Clan Wars » , thanks to such young people as Charlie Pe

DALLAS -- John Diarse was on his hands and knees in the end zone, trying to catch his breath after the TCU receiver took a hard hit that led to a targeting ejection for SMU safety Darrion Millines.The junior transfer from LSU was just telling himself to breathe. Once he took care of that, Diarse hooked up with quarterback Kenny Hill on the play that triggered a runaway for the Horned Frogs.Hill threw for 452 yards and two second-half touchdowns, including a 75-yarder to Diarse on the first play after halftime, and TCU pulled away from the Mustangs 33-3 on Friday night.Diarses catch-and-run score on a quick slant came after Millines delivered the second-quarter hit in the end zone after Anthony Rhones interception in front of him.Athletic trainers and coach Gary Patterson came out to check on him, but Diarse said he just had the wind knocked out of him.We always talk about if you get hit, its about how you get back up and how you finish, Diarse said. That was my whole mindset for the rest of the game, finish, finish, finish, make up for it.Diarse came back later in the second quarter to catch a 23-yard pass on the drive to a field goal that put TCU ahead for good in a fifth straight victory over the Mustangs and the 15th win in the past 17 meetings between the crosstown rivals.It was the second straight week for a career high in yards receiving for the 6-foot-1, 209-pound Diarse, who had 139 yards on six catches.A lot of guys would have taken that hit in the end zone, theyd have been out for the ballgame, Patterson said. The thing about John is he gives you a big body. Hes a wide receiver, but hes kind of like a tight end body.SMU (2-2) played a touchdown-free first half against a high-scoring Big 12 team for the second time this season, trailing 6-3 at the half following a 6-6 halftime tie against No. 16 Baylor in Waco two weeks ago. The Bears went on to a 40-13 win.It was very disappointing the way that we responded in the second half, especially after playing as hard and as well as we did in the first half, second-year SMU coach Chad Morris said.The Horned Frogs (3-1) scored touchdowns on their first two possessions after halftime, the second on Hills perfect fade pass to Jaelan Austin from the 2 for a 20-3 lead. The second score came on a 12-play drive after the quick strike to Diarse.Immediately it energizes everybody, Hill, who was 31 of 45 passing, said of the long touchdown. On the sideline, it was kind of dead. Everybody was in it, but it was kinda dead and we hit that play and everybody just sparked up.TCU kicked four field goals, two each from Brandon Hatfield and Ryan Graf, who just cleared the crossbar on a career-long 46-yarder.THE TAKEAWAYTCU: The Horned Frogs, who opened the season at No. 13, were less than impressive in all three nonconference games. After leading by just four points early in the fourth quarter of a 59-41 victory against lower-division South Dakota State in the opener, TCU trailed by 13 points in the fourth quarter of a double-overtime loss to Arkansas. Even with a 21-point home win over Iowa State in the Big 12 opener, the Frogs look vulnerable with tougher league foes awaiting.SMU: The Mustangs dont have much to show for another strong first-half performance against a Big 12 team, instead seeing their losing streak against that conference reach 23 games dating to a victory over Kansas in the 2000 opener. But SMU figures to be much more competitive in the American Athletic Conference a year after going 1-7 in league play and giving up 51 points per game in the losses.UP NEXTTCU: The Horned Frogs return to Big 12 play against No. 25 Oklahoma at home next Saturday. TCU entered the weekend as the only 1-0 team in conference play.SMU: The Mustangs open American Athletic Conference play at Temple next Saturday, the first of consecutive league games on the road. Wholesale Jordan 4 For Sale . PETERSBURG, Fla. Discount Jordan Shoes Wholesale . Miikka Kiprusoff had just announced his retirement after a decade-long run in Calgary and it would be up to Berra and Ramo to fill the void. http://www.wholesalejordan11.com/discount-jordan-1.html . The Islanders dealt Thomas Vanek to the Montreal Canadiens after less than a year on Long Island. Meanwhile, the Oilers dealt long-time sniper Ales hemsky to the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday for a fifth-round pick in 2014 and a third-rounder in 2015. Affordable Jordans For Sale . The Cleveland Indians, Tampa Bay Rays, and Texas Rangers all won on Sunday meaning the Rangers will host the Rays in a play-in game on Monday. Cheap Jordan Shoes Online . "Thank you for the warm welcome," Beckham said on an 80-degree February morning. In this case, it was soccer weather. The sport moved a step closer to returning to South Florida on Wednesday, when Beckham confirmed he has exercised his option to purchase a Major League Soccer expansion franchise in Miami. First, you dont cry.At least thats how Ive gotten through the 180 or so individual interviews weve conducted over the past 11 years with our My Wish families. Yes, my fingernails have carved arcs of suppressed feeling into chairs, sofas and love seats across the country. Ive pinched my right leg through my trousers multiple times in a single day. When in deep trouble, Ive broken eye contact with our subject, looked down and tried to just hold on for a few moments, as if clinging to a raft careening through whitewater. During our first year, I asked a 10-year-old boy who loved Tracy McGrady how the tumors in the back of his neck felt. He paused for a moment, dropped his head into an open palm and sobbed. Had I been holding a pen, I might have stuck it between my ribs right there, like a prison shank. Its not that I think getting emotional would be a breach of professional decorum. I just dont want to be disruptive as memories start pouring forth. The best way to respect and honor the people who share their stories with us is to listen.Sometimes, in Carolina or Georgia or Iowa, the car goes to the end of the asphalt road and then the end of the dirt road before I get out. Maybe its a big house in the Pacific Northwest on a cul-de-sac, with a front lawn and a friendly dog. Or its a trailer in the Midwest, with a satellite dish on the outside and no room within. Setting up our cameras already has disrupted the home. Tables and couches and shelves have been moved, revealing remote controls so old they cant always recall where the TV is. Food and morning beverages, lots of them, sprawl across the kitchen counter. And then I knock on the front door and ... well ...Maybe 30 years ago, walking into a strange home while in a suit and a tie would have established you as a person of probity, someone to be trusted. Football coaches on recruiting trips back then: they must have worn jackets and ties, right? Anyway, it feels like the opposite now, as if I represent a corporation or renegade arm of the government with twisted plans for the property and the people living there, and a slick line of shop talk to make those plans a reality. More than a decade in peoples living rooms or dens, and no one has ever worn a suit and tie in the chair opposite me. I often feel as though I have to apologize for my clothes, though when my hair turned gray and I started wearing reading glasses, kids like the unstoppable Rylee Durham began calling me Harry Potters grandfather, which really isnt bad at all, youve got to admit.I walked into one house in the south, and the sibling of our wish child took my hand and quietly showed me her room, and where she did all her homework, and the books shed been reading recently. Illness in a family reshapes everyones world. To put one nervous mother at ease while we were setting up, I sang most of Mary J. Bliges Work That. I guess she figured the interview couldnt be any more unpleasant than that.I have nothing in my hands. Usually, Ive read a summary of a childs health history. If there have been posts on social media or CaringBridge, there are often specific milestones in treatment for me to ask about. But most of the time, Im asking two questions, in a small variety of forms: What happened? and How did you feel about it? As I sometimes tell our subjects before we begin, I ask questions they know the answers to. Anyone with a sick child has had to deal with inquiries from many people; often they have come to expect that most people dont want that much detail, and so they have crafted their responses to suit the demand. Early on, I try to convey that were interested in the long answers. This is one I recall, from Judy Krause, whose daughter, Danielle, was being treated for a brain tumor. Her answer was one of the best descriptions of the chaos of a medical crisis:There must have been 12 ffamily members there, all walking out.dddddddddddd I just for some reason turned around one last time to take a look at her, and all her numbers just dropped, and I went, Whats going on? Then they just immediately yelled Code Blue. They were on me in like one second, trying to get me out of the room, and I said, No, I dont want ... Im not leaving. Then they said, Can we get you a minister? I said, What? You know, can we get you somebody to talk to? I said, Why would I need that? And I remember somebody handing me orange juice or something. I mean, it was just the craziest moment of my life, and I thought, oh my God, shes not going to make it, and then they pulled us all out of the room, and, thank God, they got her back.The mother of Jacob Trammell, who loved baseball so much, remembered the nights that shed sit at their dining room table and go over game situations with her son, as if they were times tables; Kyle Byrds mother, Cassandra, recalled how her tears would fall onto her then-infant son days after his Spinal Muscular Atrophy diagnosis; and then there was the sheer delight on the face of Matt Vosejpkas younger brother, Mitch, when he learned hed be the perfect bone marrow donor:Mitch: I was like, This is great. This is unbelievable. I like this.Me: Were you scared?Mitch: Not really. I was more focused on the excited part.I dont go on the wishes, which is surprising only to people who have never seen me at a childs birthday party, wringing my hands like a pastry chef convinced that his popovers will not rise, hiding in the kitchen as the pi?ata is demolished in the yard, asking over and again if everyone is having a good time. So when these wishes make you feel something, hope or sadness or joy or uplift, thats the skill of our producers and editors; the generosity of the athletes and teams involved; the abundant and unfailing love, resourcefulness and advocacy of a sick childs parents; and the pluck, the humor, the strength, the swag and the wonder of our My Wish recipients. When we put these stories together, its important that viewers find something to like about these children -- their athletic skill, their attitude, their wit -- before finding out that theyre sick. Making sure they emerge as unique individuals and not as victims. Thats key.This week is the 10th anniversary of My Wish, and our stories begin Sunday. Before working on My Wish, my journalism background featured a lot more irony than earnestness, and at first I might have thought Make-A-Wish was too sentimental for my taste. I got over that real fast, thanks to such young people as Charlie Pena and Katie Morris and Jailen Cooper, whose stories you can read in this space -- and to the kind, clever and giving staff members and volunteers at Make-A-Wish, with whom weve been privileged to partner with for My Wish. Like a lot of people, I once thought Make-A-Wish was only for children facing a terminal diagnosis, and this proved to be very much not the case. So many My Wish children are flourishing, bolstered by the resilience they showed during their illness and their capacity for exhilaration during their wish.In 11 years of getting to talk to these amazing young people and their families, some of the best words came from Hailey Cannaday, who got to swim with Olympic champion Michael Phelps. If Im not crying, you shouldnt be crying, she said. If Im smiling, smile with me. Last I heard, she was driving from Ohio to Chicago with her mom for a K-Pop concert. So Im with her, on both the smiling and the crying. Maybe not the K-Pop.Chris Connelly is an ESPN reporter and essayist who has served as correspondent and host for ESPNs annual My Wish series since 2006, done in collaboration with Make-A-Wish. ' ' '