10

C-Mac, Lil Cap, Clutchery: How Cam Newton creates nicknames

So when ESPN.com asked NFL Nation reporters to come up with the best nickname on the team they cover, it was a slam dunk that the honor for the Carolina Panthers went to quarterback Cam Newton, the self-proclaimed “Sensei of Nicknames.”

Newton made his title known partly out of necessity in 2014 when apologizing for referring to then-Detroit Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh as “Donkey Kong Suh.”

“If anything, I was trying to say it as a compliment of him for wreaking havoc,” Newton said at the time. “Me going forward, I should have called him ‘Wreck-it Ralph.'”

It was during this apology that Newton said, “I just call myself the ‘Sensei of Nicknames.'”

He then rattled off a dozen or more from that Carolina team. Then-fullback Mike Tolbert had more nicknames — Tub of Goo, Tub of Mayonnaise, Plate of Paste, Chunky Soup, Toldozer, Fat Boy, Bowling Ball — than anybody because of his 5-foot-9, 250-pound physique.

Tolbert wasn’t offended. Carolina players just roll with whatever nickname Newton gives them.

“Cam’s weird. A good weird, though,” defensive end Mario Addison said. “He’s given me so many nicknames, I don’t know which one he really calls me by. He’ll say Rio, Super Mario — everything. Cam, man, I guess it’s what he’s feeling like that day which one you’re going to get.”nfl nike jerseys for cheap

Newton gave himself the nickname “Ace Boogie” when he initially came into the league. He also considers himself the “Sensei of Swag,” for obvious reasons, if you’ve seen his sometimes out-there wardrobe.

“I couldn’t come up with half the things he comes up with,” Kalil said. “A lot of them are more clever than people realize. There are a lot of them that are inside jokes that can’t leave the locker room that are really funny.

“He’s sharp that way. His mind goes 100 miles an hour.”10

Not all nicknames are public knowledge. Kalil’s is one of them.

“He says it a lot to me,” Kalil said. “But it’s a quarterback-center bond thing. I can’t break that trust and tell you what it is.”

Garrett Gilbert, the front-runner to be Newton’s backup, is amazed by the depth of some of Newton’s nicknames.

“Depth is a good word,” he said. “They are extremely creative. Sometimes they take a while to craft. Sometimes it hits him the first day when a player comes on the field. But they are definitely, without a doubt, very creative.”cheap nike nfl jerseys wholesale

Gilbert’s nickname is a prime example, although Newton gets an assist from wide receiver Brenton Bersin on this one. Gilbert is called Glanch, after Matt Blanchard, who was on the Carolina practice squad in 2013-14.

9

NFC South Q&A: Who will win the division?

Will the Saints repeat as division champs in 2018? Our roundtable reporters give their picks for who will win the division and how many playoff teams will emerge from the NFC South.

Vaughn McClure, Atlanta Falcons reporter: The race should be a close one again, based on FPI projecting at least nine wins for the Saints, Panthers, and Falcons. The Saints took the title last season with an 11-5 record, while the Panthers (11-5) and Falcons (10-6) also made the field. No one can ever bet against Drew Brees, but the Falcons are best equipped to win the division. There are so many playmakers on offense for one-time MVP Matt Ryan, who is surrounded by Julio Jones, Devonta Freeman, Tevin Coleman, Mohamed Sanu, Austin Hooper, Justin Hardy and rookie first-round pick Calvin Ridley. Offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian gets to put more of his stamp on the offense in Year 2 after having to learn Kyle Shanahan’s scheme a year ago. And defensively, the Falcons have a fast, physical, confident group that believes it can be a top-five unit. If the Falcons can clean up their issues on special teams and take advantage of playing five of their first seven at home, they should be right on pace for their second division title in three seasons. And the Falcons, Saints, and Panthers just might well be in the NFC playoff picture once again — along with the Philadelphia Eagles, Los Angeles Rams and Green Bay Packers.cheap nfl nike jerseys china

David Newton, Carolina Panthers reporter: Let’s get how many teams will make the playoffs out of the way first. Three. This is the strongest division in the NFC — maybe the NFL — with New Orleans, Atlanta and Carolina all legitimate Super Bowl contenders. Carolina gets the early nod here for two reasons. The defense should be the strongest in the division once again. Adding Atlanta defensive tackle Dontari Poe was huge. Surrounding Cam Newton with more weapons than he’s had since entering the league in 2011 and giving him a fresh approach with new offensive coordinator Norv Turner gives Carolina the firepower it had in 2015 when it led the league in scoring and went 15-1 during the regular season.9

Mike Triplett, New Orleans Saints reporter: Saints. This might not be the best team the Saints have fielded in the Sean Payton-Brees era (2009 and 2011 will be awfully hard to top). But it could be their most balanced team yet. The Saints have reloaded their offensive line, run game and defense in recent years — thanks in large part to one of the greatest rookie classes in NFL history in 2017. It was led by Offensive Rookie of the Year Alvin Kamara and Defensive Rookie of the Year Marshon Lattimore. They had seven Pro Bowlers, including first-team All Pro defensive end Cameron Jordan and receiver Michael Thomas, a rising star. As a result, these well-rounded Saints don’t need the 39-year-old Brees to be Superman every week anymore. His attempts, yards, TD passes and interceptions in 2017 were all his lowest totals in his 12 years with the Saints. But that also allowed him to be efficient enough to set the NFL record for completion percentage (72.0) for the third time in his career. I wouldn’t be surprised to see any of the four NFC South teams make the playoffs after New Orleans, Atlanta and Carolina all made it last season. But the problem for all of them is how stacked this division — and the entire NFC — is right now, with the Eagles, Vikings, Rams and Packers among other bona fide contenders. So I’ll put the Saints and Falcons in and leave the Panthers and Buccaneers out.nfl nike jerseys for cheap

Jenna Laine, Tampa Bay Buccaneers reporter: I think the Falcons and Saints — teams with MVP-caliber quarterbacks and promising young defenses that continue to add key pieces — will be back in the postseason. Jones’ contract situation and the fact that he’s creeping up in age creates a bit of a concern as to how deep the Falcons will go in the postseason, but drafting Ridley should help — even if they did lose Taylor Gabriel. Still, I think the Saints will win the division. Mark Ingram is so tough north and south, Kamara carves up defenses underneath and Thomas does damage in the slot and vertically, making that offense just too much for most teams to handle. And they now have a viable defense with Jordan up front and Lattimore anchoring the back end.

12

U.S.’s Bobby Wood looking forward to Hannover after ‘most difficult year’

United States striker Bobby Wood no longer wants to look back on “the most difficult year” in his career following his loan move from relegated Hamburg to Hannover.

Earlier this week, Wood, 25, joined Hannover on an initial one-year loan with a view to a permanent transfer, after only scoring three goals in 25 appearances for Hannover in all competitions last season.nike nfl jerseys cheap paypal

“It was not a positive year,” Wood told reporters of his final year at Hamburg. “It was the most difficult year in my career. I was not able to perform the way I hoped for, and the same applies for many players.”12

After years of struggles in the top flight, Hamburg, the only team to have played in all Bundesliga seasons, suffered their first-ever relegation from the top flight.

“It happened, and I must look ahead now,” Wood said. “Naturally, that’s not that easy. But as an athlete you must write it off as soon as possible. If you allow this to drag you down, you can’t perform.”

At Hamburg, the club he joined from second-tier side Union Berlin in 2015, Wood scored just seven goals in 52 league games, but he hopes he can return to form at his new club and live up to his potential.nfl nike jerseys cheap

“I am aware it wasn’t a good performance last season. But I scored nine goals across all competitions in my first year at Hamburg,” he said. “I am a striker, and I just want to score as many goals as possible.”

11

England didn’t match pregame hype vs. Croatia – Ivan Rakitic

Ivan Rakitic said England were wrong to believe they had the edge over Croatia in Wednesday’s World Cup semifinal and that Gareth Southgate’s side didn’t live up to fans’ expectations.

Emphasis was placed before the game on the fact Croatia had needed extra time to see off Denmark and Russia and that England, who beat Sweden 2-0 in the quarterfinal, were considered fresher — and were younger — going into the game.

However, that didn’t prove to be the case, with more-experienced Croatia getting stronger as the match progressed and coming from behind to win 2-1 after extra time.

“All I can say is that they asserted that they were going to be much better physically, that they were superior in that aspect,” Rakitic told Mundo Deportivo when asked if England talked too much before the game.cheap nike nfl jerseys wholesale

“But, in the end, it was the opposite. It was we who imposed ourselves and played better in the second half and in extra time. We deserved to win. We imposed ourselves because we were the better team.”

As well as playing 120 minutes twice in the week before the game, Rakitic had a fever on the eve of the England clash.11

The Barcelona midfielder, who has coeliac disease, managed to shake it off just in time to help his country reach their first World Cup final.

“The day before the game my temperature was 39 degrees,” he said. “I was in bed and I was thinking I wasn’t going to be able to take part in a game as important as a [World Cup] semifinal.

“I lost four kilograms during the game because of the effort I then put in. I ran 14 kilometres. I don’t know where the strength came from, but you do it. It comes from inside you.”
Rakitic’s partnership with Luka Modric has been key to Croatia’s progress in Russia, with the duo putting the Barca-Real Madrid rivalry to the side.

The two could have ended up as teammates at club level, too, if Modric, who Rakitic said was a Barca fan when he was younger, had joined the club when he had the chance.

“We all had our favourite team when we were kids and it’s no secret that Luka pulled for Barca,” Rakitic told MD. “But I can say now, the great professional that he is, that we have ‘lost’ him. He’s 100 percent Madrid. You just have to see how he plays in Clasicos. It’s difficult to find someone more Madrid than him.nike nfl jerseys cheap paypal

“Sometimes, when we’re playing against each other, I joke when we change shirts at full-time: ‘Now you have the shirt you always wanted to take home.’ It’s a shame he never ended up at Camp Nou, but it’s also an honour to play against him in La Liga and the Champions League. It’s really special for Croatia to be able to enjoy a player of his level.”

10

Brett Gardner, bullpen help Yankees pick up Luis Severino

Indeed, the much-anticipated Severino-Kluber matchup — one that was hyped because of the starters’ sub-2.50 ERAs and double-digit win tallies — failed to live up to its lofty billing as the offenses churned out a combined 18 hits (nine for each team) and five home runs in a 7-4 Yankees win.

Every one of Cleveland’s hits came with same Yankees pitcher on the mound: Severino. It seemed like baseball after baseball that left the starter’s right hand was blasted to some part of the field. To their credit, the four Yankees relievers who replaced Severino across the game’s final four innings held Cleveland hitless to keep their club in the ballgame.

“They kind of did a number on us,” Indians manager Terry Francona said.nfl nike jerseys cheap china

Combine the Yankees relievers’ version of a half-game no-hitter with an offensive outburst, and the end result is the type of win through which a team can have a valuable lesson reinforced.

Even when its best starting pitcher gets shelled by a very good hitting team, the Yankees still have a roster that is complete enough to pull through with a victory.

“Up and down the lineup we had contributions in big at-bats in big spots,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “The night when Sevy didn’t have his best, the rest of the guys were able to come through in a very big way.”10

How rough was Severino’s night? He had his first one-strikeout game since September 2016, and he allowed multiple homers in a second consecutive game for the first time since May 2016.

“They took very good at-bats against me for a lot of pitches, and they made me grind,” Severino said. “I struck out one batter. I’m not that kind of guy. I’m maybe two or five, but not one.”

Four times this season Severino has reached double digits in strikeouts. In two other games, he finished with nine K’s.

“Aaron does so many things as far as his ability to get on base, his speed element, the power he brings from both sides of the plate,” Boone said. “He’s just a really good player, and I’m glad that people are a little bit more starting to see that.”cheap nike nfl jerseys from china

Following the double, Hicks made the heady decision to steal third on Cleveland reliever Oliver Perez, setting up a sacrifice fly opportunity for Bird moments later. When Bird drove Hicks in for his 11th RBI in his past four games, he helped cap a complete team win.

“Look what he’s been doing lately. That’s what you want from everybody,” Yankees shortstop Didi Gregorius, who hit his own 430-foot homer off Kluber, said of Bird. “You want to do damage from top to bottom.

9

Arizona’s Zack Greinke to replace Cubs’ Jon Lester on All-Star roster

Arizona Diamondbacks right-hander Zack Greinke will replace left-hander Jon Lester on the National League All-Star roster.

Lester is due to start for the Chicago Cubs against new nike nfl jerseys for sale cheap San Diego on Sunday and would be unavailable for Tuesday’s All-Star Game at Nationals Park in Washington.

This is the fifth All-Star selection for Greinke, who has a 9-5 record with a 3.39 ERA, 117 strikeouts and 23 walks in 114 innings. Since May 9, he has gone 6-3 with a 2.88 ERA in 13 starts.

The 2009 Cy Young winner struggled in spring training, with a fastball that was only in the mid-80s, and at one point said he wondered if he still had what it took to pitch.

For that reason, Greinke, 34, said this All-Star nod is his most meaningful.9

“You guys that saw me pitch in spring training —nfl nike jerseys cheap china  I didn’t know if I was going to be able to get any outs this year,” he said Thursday. “To end up doing as good as it’s been so far, it’s pretty exciting.”

10

France celebrate reaching final: Pamela Anderson, water fight with Macron and tears

President of France Emmanuel Macron enters the team’s dressing room. It is only a few minutes after Les Bleus beat Belgium and reached their third World Cup final.

The place is not going totally bonkers yet. But it won’t be long. First, Macron congratulates the players: “Well done. You have made your country proud and the French people happy. The country is going mad with happiness thanks to you,” he says.

It was his first game in Russia with the team and he will be back on Sunday for the final. One by one, he shakes the players’ hands with a little word for each of them.

Benjamin Mendy, the former Marseille player and official joker of the squad, has to do something to recognise Macron, himself a big OM supporter.

“And for the president …” he starts the song and in a dressing room full of laughter, everyone else follows.nfl replica jerseys cheap

“And for the president …”

A water fight starts, everyone jumps everywhere and shouts: “We are in the final, we are, we are, we are in the final!”

A few minutes before, coach Didier Deschamps also compliments his men: “I am proud of you,” he says. “You played the perfect game. Well done! But it is not over. In a World Cup, we only remember the winners.”10

The music is blaring, they sing, they dance. Mendy, Blaise Matuidi, Paul Pogba are leading the way, obviously. Lucas Hernandez and Presnel Kimpembe are missing it all because they are at the anti-doping test.

The younger players still can’t really appreciate the magnitude of the achievement. “I can’t believe it, I can’t believe it,” whispers Benjamin Pavard, still only 22 with a mere 11 caps and a final to play in his first-ever World Cup.

Kylian Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele are quite incredulous. “It is the best day of my life,” says Mbappe, 19, who doesn’t have his driving licence but will play a World Cup final on Sunday.

The more experienced ones, those who went through the huge disappointment of the 2016 European Championship and the heartbreaking loss in the final against Portugal, have crucial words.

“This is nothing. We have not won anything. It is not over,” shouts Matuidi in the tunnel on his way back towards the dressing room.

“We can’t do like in 2016. There is one more game to go, we stay calm, win it and then we enjoy,” says Pogba.wholesale nfl jerseys cheap

The players are checking their phones and discover the incredible scenes back home, the Champs Elysees rammed with fans, the millions of people celebrating all around the country in the streets. They can’t believe what they are seeing.

9

England must make World Cup run the start of something big, not another false dawn

For England, this was so much better than anyone could have possibly expected. But in the end, it wasn’t enough.

That’s the problem with progress. People will always want more and, having been within 22 minutes of playing in their first World Cup final since 1966, England must now prepare for a third-place playoff against Belgium in Saint Petersburg on Saturday, when they really wanted to be playing in Moscow 23 hours later.cheap nike nfl jerseys from china

Croatia, in the end, were simply too good and too streetwise in the semifinal and their 2-1 victory was deserved, despite England’s impressive start to the game.

But defeat still stings for Gareth Southgate and his overachieving players.9

“Did we feel we would be in this position?” Southgate asked after the game. “Realistically, I don’t think any of us did.

“But when you get to this point and play as well as we did in the first half, you want to take those opportunities in life, so the dressing room is a very difficult place at the moment.”

England’s shortcomings, the fault lines that have consumed them long before the semifinal stage in previous tournaments, remain the same as ever. Southgate has done well to mask his team’s flaws and give them a renewed sense of confidence and identity, but the problems that cost them against Croatia were the same that almost handed victory to Colombia in the round of 16.

England don’t have a Modric — few teams do — but they have to learn how to control games better against top-class teams. Had Southgate’s players faced a Brazil, France, Uruguay or Portugal before this stage, they might not have made it so far because the lack of service to Harry Kane would really have told against such high-quality opposition.

Southgate is keen to remind people that England’s squad was the least experienced in Russia. This journey to the semifinal will certainly help his players and make them more confident in the future, but their lack of nous at this level did show against Croatia.nfl replica jerseys cheap

“We played extremely well in the first half, given the size of the game, and I was really pleased with the way we controlled possession,” Southgate said. “But when you’re in charge of the game and have the chances we had, you have to take a second goal at that point.

8

Rodger Saffold plays ‘poor man’s Stan Kroenke’ to rising esports powerhouse

In the middle of this scene at the Call of Duty World League tournament is Los Angeles Rams offensive guard Rodger Saffold. He finished mandatory minicamp only the week prior, and he’s tending to his other job as owner of Rise Nation, an esports team that he founded in 2014, which boasts several of the top video game players and teams in the country.

“The lights are crazy; the energy is amazing,” said Saffold, who, at 6-foot-5 and 325 pounds, stood out among the crowd, wearing a black sweatshirt and a diamond-encrusted pendant with a Rise Nation logo. “It’s also very stressful.”cheap nfl jerseys china nike

For six months a year, Saffold is strictly focused on football. But when the season ends, the nine-year NFL pro fills much of his time with gaming. He grew up loving puzzles. Then during college, he developed a penchant for video games, more specifically “Call of Duty,” the first-person-shooter game.

The structure of an esports organization bears a resemblance to an NFL team.8

As the owner, Saffold funds the organization, “like a poor man’s Stan Kroenke,” he chuckled, in reference to the Rams’ owner. He has a partner in longtime friend Kareem Horsley and hired former gamer Jonathan Tucker as general manager.

“In big decisions, we keep him informed,” said Tucker, who first met Saffold in 2014 at a gaming tournament. “Transfers, signings, big-money moves that could affect how we work, we have to consult him. … But as far as day-to-day stuff, me and Kareem do most of it, because it’s just too many things to bother him with.”

Saffold, who studied business management at Indiana, has 10 full-time employees and a roster that fluctuates between 10 and 12 players among seven teams, depending on the games and tournaments the organization is involved in.

To develop his business, Saffold leaned on the friendships he developed within the esports industry. “Just picking everybody’s brain,” Saffold said, “we were kind of able to figure out a formula.”

He also sought the creative input of a Rams graphic designer to develop a Rise Nation logo.nike nfl jerseys cheap china

“I wanted to be involved and invested into something that I have a lot of passion for,” Saffold said. “This seemed to be it.”

Saffold isn’t the only person from professional sports getting into gaming. Earlier this year, the NBA became the first professional sports league to operate an esports league when it launched NBA 2K, which features some of the best basketball gamers in the world.

7

NFLPA files challenge to league’s national anthem policy

The NFL Players Association filed a non-injury grievance Tuesday challenging the legitimacy of the NFL’s new national anthem policy on several grounds.

“The union’s claim is that this new policy, imposed by the NFL’s governing body without consultation with the NFLPA, is inconsistent with the collective bargaining agreement and infringes on player rights,” the NFLPA said in a statement.

The NFLPA, which was not consulted about the anthem policy change, argues in its grievance that peaceful demonstration during the anthem does not qualify as “conduct detrimental to the integrity of and public confidence in the National Football League.”cheap nike nfl jerseys wholesale

The league will need to rely on the broad powers afforded the commissioner through the personal conduct policy, including applying the phrase “conduct detrimental,” to decide whether to fine teams whose players demonstrate on-field during the anthem. NFL fans are accustomed to hearing that phrase as justification for penalizing players accused of illegal or unethical behaviors.

The NFLPA argues that kneeling during the anthem does not qualify as detrimental conduct, evidenced by the fact that the league has said players have the right to use their platform to elevate issues important to them. The players’ association believes that allowing peaceful demonstrations to be grounds for detrimental conduct discipline would set a terrible precedent, which teams could use to penalize players for other peaceful demonstrations, including prayer.7

At NFL owners meetings in May, the league voted to approve a policy that requires players and team personnel on the sideline to stand during the national anthem. Players have the option to stay in the locker room while the anthem is played. The NFL wrote and ratified the policy without input from the players, as the game operations manual is not part of the collective bargaining agreement.

Commissioner Roger Goodell said the NFL wants to “treat this moment in a respectful fashion.” Should the league determine that a player is in violation of the new policy, the team will be fined. Teams can choose to fine players.

Under Article 43 of the CBA, franchises have the right to implement “reasonable club rules.” These rules normally include fines for objectively provable violations, such as missing a meeting or skipping a workout. The NFLPA will also seek an arbitrator’s judgment on the reasonableness of team-by-team anthem rules, given the fact that no player has been previously disciplined for such demonstrations.cheap nfl jerseys china nike

The NFL will have 10 days to respond in writing to the accusations set forth in the grievance. If the issue is not resolved at that point, the NFLPA can appeal to the notice arbitrator. The grievance will be heard by one of four mutually accepted arbitrators.