Thomas Godoj Thread » er. They come to us without any football boots a

NEW YORK -- Jason Collins dealt with the ticket requests, handled the media responsibilities, then moved on to what he most wants to do in the NBA. "Win basketball games," Collins said. He will get at least a few more chances. Collins played the final minutes of a winning home debut with the Brooklyn Nets, who cooled off the Chicago Bulls with a 96-80 victory Monday night. Finally playing at Barclays Center more than a week after returning to the NBA as the leagues first openly gay player, Collins checked in to a standing ovation from a sellout crowd of 17,732 that included former commissioner David Stern with 2:41 remaining. He committed a foul five seconds later, missed his only shot, grabbed a rebound and had one of the Nets NBA season high-tying 19 steals in their third straight victory. "It was cool. It was a lot of fun to go into the game," Collins said. "The most important thing was that we got the win. Chicagos been playing really well as of late and for us to come out and really be -- I think we played more physical than they did tonight." His first home game wont be his last, because the Nets plan to sign Collins to a second 10-day contract, a person with knowledge of the situation said. Collins signed his original deal on Feb. 23 and it expires Tuesday. The Nets then will re-sign him for another 10 days on Wednesday, the person told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the plans havent been made public. After that expires, the Nets would have to sign him for the rest of the season if they wanted to keep him. Collins sat at the end of the bench for most of the game while the Nets built a series of comfortable leads, making the only intrigue down the stretch whether the 12-year veteran would get in during his first home appearance for the Nets since Jan. 29, 2008, against Milwaukee in East Rutherford, N.J. A chant of "Jason Collins! Jason Collins!" broke out while Deron Williams was shooting a free throw with the Nets leading 90-73 with 3:27 remaining. Fans finally got their wish less than a minute later -- though not because coach Jason Kidd was listening to them. "No, the game was out of hand, so I wanted to get those guys some rest," Kidd said. "D-Will was shooting free throws. Couldnt put Twin in at that time, so I told him after the free throws that he would come in." Collins said before the game that he wasnt aware of any second contract, leaving those details up to his agent. Kidd said those discussions were between management and Collins agent, but said his former teammate has been "great, on and off the court." "Twin is a good friend of mine and hes a basketball player, but hes a great person and so thats why we wanted him on this team and we felt he could help us win," Kidd said, referring to Collins by the nickname he had during his original stint with the Nets from 2001-08. The Nets still practice in New Jersey even after moving to Brooklyn before last season, so thats where Collins was Sunday after the Nets got back from their road trip that ended Saturday night in Milwaukee. He spent part of the day shopping at Costco, wisely stocking up since hell be sticking around. "Its kind of funny. Yesterday on my day off Im driving around Jersey on Route 17 and bringing back a lot of memories from when I was here before," Collins said. Hes much more famous now after revealing he was gay in a Sports Illustrated article last April. He had been out of the NBA from then until signing with the Nets. Collins said he had plenty of ticket requests from family and friends for Mondays game, and also saw a number of familiar faces from the old days. The pregame news conference and the overall media attention are new, and Collins believes it wont last, but understands that for now his sexuality makes him a big story. "Over time it will go down, but as far as doing interviews and talking about it, Im getting comfortable with the microphone or the camera on me," he said. Hes more comfortable on the court, even in the limited minutes he gets. Finally finished with his lengthy list of pregame obligations, he was looking forward to helping the Nets in whatever way he could. "Now that thats all settled, Ill go out there and just try to focus as much as I can on the game," Collins said. Custom New Orleans Pelicans Jerseys . According to TSN Hockey Insider Bob McKenzie, the deal will pay Schenn $2.25 million in the first year and $2.75 million in the second year. In 82 games with the Flyers in 2013-14, Schenn scored 20 goals and added 21 assists. Jrue Holiday Pelicans Jersey . - Bryan Price sat down in the cushy chair. http://www.shoppelicansonline.com/Authen...elicans-Jersey/. Canadas 5-1 loss to Finland in the semifinal ranks as the tournaments most-watched game with a record 2.7 million viewers, the largest ever for a World Juniors game played outside of North America, and winning Saturday as the most-watched program on Canadian television. ETwaun Moore Pelicans Jersey . Sundays game against the Colorado Rapids at B.C. Place Stadium has important implications in determining Major League Soccers playoff picture and will also mark the final game in the career of veteran South Korean defender Young-Pyo Lee. Jahlil Okafor Jersey . In fact, with a few improvements, this could very well be a decent team over the next few seasons. I will go into more detail when digging into the Canucks Off-Season Game Plan, which will be coming earlier this year since they are part of the non-playoff contingent, there are some reasons to think this is a favourable situation for President of Hockey Operations Trevor Linden and whomever he selects to be the new general manager.Fletcher Moss Rangers have produced a host of Manchester United stars. So shouldnt they get help? Adam Bate talks to the clubs development officer Dave Horrocks to discuss the struggles of a grass-roots success story and an alternative vision for the future... Dave Horrocks cried tears of pride when Marcus Rashford burst onto the scene for Manchester United. The development officer at Fletcher Moss Rangers, Rashfords boyhood club, was understandably proud, but he wasnt shocked. And thats not just because of the forwards extraordinary talent. Its because Horrocks has seen it before.This one club in Didsbury has also been a home away from home for Cameron Borthwick-Jackson and Tyler Blackett. Before them there was Danny Welbeck and Wes Brown. And thats just those at Manchester United. In total, Horrocks reckons there are 73 youngsters whove been taken on by professional clubs at home and abroad. Marcus Rashford has made a big impact for Manchester United this season I dont want to sound blasé, he tells Sky Sports, but, no, Im not surprised. Im not surprised because of the talent thats out there in the big wide world. There are a lot of kids out there and because of the organisations theyre with, theyre not being put in the shop window correctly.Thats precisely what Fletcher Moss Rangers do. On the back of our signing-on forms for the parents, we have a one liner that says development is winning, he adds. We are not interested in the scores or winning games. Development is the win. While Horrocks feels the club is about far more than its stars, their recent successes speak volumes.Professional scouts have become a familiar sight at the club. Rochdale even wanted to take their entire Under-13 team after one friendly game. We played them off the park, says Horrocks. In the end there was a compromise. At the end of the season, they took six of the players - and the coach. Rashford (second from left) aged 6 with Fletcher Moss Rangers Theres a determination not to jump into bed with any one organisation for the honourable reason that all kids can be assessed fairly by everyone, but the pressures are still there. Five years ago, one Premier League club threatened to flood all of the games with scouts and take the lot anyway unless they agreed to affiliate with them. They will bully us until the FA realises that these kids come from somewhere before they get to the academies, says Horrocks. Its a recurring frustration. Heres a grass-roots coach doing a much-needed role in development but hes hardly acknowledged as being part of the process by those in power.Theres the memory of Trevor Brooking glazing over when discussing their conflicting definitions of grass roots. People who are in influential positions such as Trevor Brooking have forgotten where they came from when they were first kicking a football, he says. It worries me. I realise how English football has got itself into the state it has got itself into. Cameron Borthwick-Jackson has emerged in the United first team this season Its a disconnect thats a particularly sensitive issue right now for Fletcher Moss Rangers as they try to find the investment that will help the club to continue. After all, its not a cheap business running 20 teams and the facilities are far from ideal. At the moment our facility serves a purpose but its not fit for purpose, explains Horrocks.Its a communal changing room and from there, theres the ladies showers, the gents showers, the ladies toilets and the gents toilets. We have an adult disabled team thats men and women so that particular group of players cant get changed at the same and we cant have any children or ladies walking through to go to the toilet. Its a matter of decency.Plans are afoot but the quest for investment hasnt been easy. Its been a frightening time, he admits. When the figures came out it put the fear of God into me. I was almost in tears because I was thinking that theres no way we can do this. I felt I was banging my head against the wall because I was thinking, Where are we going to find this money? Tyler Blackett made his Premier League debut for Manchester United in 2014 Its particularly sad when Fletcher Moss is so obviously at the heart of its community. The aim is to galvanise a group of stakeholders that includes local residents and schools in order to construct some facilities that will serve a wide range of people. For Horrocks, the importance of that can hardly be overstated.Although we are in a ward that is termed an affluent area in Didsbury, so we cant get any council funding, the kids who come to us and use the facility are not from this area, he says.dddddddddddd They come from all the deprived areas of Manchester. Blackley, Chorlton, Whalley Range, Fallowfield, Moss Side, Withington, you name it and weve got them.These are often single-parent families with two or three kids who dont have two pennies to rub together. They come to us without any football boots and we have a recycling system whereby we give the kids the boots and when they grow out of them they give them us back. We are very conscious of maintaining that community identity. Danny Welbeck was an earlier example of the Fletcher Moss conveyor belt The kids pay £2 a week to train and £2 to play. But if you go up the road its different. We played a team last month and in the car park you had a Rolls Royce and a baby Bentley. At that club, those kids are paying £150 a month. And yet, I dont know of one player who has come from those clubs and gone on to be signed by a club.There are those who argue that Fletcher Moss is just a stopping point for these youngsters on their way to the big time; that their talent would emerge regardless. But engaging these children is half of the battle and the club is clearly doing something right - something that others are not.The kids who come to us have a bit more about them and are a bit hungrier to want to win, he adds. When theres a bit of talent, those things shine through. So what price can be put on the role played by the club that harnesses that talent before allowing it to flourish? Horrocks thinks its a question worth asking. RoShaun Williams could be the next former Fletcher Moss boy to star for United We are trying to open up a national debate, he says. Ive had emails from quite a lot of clubs around the country. We went up to Wallsend to meet the officials there because there are quite a lot of similarities. We know were not the only club because we know that all the players came from somewhere, so there are others in the same debate.What should be forthcoming to clubs for players going into one of the richest businesses in the world in the Premier League? One newspaper recently reported that Fletcher Moss were asking Manchester United for £2m in investment but thats a figure Horrocks rejects. What he would propose is something altogether more modest but far more widespread. Rise of Rashford How good is Marcus Rashford? We speak to former coaches to find out the full story. We are interested to know whether we could alter the FIFA solidarity rule, he says. When a player moves from one football association to another, the club that he started with is entitled to compensation. It happened with Fraser Forster. When he went from Newcastle to Celtic, Wallsend were entitled to five per cent of the fee as he was over 12 years old.This is a regulation thats been in place since academies were only taking players in at 12. Now they are taking kids as early as nine years old. We are trying to open the debate so that the rule doesnt only include transfers from outside football associations but within them. Could we get the FA and FIFA to change those regulations? We are not talking about millions of pounds but when I look and see that there are 73 players around the world that have been in our system, we wouldnt need to be asking people to sponsor our trophies. Dave Horrocks, Fletcher Moss Rangers If you were to say that a player who goes from Fletcher Moss Rangers or any other grass-roots club to an academy as a nine-year-old, in that first year, if the grass-roots club is paid £500 for arguments sake but then paid £500 for the second year and consecutive years, If he moved to another league club academy or school of excellence then they could take on that expense. It could go up to £1000 when he became a scholar and so on.By doing that, every year that he is in the system there would be a recompense. We are not talking about millions of pounds but when I look and see that there are 73 players around the world that have been in our system, we wouldnt need to be asking people to sponsor our trophies. The money would be there.The current system isnt broke. Rashfords emergence proves that. But perhaps it is flawed, particularly when a club like Fletcher Moss Rangers isnt obviously sustainable. Ive been with the club for a long time, concludes Horrocks. And I feel like someone somewhere is missing a trick. Given their development successes, its difficult to disagree. Also See: Rise of Rashford Stats LVG wont want to see ' ' '