Wichtig » y uncertainty surrounding the head coach had an imp

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Simone Biles is just four rotations away from her long-awaited trip to Rio de Janeiro.The three-time world champion led the way during the first night of U.S. Olympic womens gymnastics trials on Friday. The 19-year-old Biles, a lock to make the five-woman team when it is announced on Sunday night, wasnt as sharp as usual, but her score of 61.850 was a touch better than rising star Laurie Hernandez.Hernandez, who turned 16 last month, lit up the SAP Center everywhere she went, her only wobble coming during a gutsy save on uneven bars when she muscled her way out of a mistake.Three-time Olympic medalist Aly Raisman is third, followed by MyKayla Skinner in fourth. Defending Olympic all-around champion Gabby Douglas is seventh after falling on balance beam in her final event.National team coordinator Martha Karolyi is picking from an embarrassment of riches as she pieces together a squad that will head to Rio as the heavy favorite to win a second straight Olympic team gold. Karolyi, who is retiring after the Olympics, said following the national championships last month that she already had five names in mind while stressing nothing is written in stone.Biles, Hernandez and Raisman appear to be in solid position while Douglas is still searching for the form that helped her win an eye-opening silver in the all-around to Biles at the world championships last fall. Douglas was only so-so at nationals and adjusted her coaching situation heading into Trials, with Christian Gallardo taking a more prominent role with less than a month to go before opening ceremonies.While Douglas was third on uneven bars, the event that first caught Karolyis eye five years ago, she was iffy elsewhere, her uneven night ending with a hop off the beam.Douglas wobble may open the door for other candidates to slip into the group. Skinner put a strong 59.450 to finish fourth, including top four scores on vault, beam and floor.Madison Kocian and Ashton Locklear, who came into the trials as the leading candidate for the fifth spot, posted matching 15.750s on bars -- the best of the night by far -- with Kocian adding a steady 14.7 on balance beam.There is no drama at the top, though there might be company for Biles. The high-flying star hasnt lost a meet in three years while cementing herself as the best gymnast of her generation. While shes still in a class by herself, she wasnt quite as crisp as she was while winning her fourth national title in St. Louis two weeks ago.She was visibly upset with herself after a 15.2 on beam, frustrated by an awkward save while coming out of a spin. Her score of 15.2 was still second in the field -- a telling sign of Biles impossibly high standards -- and she has breathing room heading into Sunday night.Just not as much as usual. Hernandez has been as good as advertised in her first year at the elite level and her charisma is infectious. The crowd inside the packed SAP Center roared with every acrobatic tumbling pass, and there were no nerves as she became the first gymnast in quite a while to be somewhere in the vicinity of Biles, no small feat.Alexei Kovalev Jersey . Pirlo limped out of Sundays 1-0 win over Udinese after just 13 minutes. Juventus says Pirlo underwent tests on Monday which revealed he has "a second-degree lesion to the collateral medial ligament in his right knee. Mats Naslund Canadiens Jersey . "I dont know that were close," said general manager Alex Anthopoulos. "I just think, right now, the acquisition cost just doesnt work for us right now. I dont know if I can quantify how far off or things like that that they might be but I would say we continue to have dialogue. http://www.canadienssale.com/authentic-charles-hudon-canadiens-jersey/ . Peter Holland and Brad Staubitz were sent to Toronto on Saturday as the Maple Leafs traded defenceman Jesse Blacker and draft picks to the Anaheim Ducks. Jonathan Drouin Canadiens Jersey . Fellow centre Pavel Datsyuk remains out because of a concussion. Zetterberg has 11 goals and 19 assists for a team-high 30 points, and Datsyuk has a team-high 12 goals and 11 assists. Victor Mete Canadiens Jersey . The 25-year-old Japanese star has officially been posted by his club team, the Rakuten Golden Eagles.When a season starts to slip away, as it has for many teams around the league right now, it breaks your soul as a player. The energy level in the building dips, the attention to detail falls off, the game prep starts to feel like homework. You start looking toward the offseason, just hoping to make it through the rest of the games healthy.I experienced it firsthand back in 2003 as a member of Steve Spurriers Washington Redskins. After a 3-1 start that included a win over Tom Brady and the Patriots, we were talking big at the beginning of October: playoffs, Super Bowl, Pro Bowls. Hey, everyone wanted in on this thing. Jump on the train.But success in the NFL can be so fleeting. We lost the next four games and never recovered. From 3-1 to 5-11. Brutal.Theres a reason coach Hue Jackson got visibly emotional while trying to describe how the Browns still havent won a game this season. Remember, these dudes on bad football teams -- coaches, players, executives -- theyre all human. And when the wheels start to loosen on a season and eventually fall off, theres nowhere to hide.I still remember a Sunday night game down in Miami when we blew a big lead. It was our sixth loss in seven games. The winning touchdown? The Dolphins caught us in a blitz, and I was left to make the tackle on Ricky Williams. But that didnt happen. Nope. Instead, I took a stiff-arm to the face as Williams walked in for the score. Good-bye.I still remember traveling to Chicago in Week 16, with Spurrier promising us an extended Victory Monday if we won that game -- three days off heading into the final week of the season. He threw a carrot out there for us, doing anything to buy a win. Didnt work. Paul Edinger kicked a game-winning field goal with five seconds left to beat us.I still remember Week 17, when we got shredded in our final home game by the Eagles. 31-7. In my opinion, Andy Reid called off the dogs in that one. He took it easy on us. Philly couldve scored 40 or maybe even 50 if they wanted to.That Eagles team went to the NFC Championship Game. Our squad? We went home.Yeah, we had some injuries. But so did everyone else. Thats life in the league. Talent? There was enough in our locker rroom to win.ddddddddddddCoaching? I loved the defensive staff. And while Spurriers stock as an NFL coach never recovered, Im not going to blame him. No way. Sure, I didnt agree with some of the structure of his program or the style of practices we had late in the season, but Spurrier didnt get stiff-armed by Ricky or smoked by Keyshawn Johnson on a post route in a blowout loss to the Bucs. Nope. That was me.A lot of us had an idea that Spurrier wouldnt be back the next season once the calendar flipped to December. And a lot of us were right. Owner Dan Snyder replaced Spurrier with Joe Gibbs in the offseason. And I would say uncertainty surrounding the head coach had an impact on the locker room, practice and our overall game prep as we finished out the year.Things just started to drag a bit. The pace of practice slowed down, the film study slipped and the game plans got lighter. We became that team sleepwalking through the daily routine. It was now work at the facility. That excitement of getting a fresh game plan? Thats for the playoff teams, the contenders. Ive experienced that excitement. And its great.But we didnt have that anymore. It was gone. Just like the energy in the building. That stuff quickly evaporated over the last month and a half of the season. Now we were just football zombies throughout the week. Clock in and clock out. Take some notes, and head home.Game day? Yeah, we still played hard because you have to in order to survive an NFL Sunday. You go out there soft, and youll probably end up on the cart with an injury. This game is too fast and too physical to walk around on that field like you dont care. Plus, we all knew we were basically auditioning for next season and the next head coach in Washington. Better put something good on tape, right?I often say that NFL seasons are fragile. And when the team breaks -- or shatters into a thousand little pieces like it did in 2003 -- you dont recover as a player. You just try to survive.ESPN.com NFL analyst Matt Bowen played seven seasons as a defensive back in the NFL. ' ' '