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Heres what I have learned about Sarah Burke. Packers Davante Adams Black Jersey . She was a pioneer. She did things on skis that made the birds take notice. Sarah Burke was a crusader. For years she fought to get womens halfpipe recognized as a sport. She was a dreamer too. Her mom, Jan Phelan, told me that even as a little kid she wanted to ski in the Olympics. Jan still lives and makes art only a few blocks away from her daughters house in Squamish, B.C. A few weeks before the Sochi Olympics I went to meet her to talk about her daughters legacy. She told me about how when Sarah took up halfpipe as a teenager, as the only woman in the sport, she competed against men. “So she said , Okay, I will compete against the senior men. And so she came fourth, and landed the first 1080 in a competition. And so of all of these men, many of whom were on the world cup circuit, Sarah, this little kid came fourth. Isnt that something?" Thats how Sarah Burke first put womens halfpipe on the map. But she didnt stop there. Jan remembers proofreading the emails Sarah wrote when she was 14 to the X Games asking them why women couldnt compete. At events Sarah tracked down officials and demanded women be given a chance. For years she was turned down. “She would be crying in her goggles and venting her frustration and then she would say, Okay, I am going to go back and talk to them again. I could just imagine the tears filling up her goggles because she was so mad. And she had worked so hard at it.” Some super sad times I met Sarahs husband, Rory Bushfield, on his driveway. And in a matter of moments he had conviced me to put his bike in our little CBC rental car and shuttle him up a mountain so he could go for a ride. We obliged. “Its been two years since Sarah passed and I have gone through some super sad times but everything about Sarah is easy to smile about. She did it with grace, and she did it with class, pushed herself in the right places, skied half pipe like a champion, did so many first tricks for women that had never been done, you know, continued to push and continued to push.” Finally, in 2005, Sarah broke through. Her work paid off. Womens halfpipe got a spot in the world championships. Sarah won gold, and in her post-run interview she kept on pushing: “I am keeping my fingers crossed for the Olympics, we are only get better and I am hoping to get it in there.” But Sarah would never make it to the Olympics. On Jan. 19, 2012, Sarah Burke died after a crash while training in Utah. But in a way she won her fight. She got her sport into the Olympics. And so in Sochi, when the women drop into the halfpipe for the first time, Sarahs dream will have come true. Canadian slopestyle Spencer OBrien was a close friend of Burkes, and after her qualifying runs she showed me the little tape banner that still hangs on her board two years after Sarah died. Jan Phelan is making the long trip from Squamish to Sochi. She wants to stand near the halfpipe as the women compete and witness her daughters legacy. “If you had asked me, before this happened, what was the worst thing in my life would be, it would be to lose a child. To lose Sarah. I now know that there is one thing worse and that is to never have had her at all. Right. So what that tells me is to look at all these wonderful things she did accomplish and to enjoy them, let them bring you happiness.” Packers Aaron Rodgers Grey Jersey . -- The Packers have formally announced the re-signing of backup running back James Starks, keeping their formidable backfield intact. Packers Julius Peppers Elite Jersey . Of all the names out there who could realistically be dealt by Wednesdays deadline, Ryan Kesler remains No. 1 on the most desired list. And while were not sure if theyre any closer to a deal, we now have a defined price.NEW YORK -- The old guard took care of this one for the Phillies -- with both their bats and their brains. Ryan Howard had four hits, including a tiebreaking single in the ninth inning, and Jimmy Rollins homered and scored four times to lead Philadelphia past the slumping New York Mets 5-4 on Saturday night. Chase Utley drove in two runs for the Phillies, who have won the first two games of the series against their NL East foes after dropping four straight to Toronto. Rollins, Utley and Howard, the All-Star core of Phillies teams that won five straight division titles and a World Series championship from 2007-11, combined to go 9 for 12 with four RBIs. "Yeah, it felt good. It felt like old times out there," Howard said. "If we can get everybody going all at the same time, itll be a force to be reckoned with." David Wright hit his first home run since opening day, ending the longest drought of his career, and had three RBIs. But the Mets wasted another great chance to score in the late innings, losing their season-worst fifth straight and eighth in nine games. Following some confusion in the eighth, Philadelphia reliever Mike Adams (2-1) escaped a major jam by retiring pinch-hitter Bobby Abreu on a bases-loaded comebacker to keep it tied. "Obviously, I had to make him swing the bat," Adams said. "I threw a two-seamer that ran down and made him hit my pitch." With runners on second and third earlier in the inning, the Phillies held a meeting at the mound and threw an intentional ball to Eric Campbell in his second major league plate appearance. Thats when Utley and catcher Carlos Ruiz noticed the 40-year-old Abreu, cut by Philadelphia near the end of spring training, getting ready in the dugout. Utley and Ruiz persuaded Adams to go after Campbell before Abreu had a chance to bat. "We decided to change our minds," Utley said. "We saw him coming up there. We try to see everything, but we dont always." Adams said the chat pumped him up, and Utley is "always on top of it." The intentional walk was called off and Campbell eventually took strike three. "That was pretty neat to watch," Phillies manager Ryne Sandberg said. Rollins drew a two-out walk from Kyle Farnsworth (0-3) in the ninth and went to third on Utleys single. Howard followed with a line-drive single to centre. Jonathan Papelbon worked a hitless ninth for his 11th save in 12 chances. With a runner on second, he retired Wright on a foul popup to end it. A fruustrated Wright held his bat above his head most of the way back to the dugout, then lingered on an otherwise empty bench for a few minutes with the lumber still in his hand. http://www.packersstore.us.com/12-nike-elite-aaron-rodgers-womens-jersey-nfl-green-bay-packers-breast-cancer-awareness-green.html. "The frustrating part is losing," Wright said. "An inning here, an inning there is costing us multiple games over the last few weeks." After the start was delayed 39 minutes by rain, the Phillies wasted no time jumping on Dillon Gee, who had a 7.46 ERA in nine previous starts against them. Philadelphia began the game with consecutive singles and a stolen base before Utleys sacrifice fly ended Gees career-best scoreless streak at 16 innings. Domonic Brown blooped an RBI single, but Gee dodged additional damage when Cody Asche lined out with the bases loaded. Wright tied it with a two-run shot on an 0-2 pitch from Kyle Kendrick, snapping a streak of 136 at-bats without a homer since March 31 against Washington. "I dont build my game around hitting home runs, so it wasnt too much of a monkey at all," Wright said. Rollins homered off the facing of the second deck in right to put Philadelphia ahead 3-2 in the second. Kendrick retired 14 of 15 batters after Wrights long ball and took a two-hitter into the sixth, when he walked leadoff man Juan Lagares. Daniel Murphy singled and Wright plopped an RBI double into right field, just beyond a diving Marlon Byrd. Campbell, with his parents taking pictures in the stands, was sent up to pinch-hit for his big league debut. He gave the Mets a 4-3 lead with a bases-loaded sacrifice fly against lefty reliever Jake Diekman -- and was all smiles while receiving a high-five from Murphy and congratulations in the dugout. "It was a real up and down day," Campbell said. Rollins legged out an infield single in the seventh and advanced on Scott Rices wild pitch. Utley doubled off the centre-field fence to tie it at 4. NOTES: Kendrick, hurt by poor run support, is 0-8 in 14 starts since beating the Chicago Cubs on Aug. 6 last season. ... Howard is 9 for 18 against Gee with six homers and 14 RBIs. Rollins is 11 for 22. ... Ben Revere made a terrific, tumbling catch in deep centre to rob Travis dArnaud of extra bases. ... LHP Cole Hamels (0-2, 7.02 ERA) will try again for his 100th career win when he makes his fourth start of the season Sunday in the series finale against LHP Jonathon Niese (2-2, 1.82). Hamels was hit hard in a 6-1 loss to Niese at home on April 29 and is 7-14 with a 4.65 ERA in 27 starts against New York. ' ' ' |
