of the better fielders and offer an option with the gloves as well. Im tr

Former NFL head coach and influential defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan died Tuesday. He was 85.Ryan, who was outspoken and coached in the NFL for 26 seasons, was known for?building some of footballs top defenses with a relentlessness that focused on creating havoc on the field.He was many things to many people -- outstanding coach, mentor, fierce competitor, father figure, faithful friend and the list goes on, his son, Buffalo Bills?coach Rex Ryan, said Tuesday in a statement. But to me and my brothers Rob and Jim, he was so much more. He was everything you want in a dad -- tough when he had to be, compassionate when you didnt necessarily expect it, and a loving teacher and confidant who cherished his family. He truly was our hero.James Solano, Buddy Ryans agent, said he died in Kentucky, where he lived on a ranch in Shelbyville, but did not give a cause.?Funeral services are scheduled for Friday in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky.I wonder who just lost their defensive-coordinating job in heaven, former?Chicago Bears?defensive tackle Steve?McMichael told ESPN on Tuesday.James David Ryan was a Korean War veteran who went to Oklahoma State, then got a masters degree from Middle Tennessee State even while coaching. He got his first major job in the pros in New York, then of the American Football League, in 1968. Ryan was the linebackers coach for the Joe Namath-led Jets, a boastful, confident team that fit his personality.Those Jets led the AFL in defense in his first season on staff, then shocked the Colts in the Super Bowl 16-7.Thats something my dad was very proud of, said Rex Ryan, who is entering his second season as the Bills head coach. When [former Jets coach Weeb] Ewbank hired him, he had to make a difference. If he felt he wasnt making a difference, then his career as a professional coach would be short.Buddy Ryans first job as a defensive coordinator came in 1976 with the Minnesota Vikings under Bud Grant, like Ewbank a Hall of Fame coach. He spent two years there before moving to the rival Bears, where he concocted the 46 defense that overwhelmed the league with its aggressiveness and unpredictability.With the Bears, Ryans renown skyrocketed. The 46 defense was founded on sending more blitzing players than an offense could block. And in 1984, the Bears tallied 72 sacks, a record that still stands. The 85 Bears capped their Super Bowl title with seven sacks.Ryans defenders, featuring such Hall of Famers as linebacker Mike Singletary and ends Dan Hampton and Richard Dent, came from all angles and were nearly impossible to budge on the ground -- not that teams had more success in the air, either.Some say the 46 is just an eight-man front, said Buddy Ryan, who named the scheme after safety Doug Plank, who wore that number. Thats like saying Marilyn Monroe is just a girl.Carolina Panthers coach Ron Rivera, a member of the 85 Bears, tweeted his condolences.Ryan and head coach Mike Ditka often feuded during that 15-1 85 season and Super Bowl run. They nearly slugged it out at halftime of Chicagos only defeat, at Miami on a Monday night in December. (Ryan later punched offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride on national TV on Jan. 2, 1994, when both were assistant coaches with the Houston Oilers.)We won a Super Bowl together, and we would have never did it without each other, Ditka told SportsCenter on Tuesday. Buddy was far before his time, really. He did things defensively that people had no concept of. It took a long time for people to figure out what to do against his defense, not that they ever figured it out.What Buddy did was genius. He was way ahead of his time.At a meeting the night before the Bears beat New England in Super Bowl XX, Dent said a teary Ryan informed his players that he was leaving to coach in Philadelphia: You guys are going to be my champions. Lets kick some tail, Ryan said.Hampton then kicked a film projector out of defensive line coach Dale Haupts hands, and McMichael flung a chair across the room, its legs impaling a chalkboard.After the game, Ryan was carried off the field next to Ditka.He was a hell of a coach. Period, Ditka said. And his players loved him. Theres not much more you can ask than that. I dont profess to be a hell of a coach, and I know what my players think about me, so he had one over on me, thats for sure.Said McMichael: People ask all the time, Why didnt you guys win another Super Bowl? Well, Buddy Ryan went to Philadelphia. Period. Doesnt anybody understand that? That was the first tooth being pulled out of the snarl.Such was the devotion that players felt for Ryan, who guided the Eagles to the playoffs in 1988, 89 and 90. But they lost all three playoff games, and he was fired after the 1990 season by Eagles owner Norman Braman despite a 43-35-1 record.Earlier that season, Ryan bragged that his Eagles would so badly beat up the Washington Redskins in a Monday night game that theyll have to be carted off in body bags. The Eagles defense scored three touchdowns in a 28-14 win and knocked nine Redskins, including two quarterbacks, out of the game.Its a tough, physical, rough game, said ESPNs Mike Golic, who played for Ryan with the Eagles. And Buddy epitomized that style of play more than any other coach I had at any level. ... He wanted the results, and he put you in position to make plays.You loved playing for him because he coached the way you wanted to play the game: attack mode. Attack, attack, attack. And if you dont think were attacking much now, just wait and were going to attack even more. Oh wait, you dont think were blitzing enough, were going to blitz more. Were going to hit you in the mouth. Were going to knock you down. Theyre going to have to carry you off the field. That was his mentality, and thats what you kind of absorbed as a player.A year earlier, Philadelphia routed the Dallas Cowboys 27-0 on Thanksgiving Day with hardly any holiday feelings in the air. Cowboys kicker Luis Zendejas said Ryan put a $200 bounty on him, something Ryan laughed off as ridiculous.Buddy Ryan was arguably one of the greatest defensive masterminds in NFL history and forever left his mark on the Eagles organization and the city of Philadelphia, Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie said in a statement.Arizona hired Ryan as head coach in 1994, and the Cardinals went 12-20 in his two years there. He never coached again, letting twin sons Rex and Rob carry on the family legacy.For Rob and me, weve had the great fortune of sharing the coaching profession that he was so proud of and cherished so much, Rex Ryan said. There is no way we can possibly begin to measure how much football we have learned from him over the years and we are forever thankful to him for instilling within us his unwavering love for the game of football.While today is a tough day for all of us in the Ryan family, we are consoled in knowing how much dad was loved by so many and the love he gave back in return. Though we will miss him dearly, we take comfort in knowing that his memory will live on through all of us.Buddy Ryan, suffering from the aftermath of a devastating stroke and battling cancer and confined to a wheelchair, attended a Bills game last season.He began his 33-year coaching career in 1961 as a defensive line coach with the University of Buffalo.Buddy Ryan was the architect of the greatest defense our league has seen, Bears chairman George H. McCaskey said in a statement. He was brilliant when it came to the Xs and Os of the game, but what made him special was his ability to create an unwavering confidence in the players he coached. From the day he was hired in 1978, his defenses bought into more than the scheme, they bought into him and took on his personality.Buddy was brash, intelligent and tough. He was a perfect match for our city and team. ... He is one of the teams all-time greats. Our prayers are with his family.ESPN Staff Writers Mike Rodak, Jeff Dickerson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.Vans Scarpe Prezzo Basso . PAUL, Minn. Vans Scarpe Uomo Scontate .J. -- Pitcher Carl Pavano is retiring after 14 major league seasons. http://www.vansscarpescontate.it/ . Now, with Game 6 set for Fenway Park and an 8:07 p.m. ET first pitch, the Detroit Tigers face the unenviable task of having to beat the Boston Red Sox twice, on the road, to advance to the World Series. Vans Outlet Italia . On Tuesday, Ottawa placed forward Cory Conacher and defenceman Joe Corvo on waivers as trade rumours swirl around the Senators. Vans Italia Scarpe . To the surprise of many, it isnt the Wolverines but their in-state rivals the Michigan State Spartans.Bold, brash and unashamedly modern, Kent keeper-batsman Sam Billings embodies the new way for English cricketers. He speaks about his determination to make an England ODI spot his own, the IPL experience and where cricket goes next. Why limit what you can do? he says.Its four years since Billings announced himself by scoring a run-a-ball half-century in a televised one-day match for Kent against Warwickshire. His dexterity and range of strokes led Michael Atherton to tip him as an international player in the making, the former England skipper even suggesting the selectors should chance their arm and pick him immediately. While his Kent teammates Sam Northeast and Daniel Bell-Drummond had been identified as prodigious talents at an early age, Billings had seemingly come from nowhere.Im a late developer, Billings tells AOC as we sit in the sunshine outside the Lime Tree Café at the pretty St Lawrence Ground in Canterbury. Rob Key said to me the other day when we were playing golf: You were rubbish as a kid! Everyone knew about DBD [Bell-Drummond], everyone knew about Sam Northeast, and I was just this wiry little kid who turned up to practice and asked for a hit at the end of the day. He tells the story of when I went to Antigua on pre-season with the first-team squad. We had a practice game, Charlie Shreck was bowling bumpers at me and I smacked a fifty and all of a sudden Keysy said he realised there was something to work with.Billings had to bide his time though, and when no offer of a professional contract was forthcoming, he decided his best chance was through the MCC University system at Loughborough. He describes it as the best thing hes ever done.Growing up I was definitely a keeper first and a batter second. Id kept for England all the way through the age groups - Jos [Buttler] played as a batter - but I wasnt good enough to get a full county contract when I finished school. During my first year at Loughborough we had a camp for the England under 19s. All the boys were staying in the ECB lodges and I just stayed in my halls. I was one of only a few that didnt have a contract and I felt a bit on the periphery. It was only at Loughborough that I got an opportunity at the top of the order. My [first-class] debut was against Northants at Loughborough and I got a hundred, so Kent then knew I was good enough to play at this level.A year later Billings was established in Kents limited-overs teams and he followed that eye-catching performance in front of the Sky cameras by smashing 143 from 113 deliveries against Derbyshire - the highest one-day score by a Kent batsman at Canterbury. In the time since he has developed a reputation as one of the cleanest and most innovative ball-strikers in the English game and he made his ODI and T20I debuts in 2015. He also took part in the inaugural Pakistan Super League earlier this year, turning out for tournament winners Islamabad United, before representing Delhi Daredevils at the IPL.I just saw it as a huge opportunity, he says of his decision to put himself forward for the IPL auction. Andrew Strauss has encouraged as many of us as possible to go and play in franchise tournaments around the world. He sees it as an opportunity to improve as individuals and in the long run thats going to benefit English cricket as well. Even when youre not playing you learn just as much as when you are. Youve just got to soak it all up because it is a different world out there.I was actually na?ve going into it because I thought it was just cricket, there was training and you got plenty of time in between games. But there was something on every day! If youre not training youre doing photoshoots, youre singing in adverts, youre doing all sorts for the sponsors. I was quite lucky actually. They wanted the big guys faces on adverts and we had Brathwaite, Morris, Zaheer Khan, JP Duminy, Quinton de Kock. They didnt have a clue who I was! They thought I was the physio.Billings had made his peace with the fact that in such a star-studded roster he might not get a game but midway through the tournament he got his opportunity against Kolkata Knight Riders. I was so nervous! The boys were taking the mickey out of me in the team meeting. Im sitting next to the big man, Carlos Brathwaite, and when my names read out all the lads started clapping, and then Carlos looked at me and burst out laughing. I had these massive sweat patches, just from the nerves. I was wearing a grey t-shirt - not a good option! He found it hilarious. It was only because you care so much and youre wanting to show the world what you can do. I think thats how youve got to look at it: its a great opportunity as opposed to shying away from it.The nerves didnt show as Billings scored 54 from 34 balls in a Delhi victory. He followed that with a quick-fire 24 in his next innings and finished the campaign with five matches under his belt. Hopefully if I get retained next year people now know what I can do. Theres not much more I could have done. It was a sensational, surreal experience. It was as much a life experience as a cricketing experience.So should we be trying to replicate that experience in England with our own city-based franchise model? Franchise cricket was fantastic but its a different beast over here, says Billings. Youve got the county system, which is so entrenched. The main thing from a players point of view is that we have to play T20 in a block. Weve had two spells this season where weve played six days out of eight in three different formats. Thats not good for us as players: trying to survive in red-ball cricket and then having to try and whack it out of the park on a Friday evening. As players we dont know whats going on. We just load our cars up and have all the kit there in case its T20 or whatever! But also as a fan, its so hard to track a competition or team, or how a particular players going.Billings isnt afraid to speak his mind on a number of subjects and admits he was bitterly disappointed to miss out on Englands ODI squad for the recent series against Sri Lanka. He was selected for the one-off T20I but feels ready for a run in the 50-over team and the stats bear that out.To be totally hoonest I was disappointed not to be in the ODI squad, he says.ddddddddddddAfter James Taylor was unfortunately forced to retire due to his health issues and then Ben Stokes was out injured I thought I might get a go in that middle order. But I think its a great strength of English cricket at the moment that weve got so many decent players and Ive just got to keep scoring runs. Ive topped the averages in List A cricket for the last two years, at a strike-rate of 140, average of 86 - as long as I keep doing that then hopefully that spot becomes my own.List A cricket is definitely my strongest format, simply because Ive played so much of it from a young age. Where I bat in T20, its so volatile as well. Its the strike-rate thats the key thing as opposed to the average. For England I just hope that I get a good stint at it. In that Pakistan series [last November] I got a fifty off 23 balls, the quickest fifty from an Englishman in an international T20. If I get a good run at it, Im sure that given a bit of time I can really go on and produce. J-Roy [Jason Roy] has had a good run at it and now hes starting to show how good he is. And Im so happy for him because he is that good. Youre not going to whack it out of the park every day straight away but given time I think you can definitely bed in, for sure.****Its a sign of the times that 40 minutes into our interview, were yet to discuss Billings red-ball cricket. Hes only played 40 first-class matches in his career so far and, remarkably, just two in the last 11 months. Hes batted once in that time.Young cricketers coming through in this country still generally proclaim Test cricket to be the pinnacle, almost as a reflex. But in the case of a player such as Billings, whose career thus far has been so focused on, and defined by, white-ball cricket, can that really still hold true?Theres something special about a Lords Test match. That is the purest form of cricket. But I think were very lucky to have a sport which has three formats that are so different. Theres not one thats more important than the other. Thats quite important I think. If you see it from my perspective, dont get me wrong I would love to play a Test match - putting on that blue Three Lions cap and walking out for a Test match would just be unbelievable - but its just different. I feel so far away from Test cricket because I just havent played enough four-day cricket in the last year. Its frustrating because I would love to play it, but its just finding a balance. Red ball and white ball cricket are two different games nowadays and people have got to realise that. Its just the way it is.Billings talks with real passion about the games future and given the opportunities available to him, its easy to see why. I think the games moving forward quicker than it ever has done, he says. The face of cricket is changing all around the world with different competitions popping up everywhere. Weve just got to keep growing the game.I think that ODI series against New Zealand [last summer] was actually one of the best, not only for the England team but for the whole cricket world because it had two teams just going out there without a care in the world. In the deciding ODI, Morgs [Eoin Morgan] came in against the left-arm spinner and tried to take him down. Thats the way you have to play nowadays, because 300s not good enough. Its that mindset of taking it on, whether its first ball or last ball: have no regrets and go with the flow. See 400 as a realistic option. It sounds ridiculous, but it is. The last 20 overs, you can get 200. Why not? And then youve 30 overs before that. I reckon we will see 500 one day. I should have brought one of my bats down. It is ridiculous. Its actually absurd. They are unbelievable but the game moves forward. Its going to push the standard higher. Batsmen are now paddle-sweeping fast bowlers. Why limit what you can do? Weve got one of the best bowlers in the world here [at Kent] in [Kagiso] Rabada, who for a 21-year-old is just phenomenal with the skills hes got. Hes come up with ways to combat a batsman. You have to. It will have that knock-on effect where the bowlers will catch up again.Gareth Andrew [the Hampshire allrounder] has a brilliant thing where he has the ball in his left hand while running up to bowl and as hes getting into his delivery stride he chucks the ball up with his left hand and catches it with his right. As a batter youre like: Whats he done? Why limit that? Thats great for the game. Gone are the days where you set a field and everyone knows where youre going to bowl. If youve got the field set for a yorker youre going to double bluff and hit the bloke on the head. If he top-edges it for four or six over third-man, then thats the game. Batsmen gamble, and bowlers have got to gamble as well now.****Billings immediate focus is on winning back a place in Englands ODI squad for the forthcoming series against Pakistan and cementing his spot in the T20 side. Hes going the right way about it. Given the plum role of No.4 for the England Lions one-day tri-series, he followed up a 34-ball 68 in a victory over Sri Lanka A with a career-best 175 against Pakistan A - 139 balls, 21 fours, four sixes (one of those a pull over mid-wicket from a left-handed stance). It was a role that Billings had discussed with England Lions batting coach Graham Thorpe during the winter tour of South Africa. Thorpey said they wanted me to bat four because if you have that adaptability where you can bat anywhere in the top six or seven, then as a coach or selector it gives you so much more, especially if you can hopefully be one of the better fielders and offer an option with the gloves as well. Im trying to offer as much as I can to the team in different situations.Its an offer that Englands 50-over team can surely not turn down for much longer. After years of inertia, England have finally woken up to whats possible in white-ball cricket. Billings has the skill and tenacity to help them achieve it.This article first appeared in All Out Cricket magazine. ' ' '