Every manager in the world wants to win matches

WASHINGTON -- Shortly after Jesse Owens returned home from his snubbing by Adolph Hitler at the 1936 Olympics, he and Americas 17 other black Olympians found a less-than-welcoming reception from their own government, as well.On Thursday, relatives of those 1936 African-American Olympians will be welcomed to the White House and will get to shake the presidents hand -- an honor Owens and the others didnt receive, the way some of their white counterparts did, after they returned home from Berlin 80 years ago.U.S. Olympic Committee CEO Scott Blackmun announced the visit Wednesday night at a Team USA Awards ceremony.That is why Im here 80 years later, to recognize the senselessness (of not inviting them to the White House), and to pay tribute to all the progress that has come since, Blackmun said.The announcement came on the same night the USOC invited Tommie Smith and John Carlos, who were booted from the 1968 Olympics for their gloved-fist protest on the medals stand, to be part of the awards show. Smith and Carlos hadnt been involved in an official USOC event since being sent home from Mexico City. The gold- and bronze-medal-winning sprinters will be at the White House on Thursday, as well.At the 1936 Olympics , Owens won four gold medals, but it was the message Owens victories sent by winning in Nazi Germany and undercutting Hitlers white-supremacy dogma that stood as the lasting memory of those games.Owens returned to a segregated America where he had trouble finding steady work and where, according to his interviews in later years, the president, Franklin Roosevelt, never sent him any words of congratulations or an invitation to the White House.Decades later, Owens was acknowledged and honored at the White House. In 1976, President Gerald Ford presented him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.The stories of the other 17 blacks on that team were less-widely known. Thursdays event was meant to give a long-overdue White House recognition to those athletes, who accounted for 14 of Americas 56 medals in Berlin.Owens daughter, Marlene Owens-Rankin, will be among the relatives at the White House.To be able to go to the White House 80 years later with Barack Obama as president and also with the other 1936 Olympians that really didnt get the exposure that my grandfather did, for various reasons, I think it would make him so happy, said Owens granddaughter, Marlene Dortch. Fred VanVleet Jersey .C. -- Calgarys Kevin Koe did it the hard way again. Serge Ibaka Jersey . -- Tony Stewart is 20 pounds lighter and has a titanium rod in his surgically repaired right leg. http://www.nbaraptorsonline.com/Authentic-Patrick-McCaw-Jersey/ . The native of Mont-Tremblant, Que., captured a World Cup downhill event Saturday, his second this year and fifth career victory on the circuit. Custom Toronto Raptors Jerseys . Robinson finished with 17 points, all but two in the second half, and Lawson had 14 after halftime and finished with a game-high 11 assists as the Nuggets handed Dallas its first home loss in eight games this season. J.J. Hickson led Denver with 22, and Kenneth Faried added 10 points and 10 rebounds. Jodie Meeks Raptors Jersey . What general manager Dave Nonis called "short and productive" negotiations ended with Kessel signing a US$64-million, eight-year contract on Tuesday. LONDON -- Manchester United hoped Jose Mourinho would provide a quick-fix.Hire the manager renowned as a serial winner and the stupor of the fleeting David Moyes and Louis van Gaal eras would vanish.Theres little sign of that.If anything, results and performances suggest the record 20-time English champions are regressing. Even Mourinho calls his team fragile.With five losses in his opening 16 games, Mourinho has made a worse start than Alex Fergusons two immediate successors who never came close to winning the Premier League or Champions League.Under Mourinho, United is even a diminished force in the second-tier Europa League. A 2-1 loss to Fenerbahce on Thursday left United third in its group with only six points out of a possible 12.Although Mourinho has previously expressed his disdain for UEFAs Thursday night competition, the Portuguese coach doesnt expect his team to slacken. Theres pride on the line, if little prestige.Our problem started in our global attitude, Mourinho said, berating his team for treating for the game like a friendly.The only encouraging moment in Turkey for United was Wayne Rooney ending a goal drought of almost three months -- a moment of personal satisfaction, certainly for the 31-year-old captain. But there is little evidence Rooney, so ineffective for Mourinho, will provide any potency on Sunday at Swansea.Rooneys only goals this season have come against the Turkish leagues fifth-place team and Bournemouth. No team of any might has felt threatened by the presence of the fading Rooney.While Rooney symbolizes some of Uniteds shortcomings, the burden of the blame shouldnt rest on the striker.There are clearly deeper flaws when the team goes through October without winning a single Premier League game, drawing three times and losing once on Mourinhos humiliating return to Chelsea.And in those four games, United has scored only once -- failing even to find a way past promoted Burnley last weekend to drop to eighth in the league.Sometimes teams dont score goals because of their philosophy, because the team isnt aggressive enough and doesnt risk enough, Mourinho said.Zlatan Ibrahimovic hit the ground running with four goals in four games after signing amid great fanfare in July, but since then the 35-year-old forward has looked his age by netting only once in 11.Some players in our attacking arreas lack confidence, Mourinho said.dddddddddddd Theyre not sharp and getting the chances that they can.And the treatment room is getting crowded, too.Center backs Eric Bailly and Chris Smalling were joined on the injury list on Thursday by Paul Pogba, who limped off with a thigh injury.Not that Pogba, the worlds most expensive player, has been looking like a 105 million euro ($117 million) midfielder since rejoining the club in August.Then theres another of Mourinhos signings: Henrikh Mkhitaryan. The Armenian played the last 30 minutes of the loss in Turkey after two months out of the team. But the attacking midfielder is a shadow of the player who scored 23 goals and set up another 32 last season for Borussia Dortmund.He has to do more, it is as simple as that, Mourinho said. We have big expectations in the club. We have lots of players for these positions and he has to play better than (Juan) Mata, he has to play better than (Jesse) Lingard, he has to play better than (Anthony) Martial.(Mkhitaryan) has to play better than them. It is as simple as that. Every manager in the world wants to win matches ... I am no different.But something has changed with the two-time Champions League-winning coach, who is exhibiting the sullen and downbeat demeanor only seen later in his reigns at Chelsea, Inter Milan or Real Madrid.United should have read the warning signs.Maybe last season at Chelsea -- when a title-winning team tumbled into the lower-reaches of the Premier League -- was not a blip.Can the 53-year-old Mourinho still find a way to innovate and rejuvenate United in the way Juergen Klopp has turned Liverpool into a title contender again or Mauricio Pochettino has refreshed Tottenham?Sundays trip to south Wales offers the perfect platform to halt Uniteds four-match run without a win in the legaue against a Swansea side winless in nine and second-from-last.Mourinho will certainly have a good seat to evaluate his team in Swansea, after being banned from the touchline for two separate offenses toward referees. But the view from the directors box might not be pretty, based on recent displays.---AP Global Soccer Writer Rob Harris is at www.twitter.com/RobHarris and www.facebook.com/RobHarrisReports ' ' '