Clan Wars » demand a lot of persistence and patience, an

COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- Johnny Football is practicing with Texas A&M. Whether he starts the season opener is another question. Coach Kevin Sumlin on Monday said he would not speculate when asked if Johnny Manziel will be his starter on Aug. 31 against Rice following an ESPN report that the NCAA is investigating whether the Heisman Trophy winner was paid for signing hundreds of autographs last January. "Theres a lot of people involved in that decision," Sumlin said without being specific. If Manziel was paid for his autograph on memorabilia, it could potentially violate NCAA amateurism rules and put his eligibility in question a year after his jaw-dropping performance on the field made him the first freshman to win the Heisman as college footballs top player. Speaking to the media as the team began preseason practices, Sumlin said he learned of the ESPN report Sunday. For now, Manziel will lead the Aggies. But his coach is clearly thinking of backups, too. "Hell get as many reps as he was going to get yesterday," Sumlin said of Manziel, before adding: "Weve got to develop a backup quarterback no matter what." The report is just the latest in a string of off-the-field distractions caused by Manziel. Hes made headlines for tweeting that he "cant wait to leave College Station," despite having three years of eligibility remaining, he allegedly overslept at a football camp run by the Manning family and was supposedly kicked out of a University of Texas fraternity party in the past couple of months. The 20-year-old sophomore calmly answered question after question at SEC media days last month, acknowledging his eventful off-season and indicating he needed to make better decisions because hes such a public figure. "I dont feel like Ive done anything thats catastrophic," Manziel said then. "Of course, Ive made my mistakes. Its time to grow up." Last week, Manziel tweeted: "I aint perfect, I aint insane but I AM worth it...if theres one thing I am worth it." The antics have overshadowed what is expected to be a banner year for Texas A&M. The Aggies are coming off an 11-2 record in their first season in the SEC after moving from the Big 12, a year highlighted by Manziel leading Texas A&M to an upset win at No. 1 Alabama. The rematch in College Station is Sept. 14. But instead of answering questions about his expectations for the season, Sumlin was left to respond to question after question about Manziel. "Ive been through different things," Sumlin said. "As a coach when those things happen, its not what happens to you, its how you deal with it. Weve got a veteran staff that knows how to deal with different situations." Manziels teammates seem unfazed by his recent trouble and said that nothing has changed in the way they view their quarterback. "He still has all leadership qualities he displayed last year, hes being more vocal now, hes taking on more of the leadership responsibilities," running back Ben Malena said. "The off the field issues doesnt bother us not one bit when it comes to a team aspect." Manziel and the rest of the Aggies had their first practice late Monday afternoon. If the problems were weighing on Manziel, it was hard to tell by watching him on the field. He laughed and talked with teammates before they lined up to stretch. The Aggies practice to music and when the first song of the day, the track "Versace" by Migos featuring Manziels buddy rapper Drake came on, the quarterback looked carefree as he bobbed his head and bounced to the catchy tune. The media were only allowed to watch the first 20 minutes of practice and there were no full team drills during that time. Manziel threw a few passes while the quarterbacks and receivers worked alone on a section of the field surrounded by dozens of reporters. While Sumlin is working through the Manziel situation, he noted that a much more difficult task was talking to his team about the recent death of defensive lineman Polo Manukainiu, who was killed in a New Mexico car crash along with two others. "It was not an easy topic," Sumlin said. "Its one of the hardest things a coach has to deal with. In a way getting back together as a group and getting back in the routine, going out on the field today, somehow that might help. Because these guys share the same kind of emotions the same kind of feelings for a guy that they cared very, very deeply about." He also said starting defensive tackle Kirby Ennis, who was arrested in February on a weapons charge, will be suspended for the Rice game. Swell Marble Bottle Uk . PAUL, Minn. Swell Liberty Water Bottle . They hope to persuade the other team owners and commissioner Roger Goodell to put pressure on Redskins owner Daniel Snyder to drop the nickname they find offensive. "Given the way the meeting transpired," Ray Halbritter, an Oneida representative and leader of the "Change the Mascot Campaign," said Wednesday, "it became somewhat evident they were defending the continued use of the name. http://www.swellbottleuk.com/ . -- Eastern Kentucky thrives off creating havoc for others. S Well Teakwood Drinking Bottle . Speaking to the Chicago Tribune at baseballs Winter Meetings in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, Boras called the former home of the Expos a "tremendous environment" for baseball. Swell Uk Bottle . Ancelotti says Ronaldo has recovered from a hamstring injury but "but he doesnt feel comfortable yet so we wont risk him." Madrid is third in the Spanish league, six points behind leader Barcelona, going into Saturdays game against Valladolid. He stifles you with his accuracy, turns balls sharply past edges, beats the inside edges with straighter ones, gets them to kick at left-hand batsmen, takes their edges with balls that dont turn, but there is one mode of dismissal that Ravindra Jadeja is not often given credit for: caught on the drive.Quite expectedly, 46 of Jadejas 104 wickets are either bowled or lbw. Three of the six stumpings off his bowling have come through sharp turn. Add 32 of the 52 catches that are either inside, outside or top edges caught by the wicketkeeper, slips, short legs or silly points, and you are left with 23 caught wickets that are not typical Jadeja wickets. Many of these 23 are slogs or inexplicable shots from tailenders.Right-hand batsmen generally tend to keep their pads away from him, and dont mind driving him, unlike say R Ashwin or even a legspinner. On pitches that are not turning, and early on in Tests, it is considered easy to line him up and play him like a seam bowler. Ashwin, for example, is not that easy to drive because he gets the ball to dip and drift. Jadeja is considered dangerous when the ball is turning from the centre of the pitch. In this series, though, on two occasions, on day-one pitches, Jadeja has displayed he can get batsmen out caught at short cover.On the surface, caught at short cover looks like an innocuous dismissal, but it involves getting the ball to dip out of the batsmans reach. In Mohali, Jos Buttler had been part of a 69-run partnership on a good opening-day pitch when he chipped one to short cover. He had left the crease to play a drive, but failed to dispatch this Jadeja delivery. On day one in Chennai, with England in a much better position, and Jonny Bairstow one short of a half-century, Jadeja again created the gap between the bat and the pitch of the ball.Jadeja will continue to be a spinner who relies on not giving batsmen time to recover, but as his career has grown he has become more adept at changing his pace and trajectory. In this series he has got the batsmen to drive him more. When he had Ben Stokes stumped in Mohali, he didnt do it with turn, but with drift. The movement outside the crease then was brought about by the pressure he had built through tight bowling. Here, too, Bairstow had scored five runs in the llast 19 balls before he felt he could drive when he saw the ball in the air.ddddddddddddBefore he removed Bairstow, Jadeja had extended his domination of the England captain Alastair Cook, taking the openers wicket for the fifth time in this series. Apart from an uncharacteristic stumping in Mumbai, each of the other four wickets have involved persistence and subtlety. Cook has looked to get across to cover Jadejas quick turn, but Jadeja has kept drawing him wider millimetre by millimetre before bowling slightly straighter: it cant be too much turn because then the ball cant both impact within the stumps and also go on to hit them.In Chennai, the natural variation came into play, with Cook playing for the turn. There was no giveaway this was going straight, and the edge was taken at slip. Again, though, Cook was not to the pitch of the ball, which is why the natural variation came into play. The Buttler and Bairstow dismissals, and the Cook ones through the series, demand a lot of persistence and patience, and are less reliant on the pitch.At the least they depend on maximising the effect of the assistance from the pitch, which happens if you beat the batsmen in the air. That Jadeja is doing so is a facet of his game he didnt need to show on the more helpful pitches. He has always maintained that he just focuses on being accurate and bowling fast when the pitch is doing the job for him. In this series the pitches havent done that much for the spinners, and also India have been asked to bowl first on four occasions. Jadeja might average 31.10 this series, but he has responded well to his first real extended test from the conditions.Jadeja has taken 12 of Englands 34 wickets in the first innings of a match. Only nine of Ashwins 27 wickets this series have come in the first innings of the match. Statistically he is a slow starter into a match, with numbers saying he takes 14 overs on an average to claim his first wicket. When he does get into the groove, though, he can run through sides. Until such a time arrives, though, it is Jadeja who has provided Virat Kohli the control he needs, with not just his accuracy but also subtlety. ' ' '