ijay Shankar got injured, so there are quite a few things, which happ

This story appears in ESPN The Magazines November 14 Pain Issue. Subscribe today!For all of the magic of baseball -- the Blue Jays soaring from a September crash all the way to the ALCS, the rags-to-riches-to-rags fate of the Giants, and, of course, the Indians and Cubs -- the biggest winner of October was an 82-year-old man solidly out of the public eye: former commissioner Bud Selig.Selig spent his career trying to make baseball more like football, by idolizing first former NFL commissioner Pete Rozelles ability to persuade warring owners to unite under the league flag and later the NFLs methodical destruction of the dynasties that made it famous. Big Money was still present in the postseason this year with the Dodgers, Cubs and Red Sox all qualifying, but the past three World Series have featured the no-money Royals twice and the Indians. Through tireless engineering, the dynasty concept is on life support-just ask the Yankees, whose slight glimmer of life in the second half of this season couldnt overcome their recent futility. All in the name of parity.The money people who demanded socialism in sports through franchise tags, luxury taxes and salary caps have also rendered signature properties pedestrian. The 24-time champion Montreal Canadiens havent even appeared in the Stanley Cup finals since 1993. The Boston Celtics are just another team. People laugh at the San Francisco 49ers.All of which is why the impressive start of the Dallas Cowboys is the most unlikely underdog story of the season. For years, the Cowboys have been a punchline, falling somewhere between reality TV and the nighttime soap opera that once bore the citys name. Yet the NFL is a better product when the Cowboys are a good, thriving and-for much of the country-villainous presence. The metrics bear it out, in ratings and in online popularity.The last Cowboys resurgence, which began in the late 1980s, was good and villainous: Jerry Jones forced out Tex Schramm after, more ruthlessly, firing the great Tom Landry. The overhaul was so Texas-big ego, big talk, big money, big expectations and big results: three Super Bowl wins and an epic rivalry with the 49ers, each team stealing headlines, championships and players from the other.This edition of the Cowboys is actually, yes, endearing, and the elements of a dangerous team are emerging. Rookie Dak Prescott makes headlines through the scandalous act of reading defenses correctly and avoiding the Category 4 storm that sits so heavy on the Doppler radar: the return of Tony Romo. The offensive line again plays with pride and snarl. Rookie running back Ezekiel Elliott is a Texas cover band, his style an ode to Earl Campbell here, a nod to Emmitt Smith there and, when theres daylight in the secondary, a dash of Tony Dorsett. The barometer for the first half of this refreshing season has been wins and losses, not taking the over on Dez Bryant sideline tantrums. Dallas is looking like a team.A Cowboys return is the best thing for a league that is devoid of much franchise star power and that seems oddly happy about it. The NFL is more concerned about curbing the power of individual teams to ensure profits (what moves merchandise faster than sudden contention for a division championship?) than benefiting from the success of a signature team. The result is a leaguewide mediocrity. In 2014, the Panthers won the NFC South with a losing record. The malaise is real.The Cowboys wake up the public. Dallas last played in the Super Bowl in 1995 and hasnt reached the NFC title game since. From 1991 to 1996, the Cowboys won 10 or more games each season. In the 20 years since, they own just five 10-win seasons, but they still maintain the highest all-time winning percentage among active NFL franchises.The Seligs and Rozelles of the world cynically sought the mediocrity of parity-, following the notion that big-city teams would always steamroll the smaller ones. So now everyone gets a trophy, even though the dynasties built their leagues and their bank accounts.The game lives in the imagination, and instead of watching the fungible Jaguars and Texans, football has always been at its best when beating the signatures meant something, which once meant beating Dallas in the NFC East. Prescott, Elliott & Co. have taken the first steps on a mission of making Cowboys games worth circling again, of restoring the team to the dynasty its own league doesnt want. Now the trick is to play deep into January. Cheap Paul Konerko Jersey . Bradwell was scheduled to become a free agent Tuesday. Born and raised in Toronto, Bradwell is entering his sixth CFL season, with all six played for his hometown Argonauts. Cheap MLB Jerseys Authentic .C. -- Rodney Hood connected from all over the court while freshman Jabari Parker was busy swatting shots and scoring in transition. http://www.cheapwhitesoxjerseys.com/?tag=cheap-joe-crede-jersey . After dropping their final six games of December, the Wild opened the new calendar year with four consecutive wins. Following a loss to Colorado on Saturday, Minnesota rebounded the following night to blank Nashville 4-0, but then had the tables turned on them Tuesday. Cheap Ron Santo Jersey . I cant pinpoint a date, but I do remember a player from my youth. Brian Downing was with the Chicago White Sox at a time when I listened to every game I possibly could on the radio. That particular season the late great Harry Caray was calling the White Sox games. Cheap Carlton Fisk Jersey .com) - The Montreal Canadiens will try to halt their longest losing streak of the season when they host the struggling New York Islanders in tonights clash at the Bell Centre. On June 25, the India A squad to tour Australia for a quadrangular one-day series and two four-day matches was announced through a BCCI press release, but late changes have been made to that squad.The selectors had named the same squad for both formats with Naman Ojha as captain. With less than a week before the teams departure, Indian Express reported that Naman Ojha had been replaced by Manish Pandey for the limited-overs leg; Pandey would be the captain for the quadrangular series and Ojha would lead the side in the four-day games.The team departs for Australia on Thursday, but the BCCI has neither confirmed nor denied the story. There is no acknowledgement that last-minute changes have been made, its media manager has not responded to ESPNcricinfos queries, and nobody outside the BCCI is sure which players are travelling to Australia for which format. ESPNcricinfo has independently verified that the change has been made, and that Pandey for Ojha is not the only change in the squads.Akhil Herwadkar, who initially featured in the squad for both legs, will now be a part of only the four-day matches, while Hardik Pandya, who wasnt part of the initial 16-member squad, will now replace the injured Vijay Shankar in both formats. Mandeep Singh and Yuzvendra Chahal have also been drafted into the limited-overs side.A BCCI source attributed the late changes to a communication gap in the selection process, and said the original idea was to pick two separate squads. We started off with two teams but in the middle there was a communication gap thats why we kept certain boys in the standby list, he said. (The) information has come a little late. Definitely its a little embarrassing for someone like Naman Ojha.It is understood the selectors were initially in favour of players for specific formats, and had a few players likke Mandeep and Hardik on stand-by.dddddddddddd However, unclear communication apparently led to a delay in the board signing off on the changes made to the team. The board source, though, denied there was lack of clarity while naming the initial squad.Everybody was clear (about the players to be selected), he said. (But) subsequently different sides were picked for (multiple) day matches and one-dayers after considering the future options (for the Indian team), like whether Naman Ojha is in the race for one-day spot or the Test spot. Accordingly, the changes were made. Suddenly Vijay Shankar got injured, so there are quite a few things, which happened but otherwise we were very clear. Players like Hardik and Mandeep Singh are future prospects and they need to be given exposure to white-ball cricket.Ojha said on Tuesday he was informed of the decision five-six days ago. There are 15 (13) Test matches this season so it (playing the four-day games) is good for me, he told ESPNcricinfo. I have time to prepare well on my batting and keeping, and I will not burn out. I can now train harder for two more weeks (before leaving for Australia for the four-day leg).By all accounts it is possible there is nothing sinister about the changes. The logic might even be sound: Ojha is 33, he is not the next India limited-overs wicketkeeper, and like Tests and ODIs it makes sense to have two different squads. There might be logic to it but there was no communication or explanation behind the changes, or knowledge of when the BCCI realised these changes were necessary. The fact that nobody from the BCCI has owned up to this on the record just forces observers to look for reasons other than cricket logic. ' ' '