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PITTSBURGH -- People would come up to him at the grocery store or at restaurants or on campus or in class. Were praying for you! they would say. They reached him on social media with the hashtag #ConnerStrong. Or through the mail. Pitt fans, football players from across the country, admirers, coaches, everyday folks who never watch football, cancer survivors -- thousands reached out to a running back from Erie, Pennsylvania, to tell him to fight. To let him know they believed he would win. That people he never even thought about are praying for him. That he inspired them. That he would absolutely live to play football again.They entrusted him with their stories, telling him about their children who survived cancer or about their own cancer triumphs. They entrusted him with the most personal details of their lives, hoping the words they put to paper would be enough to lift his spirits, to give him hope and light and love.James Conner quickly learned cancer, and all its ugliness, has this way of drawing people in, more than any touchdown run or fingertip catch or last-second score.When he announced he had Hodgkin lymphoma in December, Conner looked into a camera and said plainly, Fear is a choice. I choose not to fear cancer. The letters soon started to arrive in bunches. Conner would have a new batch waiting in his locker every day for months. Others came to his apartment or his home in Erie. In low moments, he would head for the boxes and read a few just because.To see everybody reaching out, it puts you in better spirits, Conner said now. It lets you know people care.Conner completed 12 rounds of chemotherapy over six months, while keeping a rigorous workout schedule -- all with one goal in mind: playing again when the season began. Now cancer-free and completely healthy, he made his triumphant return to the football field on Saturday against Villanova, scoring two touchdowns in a 28-7 win.He carried the words in those letters with him, with every step, every run, every smile.Conner first met Millcreek Township School District superintendent Bill Hall as a running back and defensive end at McDowell High in Erie. Since then, Hall and others in town have followed Conners career closely -- especially after the hometown star won ACC Player of the Year honors in 2014.When Conner was diagnosed with cancer, Hall described the moment in Erie as very deflating. It was like we all got punched in the stomach. Though the two knew each other only casually, Hall felt he had to do something to help.So he decided to share personal details about his own cancer fight, how he was diagnosed with acute promyelocytic leukemia and had three life-threatening complications during his treatments.During my darkest times in the hospital -- and they were pretty dark -- I always prayed and thanked God for giving me the cancer, and not having it happen to one of my loved ones, Hall wrote in his letter to Conner. Its Gods test for us, and He knows we can handle it. You have a unique and awesome opportunity that only comes around once in a long while. And, it only comes to a very select group of people.Conner read the words and could not believe somebody he knew had fought through so much adversity. Those words took on greater meaning, especially when Conner began to see what an impact he was making on others going through a similar situation.He and Hall met with each other over the summer. Hall gave him a big hug then took him through a tour of the schools renovated athletic facilities. On the way, they talked about their experiences fighting cancerI tell people a lot of times, my cancer was one of the best things that ever happened to me, Hall said. You come out of it on the other side with a whole different perspective on everything. Its therapeutic for me to share my story. It was an easy thing for me to sit down and pound something out for him, to let him know from a local basis hes got the support and love, and hes going to be fine.Teresa Winslow looked out at her eighth-grade homeroom class at Wissahickon Middle School in Philadelphia and explained what had happened to Conner. Her son, Ryan, is a punter on the Pitt football team and like everybody around Conner, was devastated. What can we do? she asked her class.?They suggested they find a big piece of paper and write encouraging messages to him each month. When Winslow delivered the first positive news Conner got from the doctor, she said her students jumped out of their seats, screaming, This is awesome! The school television station even kept students updated during morning announcements.Needless to say, Im a real believer in really positive thoughts and vibes and giving positive energy toward others, Winslow said.What surprised her the most was the impact the decision to stay in touch with Conner had on the students. She shared Conners story with all 120 of her students., many of whom would stop by her classroom randomly to simply ask how James was doing.It tapped into a lot of kids struggling, Winslow said. James has been an inspiration to a lot of the kids in my school, just the strength alone to see him, this massive kid, run like he did and be so powerful on the field and have to go through this. I think it really grew a lot of empathy. I know it did in my homeroom. They listened intently whenever we spoke about James. A lot of kids in this world dont grow up with a sense of empathy and compassion, so I think it drew out a lot of really good qualities in my students.I really dont know the hearts and minds that it touched totally but Im sure it was a ripple effect. When you throw a pebble in the water and something happens it ripples out. I think James will probably never know how many people he inspired.Danielle OBanion was in the middle of coaching the Kent State womens basketball team when Conner was diagnosed with cancer. OBanion coached during the 2014-15 season while undergoing her own chemotherapy treatments, deciding to keep living her life without major interruption -- the way Conner did. She did not miss one game.When she heard the news about Conners cancer, OBanion flashed back to her own diagnosis. The morning after her diagnosis was announced, OBanion walked into her CrossFit gym and had a care package waiting for her. Another gym member, whom she had met once, had left it -- along with a letter detailing her own fight with breast cancer. The package had all kinds of assorted items the woman thought would help OBanion during her treatments.OBanion had never met Conner, but she felt compelled to write and pay it forward, for all the people who gave her love, support, letters and hope.One of the things that is helpful to people when you first find out is hearing about how people are on the other side of it, and how people are continuing to live their lives even during the treatment, OBanion said. When youre facing that type of situation, you have two choices: You can sit in your room in the dark and cry, or you can roll up your sleeves and get after it. Holding onto the routine was so important to me, because you didnt want people to look at you as if you were a walking dead person. James has set the most amazing example of that.OBanion is now an assistant coach at Memphis but has followed every step of Conners journey. She has a new favorite football player for life.Conner got one scholarship offer to a Power 5 school, and that was from then-Pitt head coach Paul Chryst. His staff had a connection to McDowell High, and coach Mark Soboleski talked them into watching tape of Conner. Once they did, they knew they had to have him in their 2013 signing class.When Conner arrived, he bonded with other freshmen student-athletes who were new to Pitt. One of them was JoJo Chryst, his head coachs daughter and a defender on the Pitt soccer team. Every time he saw her, he gave her a bear hug. And his laugh? You could hear it throughout the dorm, JoJo said. Conner rushed for 1,765 yards and 26 touchdowns in 2014 under Chryst. But after the regular season ended, Chryst announced he would leave for Wisconsin. JoJo decided to stay in school at Pitt, but would no longer play soccer.Though she and Conner lost touch, the news of his diagnosis hit her and the Chryst family hard. She decided to sit down and send him a card, hoping he would read the words and know how much he meant to her family.James was part of my dads first recruiting class that was completely his own. These were his first kids, and I know he felt bad leaving them, JoJo said. I just hated to see James struggling because he was always so happy. I wanted to reach out to him. I knew I could take 10 minutes out of my day to write him a letter. I was at the point where it was like anything I can do to give a little hope.Five years ago, JoAnne and Tom Gates learned their youngest daughter, Andrea, had cancer. Andrea never pitied herself, but it was easy to get down sometimes. One of the biggest boosts she got was reading all the cards and letters that came to her. Every day, Andrea would run out to the mailbox like it was her birthday to see whether she got a new batch.So when Conner announced his diagnosis, it hit a soft spot with JoAnne. She and her husband graduated from Pitt. So did Andrea. They live in Pittsburgh and bleed blue and gold. Though nobody in the Gates family had ever met Conner, JoAnne knew what she had to do to help.She had to write. Then she got on the Pitt message boards and encouraged fans to send him cards and letters. Not just once -- as many times as they could.Those cards were so important, JoAnne said. When youre not in that situation, you dont think about it, and when you see what it does for someone, it gives them hope at a time when they just dont know whether theyre going to live or die.Cancer can be very lonely. Its kind of like you are alone on a lifeboat, not knowing if you will be rescued. While you are on this lifeboat you are forced to watch the rest of the world proceeding as usual. You watch your friends get married, have children, play football and you are helpless to do anything but wait and pray. The cards and letters are sort of a lifeline encouraging you that you will be rescued and able to enjoy a normal, beautiful life one day.Andrea is cancer free.When Conner takes the field Saturday against Penn State, he will hear from 60,000 fans still marveling at his comeback -- and pinning their hopes for a win over a bitter rival right on him.These letters are still with him, some in boxes in his apartment, others in boxes in Erie. He saved every envelope because one day, he plans on sitting down and writing to every single person who wrote him and encouraged him and prayed for him.He hopes all those friends and strangers get as much out of his letter as he got out of theirs. Fake NBA Jerseys China . 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James Veaudry Pembroke, ON -- Hey Kerry, Youll get a lot of these, but why was the Montreal goal against Nashville Saturday night overturned? Eller puts the puck on net and the on ice ruling from the ref behind the net is a Montreal goal. Cheap Fake NBA Jerseys . Patrice Bergeron and Daniel Paille scored 20 seconds apart a few minutes after Stamkos was taken off the ice on a stretcher with a broken right leg, and the Bruins beat the Lightning 3-0 on Monday afternoon. Fake NBA Jerseys 2019 . JOHNS, N. Four Lions tours as head coach, a Grand Slam with Scotland and a Heineken Cup with Wasps. It is little wonder that when we think of Sir Ian McGeechan, who turns 70 on Oct. 30th, the word that immediately comes to mind is coach.But it also makes it rather too easy to forget his achievements as a player. Had he done nothing more in the game after hanging up his boots in 1979, he would still be worthy of note.Rankings of 42nd in John Griffiths listing of Scotlands best 50, compiled in 2003, and 29th in the Heralds top 50 last year might seem modest, until you consider that Griffiths was picking from 970 men who had played from Scotland before the summer of 2003, and the Heralds experts had close on another 100 to consider. If any international rugby is an elite performer, somebody who rates in the top three to five per cent belongs to an elite within an elite. Among Scotlands centres the Herald rated only Scott Hastings, Jim Renwick and Phil MacPherson higher.His talents were not of the sort which grab attention and propel players into selection at an early age. Born and educated in Leeds, and playing his rugby for Headingley and Yorkshire, he was noticed by Englands selectors before Scotlands, turning down an England trial invitation in 1967 because he saw himself as a Scot.The Scottish trial came a year later, but it took four more years and -- as he put it with characteristically wry humour -- two retirements and four injuries before the call came to play against the All Blacks in 1972. Chris Rea, a clubmate at Headingley, was reported to have judged him no more than a good club player, while one particularly hidebound member of the Scottish press pack, evidently ignorant of a long history of borrowing from many parts of the rugby world, persistently questioned his eligibility.His first caps were won at outside-half and he expected to lose his place when first choice Colin Telfer returned from injury. Instead he was moved to centre, which as he has recalled, was an immense boost to his confidence: I realised they wanted to keep me.And with good reason. Scotlands selectors also recognised him as one of those unflashy performers who brings the best out of the players around him.John Griffiths describes him as solid in defence, clever in attack and always aware, a player who knew his role and played it to perfection. That he arrived in the Scotland team at the same time as brilliant full-back Andy Irvine was excellent news on several levels -- not least, as McGeechan dryly noted, that many observers tended to assume that they were the same age, knocking five years off him. As Nick Oswald has pointed out, he was the quietly effective balance creating the opportunity for Irvines devastating running abilities.While he moved between his two positions, he was never dropped by Scotland, playing his final season as captain in 1979 and ending with 32 caps. There were no trophies -- though hard to beat at Murrayfield, Scotland were poor travellers in the 1970s -- and no tries. He sees 1973 and in particular 1975 as years in which Triple Crowns got away, and has pointed out that I would like to think that I made between eight and ten scoring passes, which is what I felt my game was about. But he did drop seven goals for Scotland, generally against the best opposition -- there were two against the All Blacks and two more against Wales, the dominant European team of the era, as well as one against France on his Five Nations debut.And like many good players in less powerful Home Nations teams, he blossomed as a Lion, going to South Africa in 1974 and New Zealand in 1977 and playing in all eight test matches, all but one as a starter at centre.McGeechans qualities as a player who enabled the talents of others were evident in the partnerships he formed with centre partners as contrasting as the mercurially brilliant Jim Renwick and the powerful, crash-balling Alastair Cranston for Scotland. Yet none was more fruitful than the link he formed with Irelands Dick Milliken for the Invincible Lions in South Africa.Clem Thomas wrote that you never saw a higher work-rate than that of the 1974 centres, McGeechan himself recalled as a career highlight the praise heaped on him and Milliken by full-back JPR Williams, a demanding critic, and the drop-goal which broke South Africas resistance in the test match at Pretoria. That Lions team was, he said in 2000 the best handling team ever, in which we would just look at each other and know exactly what was required.That he would progress into coaching, once a knee injury had ended his playing career at 33, looks in retrospect inevitabble.dddddddddddd He had the communication skills which come with a teaching career and had taken RFU coaching courses while still a player.He began at Headingley in 1980, but was rapidly incorporated into the Scottish national set-up, rising through the Anglo-Scots, under 21s and B team before becoming assistant to Derrick Grant in 1986. He was, legendary commentator Bill McLaren remembered, always in control of his thoughts and a master at keeping things in perspective, and at game analysis.Those analytical skills were honed in hours of watching video tape of matches. All of this, it should be remembered, when he was also holding down a full-time teaching job and was unpaid for the hours he put into rugby. When his video recorder broke down in 1991, he had to pay for an expensive state-of-the-art replacement, and had no thought of asking the Scottish Rugby Union -- the ultimate beneficiary of his labours -- for a contribution. Only in 1994, when Northampton appointed him director of rugby, was he able to devote himself to rugby full time.His all-round record as a coach speaks for itself, but it will almost certainly be his record with the Lions that writes his name deepest into the games annals. He has had one huge advantage -- that in an era where England have more often than not been the dominant home nation, his background equipped him to be trusted and accepted on both sides of the Anglo-Celtic faultline.But it took more than just that happy accident of birth and descent to make him so admired and successful. The verdicts of outstanding Lions tell their own story. Martin Johnson, his captain in South Africa in 1997, reckoned him an exceptional coach, a guy with tremendous vision and tactical awareness, always ready to try new things and happy to give his players responsibilities.Robert Jones, scrum-half in the victorious tour of Australia in 1989, called him one of the best coaches I have ever played for, recalling that He did not dictate. Everyone had his say and that he wanted everybody to be involved and to be able to work closely together.Rob Andrew, who went to Australia in 1989 and New Zealand in 1993, credited him for transforming his career, saying I only worked for him for two summers. I wish it had been longer.Jim Telfer, with whom he formed a hugely effective good-cop, bad-cop combination for both Scotland and the Lions, reckoned that -- perhaps because of his dual qualification -- he spoke better about Scotland and Scottishness than anyone else he had known. His pre-match speech before the Grand Slam decider in 1990 has gone into history, but so too has his talk to the Lions before the second test against the Springboks in 1997. Gregor Townsend recalled it as packed full of emotion and intelligence and spoken with the humble authority that Geech has quietly projected throughout his coaching career.His attachment to the Lions was such that, four years after saying in New Zealand that he was only likely to come back if theyre taking coaches in wheelchairs, he became chief coach for the fourth -- and presumably last -- time in South Africa in 2009. A relentless competitor, who has memorably described New Zealand rugby players as Scots who have learnt how to win, he will not have enjoyed losing the series. But this in its own way was as much an achievement as his victories in 1989 and 1997, a rare Lions tour in which the series was lost but did not break into bitter recrimination -- as its predecessors of 2001 and 2005 had done -- and which did much to restore the credibility of the whole concept.Amid that litany of achievement is one great might have been -- his turning down the invitation to coach England. Might he have added World Cup winner to his CV and, presumably, acquired his knighthood a few years earlier than he eventually did? For those who have argued, particularly since the failure of the 2005 Lions, that any half-decent coach could have taken the trophy given the talent at Englands disposal, the answer is presumably yes. But even for those of us who feel that Sir Clive Woodward played an immense part in their success, is there any reason to believe that Sir Ian -- as he became in 2010 -- might not also have accomplished the deed?There is of course, as with all counter-factuals, no definitive answer. And what he has achieved makes him beyond doubt one of the modern games great figures. That game will doubtless unite in wishing him a very happy birthday, and hoping that there are many more to come. ' ' 'onth.Over the past seven months, the Cowboys have had four players among the top 15 in jersey sales: Elliott, Prescott, Dez Bryant (No. 11) and Jason Witten (No. 14). Bryant and Witten finished last season at No. 9 and No. 110 on the list, respectively.ddddddddddddhe Cowboys make more money per jersey than any other team in the league. They are the only team that distributes its own gear, and therefore, outside of sales on the official NFL online store, the team gets paid a wholesaler fee that it does not have to split with the rest of the league.San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who gained relevancy on the sideline through his decision not to stand during the national anthem, had the leagues best-selling jersey for a couple of weeks.Kaepernick, who is now starting, was not in the top 15 in sales in October and finished 15th on the April-October sales list.Despite declining TV ratings, NFL merchandise sold by Fanatics, which runs the official NFL Shop, is up 20 percent year to date (Jan. 1 through Oct. 31) versus last year, and October sales were up 22 percent over October 2015. ' ' '