Wichtig » Its disingenuous to suggest Douglas could aga

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald and quarterback Carson Palmer have signed one-year contract extensions with the Arizona Cardinals.The deals put Fitzgerald under contract through the 2017 season and Palmer through 2018.Fitzgerald, holder of virtually all the franchise receiving records with statistics among the NFLs all-time greats, turns 33 on Aug. 31.Palmer is 36 and entering his 14th NFL season, fourth with the Cardinals. He set franchise records and personal bests for yards passing, touchdown passes and quarterback rating in leading Arizona to a 13-3 record last season.Fitzgerald is entering his 13th NFL season, all with Arizona. His 109 catches last season broke the franchise mark he set a decade earlier.Clearly these are two core members of our team who have played major roles in our success, Cardinals general manager Steve Keim said in a news release announcing the signings. Each of them had contracts that were due to expire in the next year or two so these extensions provide a measure of certainty and clarity for the players and organization, both now and in the years ahead. It also reaffirms our long-stated intention that when the time comes, these two great players end their stellar careers as Cardinals.The team practiced after the announcement was made Friday but neither player was to be made available to reporters, apparently at their request. Fitzgerald spoke to reporters in the locker room earlier but made no mention of the contract.Fitzgerald, who has spent all 12 of his seasons with the Cardinals, had evaded questions about whether he would play beyond this year, saying, I dont even know what Im having for dinner.Fitzgerald, the No. 3 overall draft choice of the Cardinals in 2004, was on the second year of a two-year, $22.5 million deal.Palmer has thrived in coach Bruce Arians wide-open system. After Arians was hired prior to the 2013 season, Palmer was acquired in a trade with Oakland.His 2014 season was cut short by a torn ACL but he came back to have arguably his best season in 2015. Palmer completed 64 percent of his passes last season for 4,671 yards and 35 touchdowns with a quarterback rating of 104.6.Palmer had two years left on the three-year, $49.5 million extension he signed in 2014. A Heisman Trophy winner at USC, Palmer was the No. 1 overall pick by Cincinnati in the 2003 draft.The deals came one day after Arizona signed defensive back Tyrann Mathieu to a five-year, $62.5 million extension, with $21.5 million guaranteed at signing.Three other major players on the roster have contracts that expire at the end of the coming season -- outside linebacker Chandler Jones, defensive lineman Calais Campbell and wide receiver Michael Floyd. Starting inside linebacker Kevin Minters contract also expires at the end of this season.---AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP-NFLPas Cher Air Max 720 Noir . The winner Saturday will remain in the elite 10-team field next year. "We talked about wanting to be disciplined and stick with our game plan and good things will come," Draisaitl said, who had two goals for the victors. Nike Vapormax Pas Cher Chine . According to a report from the Vancouver Province, the Lions are expected to replace former DC Rich Stubler with defensive backs coach Mark Washington. http://www.pascherbasketairmax.fr/air-max-97-grossiste-destockage/air-max-97-homme-pas-cher.html . Duchene scored two goals and had an assist, helping the Colorado Avalanche beat the Carolina Hurricanes 4-2 on Friday night to match the best 10-game start in team history. Air Max 95 Pas Cher Chine . -- Most satisfying to Russ Smith about No. Pas Cher Air Max 270 Noir . He said Tuesday thats a big reason why he is now the new coach of the Tennessee Titans. Whisenhunt said he hit it off quickly with Ruston Webster when interviewing for the job Friday night.SAN JOSE, Calif. -- American gymnast Aly Raisman was a three-time medal winner at the 2012 London Olympics. She long ago proved her toughness at competitions. At 22, shes also the leader of the U.S. womens gymnastics team, and so much a veteran that Simone Biles, the new star of the team, jokingly calls her Grandma Aly.If Raisman feels any pressure while shes competing at an event, she hides it well while on the floor. But if you sit Raisman down and ask her about the grind of making it through the two-day U.S. Olympic team trials that conclude Sunday, thats an entirely different story. Shes not too proud to confess every doubt and crying jag and throat-clenching fear she has felt about making the five-woman squad that will compete at next months Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.Or how the pressure gets ratcheted up more at the trials.Its the survival of the fittest, Raisman says. And all of us are exhausted.The months-long U.S. Olympic team selection process is choreographed by national team director Martha Karolyi and meticulously designed to be high on difficulty, high on volume training, high on the sort of longitudinal oversight that is meant to produce pressure-ready gymnasts who can conjure up great performances on demand. Karolyi and her selection committee closely watch even off-day workouts.The process is meant to milk the best possible performance out of every contender for the five-woman Olympic team, whose names will be announced by Karolyi and her selection committee after the competition concludes Sunday night.While Karolyi listens to the others, she always has the biggest say.Laughing at herself now, Raisman says, I definitely get a little nervous when Martha comes over. If I even see her in the corner of my eye, I always get a little nervous. If you watch her selection committee, theyre watching every single move you make and she has them placed at each event to make sure were all doing our job. So I always take a look around and know where she is. I think all the girls are like that here. Were always like [whispering]: Shes here, shes here. Shes right here!Raisman says she tried to prepare her younger teammates for what else they would encounter here at the trials, especially in Fridays opening-night competition. I told them the arena is going to be so loud, theyre going to be chanting U.S.A as loud as they can, the noise is going to be incredible. Every parent and kid in the stands will be cheering for us, unlike other places we go in the world. Its just going to be intense.And she was right. The pressure on all 14 finalists was palpable. You could see it as they came tearing down the vault runway with their faces serious, jaws set. You noticed the tight little smiles they could barely muster after landing a dismount off the bars or beam because their minds were already racing ahead to what their score would be. Would it get them to Rio? Would it hurt their chances?Laurie Hernandez got the biggest roar of opening night for her terrific floor routine. But the gasps of the capaciity crowd at SAP Center when returning favorite Gabby Douglas fell off the beam had to only add to Douglas horror.ddddddddddddIts hard to flip the switch, Douglas admitted, and get back on track.Even Biles -- a three-time world champ, but rookie when it comes to the Olympic trials -- walked off the floor staring at her feet after her beam routine because she was unhappy with her performance.I wouldnt say it was nerves tonight, exactly, that affected her, Biles coach, Aimee Boorman, explained Friday. I think she was more excited than nervous. At one point, she turned to me and said, Theres just so much energy in this room. This energy is out of control! She had to find a way to control it.Biles should be more relaxed than anyone. Shes a lock to make the Olympic team. Raisman and 16-year-old newcomer Hernandez seem safe too, barring a catastrophe on closing night. Hernandez, in particular, was terrific Friday, despite a bobble on the uneven bars. The energy and charisma she threw out later during her electric floor exercise left Karolyi smiling and nodding, Wow! after Hernandez stuck her last pose and the music stopped.Douglas wasnt so lucky. The defending Olympic all-around champ was sitting fourth until she fell off the balance beam on her last rotation of the night, dropping her to seventh place with one day to go.?Douglas never complains about still being judged by her 2012 standard, or relentlessly asked questions about Now versus Then. But the storyline has always been a little dishonest toward her. Douglas is now a 20-year-old woman who is three inches taller and light-years different from her 16-year-old self in London. Its also been clear for some time that she isnt the same gymnast she was four years ago and, anyway, even if she was, Biles has come along since then to blaze past Douglas and everyone else in the world. Its disingenuous to suggest Douglas could again win the all-around.Instead, Douglas has spoken repeatedly at these trials about trying to get back to being smiley and bubbly and trusting her training because thats when I compete best. But she looked lost in thought and emotionally subdued in both Thursdays workout and Fridays competition and now needs a strong showing Sunday to cement her place on the Olympic team.I have to find that joy again, Douglas said.Raisman understands.Its all just so hard sometimes that Ive doubted if I have what it takes, Raisman says of her own comeback. There were some days in training where my coach would say, Do something, and Id look at him like, Are you crazy? ... As he always says, You can hate me now, but I promise you, youll thank me later.Raisman laughs now and says she sees the wisdom in making the U.S. Olympic team selection process as arduous as its become.The system works, she says. So they shouldnt change it. Its intense, but we all know if we just do our jobs, we can be the best in the world again. ' ' '