NEWS » ds in 2003 almost cost him his career

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Oklahoma and Baylor have been the heavy favorites to win the Big 12 since the end of last season, and after two wins apiece to begin league play, nothing has changed in that respect.That doesnt mean West Virginia or Kansas State plan to go quietly.The Mountaineers had last week off after their narrow win over the Wildcats, while coach Bill Snyders group is coming off a tough win over Texas Tech . Now, a pair of programs with designs on winning the league race hit the road for what could be a pivotal weekend.West Virginia visits the Red Raiders. The Wildcats head to Oklahoma.Its nice to have a bye week, and there are no more bye weeks. We have eight straight weeks now, Mountaineers coach Dana Holgorsen said. Our team is in a good place, theyre healthy, their spirits are good. We spent all last week, 50 percent on developmental stuff and 50 percent on Texas Tech.If they want a blueprint for slowing down the Red Raiders, they might want to reference Kansas States performance on Saturday night. The Wildcats held Pat Mahomes and Co. to less than 50 points for the first time all season, and to just a field goal most of the second half in a 44-38 victory.Not that the Mountaineers (4-0, 1-0) dont know how to handle Texas Tech themselves. Theyve held the Red Raiders (3-2, 1-1) in check in winning the last two games in the series.Were pretty familiar with Texas Tech, Holgorsen said. They play so fast and they score so many points that its challenging, but were pretty familiar with them.Likewise, the Wildcats (3-2, 1-1) are intimately familiar with the Sooners (3-2, 2-0). Snyder was one of Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops mentors years ago, and the teams have regularly played games that have been crucial to deciding the Big 12 race.Oklahoma annihilated Kansas State last year, but the Wildcats have won two straight in Norman.Ask why theyve had such road success, Snyder replied: Beats the tar out of me.Theyre a good football team and always have been. Better than good, he said. When we have been fortunate to win, I think weve played well. Its year by year, you know? I dont think where we played had too much to do with it. We just played well while were there.As much as Snyder would rather no relive last years 55-0 loss to the Sooners, he acknowledged the need to revisit the way things went down with his team.Last year has nothing to do with this year. Were two completely different teams, Stoops added. We havent played close to what we can play and we need to make sure were playing our best.In other news from Mondays teleconference with Big 12 coaches:- Baylor (5-0, 2-0) tries to remain perfect against lowly Kansas, but the Bears are also cognizant of the fact that the Jayhawks were three missed field goals away from beating TCU last weekend.They had a great, great opportunity to beat TCU and they have to feel good about that, Baylor coach Jim Grobe said. Even though theyre not satisfied with getting the `W, when youre building a team, you have to look at the progress youre making.The Jayhawks have lost 14 consecutive games in Big 12 play.- Speaking of near-misses, Iowa State (1-5, 0-3) has blown late leads in back-to-back losses to the Bears and Oklahoma State. But conference coaches are certainly aware of the progress Cyclones coach Matt Campbell is making in rebuilding his program.Theyre doing a good job, Cowboys coach Mike Gundy said. Hes a bright young coach.- Texas coach Charlie Strong was asked about the pressure mounting on him after a 45-40 loss to the Sooners, and whether his increasingly hot seat is starting to get to his players.Its nothing for them to worry about, he replied. They shouldnt concern themselves with it.Indeed, they should probably be worried about Iowa State, which beat Texas 24-0 last year. Wholesale Custom Texans Shirts . This should be celebrated because it will not always be this way. With the amount of money given to players by their clubs these days, it is a wonder that so many of those teams allow the sport to continue to take away many of their assets so they can play for a different team in the middle of their season. Tytus Howard Jersey Large .C. -- Kemba Walker and the Charlotte Bobcats got off to a fast start, and the Sacramento Kings were never quite able to catch up. http://www.customtexansjersey.com/ . "It doesnt get any better than that," Giambi said. "Im speechless." The Indians are roaring toward October. Giambi belted a two-run, pinch-hit homer with two outs in the ninth inning to give Cleveland a shocking 5-4 win over the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday night, keeping the Indians up with the lead pack in the AL wild-card race. Authentic Custom Texans Jersey . - Levi Browns tenure at left tackle for the Pittsburgh Steelers is over before it even began. Cheap Texans Jerseys . Isner, ranked No. 14, won his eighth career singles title and took the title in New Zealand for the second time after his victory in 2010. The match was similar to Isners quarterfinal victory over fifth-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber which went to three sets, all tiebreaks and contained no breaks of serve. Dane Swan was an old-school footballer, a one-off in the modern, professional context. His method of preparation came from the 1980s, with a barrel of beer on Sunday mornings and no sleep on a weekend full of trawling in the night clubs.His indifference to training (at least on the track) is legendary at Collingwood, although he would smash 500-metre runs on the treadmill in the altitude room at the Holden Centre when no one was watching, so he could run taggers off their legs on the weekend.He had no interest in watching his edits with the line coaches on a Monday and not much love for the tactics and numbers that swamp the game now. He ran with a waddle and his kicking was problematic (although ironically, he would rarely miss when near goal).When he arrived at Collingwood at the end of 2001 at the bargain pick of No. 58 in the super draft, he had just completed a week of drinking at schoolies on the Gold Coast, and was fearfully hungover. Famously, he had declined the clubs offer to fly him home early to join training, preferring to stay with his mates, revealing a pattern that stayed with him to this day.Nothing about him suggested he could become what he did. But in time, Collingwood learned that if you put a footy between him and an opponent on match day, he would most often get it. In that sense, Swans greatness is simple. He ran to the ends of the ground like few others, and he could find the football (27 times a game over his 258 game career). Later, they realised that he could mark overhead and kick goals and that on big occasions, he was nerveless, a great match-day performer.It was an impressive package, and his record speaks for itself. Three Copeland Trophies (and four other top-three finishes) through a period when Collingwood won a flag, lost another grand final and was generally thereabouts, a Brownlow Medal, and an AFL MVP award are not to be sniffed at. He has a claim to be in top 10 Collingwood players of all time, along with Nathan Buckley, Bob Rose, Peter Daicos the Coventrys and Co.As Mick Malthouse has observed, his game spoke for itself, and he never needed to shout about it. In fact, Swan perpetrated a con act on the football world over mmore than a decade, convincing it that he did not care for the game.dddddddddddd The unchanging facial expression, the deadpan commentary on a rare occasion when he appeared in the media, they all were part of his cunning plan. The Illusionist one newspaper headline writer called him a few years ago, and it was spot on, although over time, people woke up to how good he actually was.Swan never took himself too seriously, never pretended the game bigger than what it was. Once, he loaned his Brownlow to a mate so that he could surprise people by showing it, and for a time, did not know where it was. To him, family and friends came way before football, and he sought means of expressing himself, mainly through his tattoos.Nothings ever my fault - just ask my grandparents, he observed at his retirement media conference at Collingwood on Tuesday, a production in itself.His sporting hero was Allen Iverson, the NBA superstar who popularised full-body tattoos among athletes a decade or more ago, and who had endured a brush with the law that was all too familiar to Swan, whose Federation Square fisticuffs with some security guards in 2003 almost cost him his career before it had really started. By the time he won his Copelands he was painting himself with tattoos, one of the first of Australian sportsmen to do so, and among the first was the Swan family motto: CONSTANT AND FAITHFUL. Later, he had the words G-o-o-d L-i-f-e inked on his knuckles. He bought a tattoo shop, and a pub, still giggles at the irony of those particular purchases, and called his clothing label Rat Bagg.Then before he could blink, he went to the SCG in Round 1 this year and Zak Jones of the Swans fell hard on him in a marking contest, Swans right leg twisting up underneath him. An hour later he was sitting in a medical room at the adjacent Sydney Football Stadium, waiting for an x-ray and wondering where his future was. Collingwood were smashed in his absence. Soon enough, the medical reports would come through.It was the end of an entertaining road. Thats footy. Thats life. ' ' '