to the embarrassing row.
Lord Coe, the Locog chairman, refused to speculate on what any compromise deal might look like. "The action has been suspended, at some stage they will come forward with a proposal and the door has always been open, and it has been open ever since this started 15 months ago," he said.