d in anxiety, car horns beeped in relief. It must look very odd

NEW ORLEANS -- Soaked in sweat, Golden State Warriors star Kevin Durants yells echoed throughout an empty Smoothie King Center, home of the New Orleans Pelicans.They say I aint hungry!Im out here!Durant was working to bounce back from his teams 29-point loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Tuesday night. The former MVP stayed late after practice Thursday in preparation for Friday nights game against the Pelicans, shooting between one-on-one drills with Warriors assistant coach Chris DeMarco.Shooting his last shots, Durant said, They told me I aint have no drive! Im out here. They called me a coward! Putting in work.When asked after his session about shouting criticisms, Durant explained, Thats what I say to myself when Im working. I hear it all the time. You hear the noise. You hear what they say about you. Everybody hears it. So its a little extra motivation when you hear it.Of the scene, Durant said, Nobody in this arena right now, and thats when you get better. Nobody sees you when youre doing this stuff right here, but luckily yall was in here watching.When asked where he finds the criticisms he uses as a motivational tool, Durant conveyed that he doesnt necessarily seek them out.Its not that I read it -- its just in the air, he said. You know its just in the atmosphere and people tell you and you hear about it. You guys ask me questions about it all the time, so obviously I know, but Im not losing sleep on it. Its just wood on that fire.On the media response to Golden States big debut loss, Durant said, Obviously you hear everything. Seasons over, the team is worst team in the league, you thought it was going to be easy. Its one game. I thought, after losing in the playoffs by 30 or beating someone by 30 in Game 1 of the playoffs and you say its only one game.Durants closing statement, said with laughter as he left: Its one game of 82 and you f---ing guys make me feel like the worlds going to end..Jordan 1 Banned Wholesale . -- The Sacramento Kings are set to become the first major professional sports franchise to accept Bitcoin virtual currency for ticket and merchandise purchases. Fake Jordan 1 Chicago . First off, the fans ripped the Cubbies introduction of a fuzzy new kid-friendly mascot named "Clark". http://www.bestfakejordan1.com/cheap-jordan-1-bred-outlet.html . Cuban testified Thursday that he was upset when the companys CEO told him news that would reduce the value of his shares, for which hed paid $7.5 million. But he said he did nothing improper when he sold those shares over the next two days. Cheap Jordan 1 Banned . Radwanska, making her debut in the Seoul tournament, hit eight aces in a match that lasted 1 hour, 4 minutes at Olympic Park tennis stadium. "It was definitely a very good match -- I was playing really good tennis," Radwanska said. Jordan 1 Clearance . For the Wild it was their first win of the season and they now have a record of 1-1-2 while the Jets fall to 2-2. Jets start a six game home stand Friday with another divisional game, home to the Dallas Stars.When Moeen Ali danced down the pitch and lofted Yasir Shah over long-on to bring up his century in the fourth Test, at The Oval, I felt a tingle in my eye.Maybe I was just tired. Perhaps it had been a long day at the computer screen. Either way, this was not the first time a snippet of cricket had threatened to turn me into a snivelling wreck.I was sitting in the same spot a year ago the last time it happened. Adam Voges sliced a ball to Ben Stokes at gully, who flung himself backwards like an Olympic gymnast. On the radio, Jonathan Agnew exploded into life. And hes brilliantly caught! Brilliantly caught! That is an outrageous catch!I swallowed hard and glanced around the office to check nobody was looking. As eye-watering pieces of commentary go, it was up there with: The new world record-holder is Brian Charles Lara of Trinidad and Tobago; Stephen Harmison with a slower ball - one of the great balls; and, of course: Jones! Bowden!I get more excited, angry, nervous and overjoyed about cricket than I do about anything in normal life. Once, when England made a vital breakthrough in the 2013 Ashes, I shouted so loudly the neighbours came round to check I was okay.A therapist would probably tell me it all stems from childhood. I went to my first Test match aged six: England v West Indies at Edgbaston. The scorecard tells me England finished day three on 158 for 8 in their second innings, just 52 ahead, with Derek Pringle and Chris Lewis at the wicket. That explains a lot.Growing up as an English cricket fan in the 1990s, as Emma John says in her wonderful book Following On, was a painful business. Enduring defeat after defeat was one thing, but the glimmers of hope - Barbados 94, Johannesburg 95, Edgbaston 97 - kept me coming back for more.When Devon Malcolm pummelled South Africa at The Oval and Dean Headley sliced through the Aussies in Melbourne, I asked myself why they couldnt do it more often.Every time Mark Ramprakash compiled a flawless 27 before spooning a long hop to cover point, it broke another piece of my fragile young heart. In Brisbane in 98, Alan Mullallys stupid hands got in the way of the stumps, blocking a direct hit that would have run out Steve Waugh. I was furious and stormed off to my bedroom in a strop.The emotions were no less raw when it came to county cricket. On my first visit to Lords, Warwickshire chased down 322 to beat Sussex off the last ball of the NatWest Trophy final. In many ways, nothing I have experienced since has been able to live up to that day. The following season the Bears, inspired by Dermot Reeve and Lara, won an unprecedented domestic treble.I thought this was normal, that the champagne would keep flowing and the glory would last forever. It wasnt, it wouldnt, and iit didnt.dddddddddddd One of the low points of the comedown was utter humiliation in the 97 final, Essex winning by nine wickets with 33 overs to spare. I fought back tears on the train home as my dad reminded me the next was the first of the new school term.Some people see injustice and are driven to seek a life in politics, campaigning or law. I saw Gloucestershire beat Warwickshire to the 2000 NatWest Trophy on the Duckworth-Lewis method after a brief rain shower. We left the ground in bright sunshine and cursed all the way back to Marylebone. Character-building, you might say. Bloody stitch-up, we said.In 2005, as every schoolboy surely knows by heart, everything changed. I was in a student-union bar, holding back tears of joy, when Messrs Bowden and Koertzen removed the bails and Michael Atherton chuckled: What a performance from these two gentlemen! To this day I cannot bring myself to watch highlights of that series without taking a few deep breaths and warning anyone in the immediate vicinity to be ready with the Kleenex.Picture, if you will, a typical English cricket fan. Stiff upper lip, wry gallows humour, weary sense of detachment, ready at any moment to add two wickets to the score. My grandad fits this description perfectly. Whenever Im on holiday or otherwise engaged, he sends me a message telling me how badly England are doing. When I visited him during this summers third Test against Pakistan, England were 120 without loss on the fourth morning. As the clock ticked past 11am, grandad came striding across the garden to tell me both openers had gone in the first few overs of the day. I kicked the ground and clenched my fists; he just laughed and shook his head.Nothing makes me feel as strongly as cricket does. Walls have been punched in anger, nails chewed in anxiety, car horns beeped in relief. It must look very odd from the outside, and I have thought long and hard about why it happens. Is it physiological or psychosomatic? Was I programmed from birth to well up at the sight of white-flannelled figures on village greens and the sound of leather on willow?Perhaps there are parallels to be drawn between cricket and art. Some folk get weepy at a particularly stirring piece of ballet, a rousing opera, or a Van Gogh painting. They are at a similar loss to explain why: All I know is it touches something deep inside me.Im not especially fussed about dancing, singing or painting. But I happen to have a weakness for languid cover drives, short silly mid-ons, and the irresistible allure of the lbw law.Oh, hang on - weve just lost another wicket. Has anybody got any tissues? ' ' '