way and they get the No. 1 pick in the draft. Former WNBA player Ruth Riley, now in

Your kids might be elite competitive athletes. Or maybe you just want them to be. They could be your average rec-league player, part of the team with their neighborhood pals. They could be a nonathlete. Regardless, the essence of sports -- for all of them -- likely emerges later this week.Someone will nominate a place and time, and everyone will convene for an impromptu (or improbably annual) touch-football game, the Turkey Bowl.Why is this moment the essence of sports for the kids (and, frankly, the adults, too)?The motivation is to have fun. Yes, even with That Parent who takes it all too seriously. Trick plays, trash talk and end zone dances are not only OK but encouraged.It is competitive, sure, but also inclusive. The best athletes on the field rarely begrudge the plays run to make sure the least-accomplished athletes on the field get a chance for Turkey glory.Three words: Two-hand touch. The risk of injury is always there (especially with the adults -- watch those hamstrings, friends!), but it is incidental, rather than built into the game.The rules are ... the rules. Thanksgiving football might be universally appealing, but the real joy is in the customization on every field, backyard and street in the country. And, mostly, the rules are constructed to boost the friendly nature of the game. (See the terrific series by the Wall Street Journals Jason Gay.) Beyond an essential friendliness, improvisation and innovation are great lessons for the younger players.Play for the sake of play. No scholarship on the line. No AAU tournament trophy. No all-star status. No tryouts or cuts. Aside from That Parent, no one really remembers the outcome. (A wacky or what-a-play! moment? Absolutely -- and hopefully!) The bragging rights extend through the weekend -- maybe to the following years game -- but thats as far as it goes.There is a reason your kids look forward to that Thanksgiving touch-football game, and it has very little to do with the reasons you dwell on their sports career throughout the rest of the year. Intensity over your kids youth sports career is your prerogative, of course. But dont forget to enjoy -- and let the kids enjoy -- the unfettered fun of the annual Thanksgiving game this week.In that vein, here are a few other things Im thankful for this year:Volunteer coaches, always.The epiphany of my kids team getting obliterated.Jessie Graff and American Ninja Warrior.My 7-year-old picking Villanova on his bracket. Sigh.Layup-line music for 10-year-olds. (2017 sneak peek: Juju On That Beat, obvs.)Camp Dad.Letting your kid pick their own sports heroes. (Or, at the very least, nudging them toward sports heroes who arent necessarily on the field.)Aly Raismans parents, and all parents of Olympians.The brief, brilliant moment of the ultimate Daaad shoe -- those Curry 2s.As a sports-focused parent, what are you thankful for this year? Join me in a conversation, and add your ideas at espnWs Facebook page.Replica Shoes 2019 .com) - Richie Incognito has reportedly been admitted to a psychiatric care unit in Arizona. Fake Shoes . Anthony Calvillo, through 20 CFL seasons, was frequently invincible and largely stoic in the heat of competition. But underneath the professional exterior he was, and is, compellingly human. http://www.fakeshoesforsale.com/ . LUCIE, Fla. Fake Nike Shoes . The (11-11-4) Jets are seventh in the Central Division with 26 points. Fifth place Dallas and sixth-seeded Nashville also have 26 points, but the Stars have three games in hand on Winnipeg while Nashville has two. Fake Shoes From China . He was followed closely by David Clarkson, donning red, seconds later. Clarksons actions one night earlier, leaping off the bench in defence of Kessel during a pre-season game against the Buffalo Sabres, will cost him the first 10 games of the regular season.The Wings face the Stars in San Antonio on Friday, which theoretically could be -- someday -- a very compelling matchup. But it wont be this week, as these are the bottom two teams in the WNBA standings.San Antonio (6-23) is already eliminated from the postseason. Dallas (9-21) is on the cusp of elimination and has lost 11 consecutive games; the Wings last victory came July 5.But if these two teams, which are 4?-hours drive apart, were ever to be competitive at the same time, that could be a lot of fun, right?Admittedly, that scenario seems distant now. But consider this: If someone had told you in 2009 that Minnesota was just two years away from being a franchise that would go on a stretch of winning three of five WNBA titles (and counting), would you have believed it?The Lynx hit the mega-jackpot with Maya Moore as the No. 1 draft pick in 2011. But Minnesota also had hired coach Cheryl Reeve in 2010 and has continued to make astute personnel decisions to be able to become a consistent powerhouse.So there is always hope that if enough of the right decisions are made, and a little luck occurs, a franchise can turn itself around. In the case of the Wings and Stars -- who face some of the same challenges, but also very different ones -- mutual success could help the development of another WNBA rivalry. And every league needs rivalries.New York and Connecticut are the WNBA franchises located closest to each other, but Dallas and San Antonio are the only league teams to share the same state.Albeit a humongous state. Texas was home to the first dominant WNBA franchise; the Houston Comets won four titles, and one of their top players, Sheryl Swoopes, is being inducted into the Naisimith Hall of Fame this weekend.But with the country in the midst of an economic crisis in 2008, the Comets were among the casualties. A year later, so were the Detroit Shock. They became the Tulsa Shock in 2010, and now are the Wings in their first season in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, playing their games in Arlington.Dallas coach Fred Williams, who has decades of experience in womens basketball, has been happy with how the community has responded in the Wing first season in Texas.Everyone here from a fan standpoint has been very supportive; theyve embraced us well, Williams said. It just takes a little while for that to set in and spread.Williams took over coaching in Tulsa in 2014, and last season, the franchise made its first playoff appearance since leaving Detroit. Hopes were relatively high the Wings could follow up with another postseason trip in their first year in Texas. But Dallas hit a rough patch early in the season, losing six in a row, and then again in July. That skid is on-going.For us, when it gets down to that one key basket or free throw or rebound, we havent gotten it, Williams said. Its been different scenarios in games. We have a young team and weve just got to continue to work hard.Good fortune has not been on the Wings side, and it wasnt when the team was in Tulsa, either. Going back to that 2011 draft, when Minnesota got Moore at No. 1 and Tulsa took Liz Cambage at No. 2, a bit of a Murphys law cloud has hung over the franchise.Last year, the team lost guard Skylar Diggins after nine games to an ACL injury. This year, she has averaged 12.9 points in 23 games. She had one of her better games of the season Sept. 4 against Washington with 25 points and four assists.Right now, Id say shes about 95 percent physically, Williams said of Diggins. But mentally shes 100 percent -- shes a competitor whos going to play hard and wants this team to get better.Now, though, the Wings have lost forward Glory Johnson for the rest of the season to a knee injury. Johnson, who missed llast season while she was pregnant, averaged 11.dddddddddddd3 points and a team-high 8.9 rebounds in 18 games this year.Odyssey Sims (14.7 PPG) leads the Wings in scoring. Plenette Pierson (12.3), Karima Christmas (12.2) and rookie Aerial Powers (10.2) are also averaging in double figures. Dallas 83.3 PPG average is good for fifth-best in the league.But defense is the big problem: The Wings allow the most points of any WNBA team -- 88.2 -- and losing Johnson might make that even worse.So the Wings know what areas they will need to improve for next year on the court. There does seem to be positive momentum, though, in regard to off the court. Mary OConnor was hired as Wings president in July, and she sounds optimistic about continuing to raise brand awareness of the team.I believe there is a playing season and a planning season, said OConnor, who has worked in sports marketing in the Dallas area for many years. In the planning season, we will be working a lot in the community figuring out where we can have the greatest impact.And then how does that align with what our players passions are, so we can help them build their identity in the community. We want a team of players who feel at home in DFW and who can make a difference here.The Wings play at 7,000-seat College Park Center on the campus of UT Arlington. Its a good size building for a WNBA team, and OConnor believes its a realistic goal for the Wings to regularly sell out games.San Antonio, by contrast, plays in the cavernous AT&T Center, and the Stars have had plenty of time to become known in the community. Theyve been in San Antonio since relocating there in 2003 from Utah. However, other than Becky Hammon -- now an assistant coach with the NBAs Spurs -- the Stars really havent had a star.San Antonios best showing was in 2008, when the Stars advanced to the WNBA Finals in a very exciting series with Los Angeles.But San Antonio hasnt won a playoff series since then, getting swept by Detroit in the WNBA Finals, and then losing in the conference semifinals in 2009, 10, 11, 12 and 14. This is the second year in a row the Stars have missed the postseason.They got the No. 2 selection in the 2016 draft, and took UConn guard Moriah Jefferson, who is averaging 12.6 points and 4.0 assists as a rookie. San Antonios biggest struggle is scoring: The Stars are, by a wide margin, the most anemic offense in the league, averaging just 72 PPG. (The next-lowest average is Indianas 79.9.)Injuries are one reason for the Stars offensive woes. Guard Danielle Robinson had to sit out this season with an Achilles injury. Then the Stars lost their leading scorer, guard Kayla McBride, to a fractured right foot in July. She was averaging 17.1 PPG through 17 games.So the Stars have to heal and make some personnel moves for 2017, along with hoping the lottery goes their way and they get the No. 1 pick in the draft. Former WNBA player Ruth Riley, now in her first season as San Antonios general manager, is primarily responsible for changing the Stars fortunes. Shell have to bring in a new coach, as Dan Hughes will step down at seasons end.Riley knows what she has in terms of promising young players, but shes also aware that the Stars just dont have enough talent right now.Moriah has shown herself to be an incredible leader and has made the transition from the college game to the pro game at a really high level, Riley said. Putting more pieces together and getting healthy is going to be key.Thankfully, were going to have the ability to get some players because we have cap space, and we will have a high draft pick.Cheap Jerseys China NFL Jerseys Wholesale Baseball Jerseys ' ' '