Sonstiges » rfect jump into life outside of football? Not really. It w

The ball had solemnly sworn it was up to no good. Then it was given to a redhead.It is the 16th over of Indias second innings. Ben Stokes came charging in and hit the deck with considerable force. The batsman picks the length up early. He prepares to get on top of the bounce by shifting his weight back and standing up taller at the crease. He has no idea he is in the worst possible position for what was about to happen. The back- of-a-length delivery turned into a grubber. Mischief most definitely managed.Virat Kohli should have been in trouble. He could even have been bowled off the inside edge. His best case scenario was if he was beaten - the line was quite wide - or if he could somehow keep the ball out. Those watching the third days play in the Visakhapatnam Test were introduced instead to the bizarre case scenario. Kohli smeared a four behind point.There were a few things that helped him pull that off. The original shot he was trying to play was with a vertical bat. So adjusting to the lack of bounce was easier than if he had attempted to play a cut, where the backlift gets bigger and therefore has a longer distance to travel. He provided himself with the same advantage in the 34th over, when the legspinner Adil Rashid produced a grubber. Kohli eased onto his backfoot and it came to rest slightly across onto off stump so that his head would be right in line with the ball. The inherent risk here is the possibility of lbw. But by playing the flick with a straight bat, and waiting to roll his wrists until he made the connection, not only did the Indian captain negate the chance of his being dismissed, he found another boundary.Free-flowing batsmen find difficulty keeping up on slow and low pitches. The lack of pace means hitting through the line is difficult and even maneuvering the ball into gaps requires a great deal of effort. Kohli seems to be setting the template to prove that obsolete although if you want to follow it, youd best hope you have hands as quick and a work ethic as strong as his. The thousands of balls he hits in the nets, the visualisation he does, the tweaks to his technique, all of it is in an effort to make sure he is equipped to make tough runs; to make sure he has a game he can trust when the pressure is high; to make sure he can not only tackle high-class bowling but dominate.Kohli faced more than 100 deliveries on a third and fourth day surface with wild variations in bounce and finished with a strike-rate of 74. No one that had lasted as long in this match has even come close to scoring that quickly. You have to want to be there, he often says, and watching him be there is a lot of fun. There are the bat twirls. The fiddling with the grille. The re-strapping of the gloves. The tapping of the pitch. He just doesnt want to be idle. He doesnt want his concentration levels to drop because thats when he knows he may not read the play as quickly. He barely spends any time away from the stumps. No trips to square leg to slow the game down. Hes ready in his stance, looking at the bowler with the impatience of a child waiting for their parent to take them to the park.It must be draining to be so switched on. But thats why both his physical and mental strength are high. At stumps yesterday, he had made more than half of Indias total - 56 out of 98. He finished with 81, only because of a spectacular catch at slip, stabilising India from an early wobble and giving them the chance to set a target never before achieved in the fourth innings of a Test in India. Kohli is a fantastic beast and everyone knows where to find him. At the heart of of a fight.Clearance NBA Jerseys Authentic . After Gasquet beat fifth-seeded Ivan Dodig of Croatia 7-5, 6-3, Tsonga followed up with a 6-7 (3), 6-2, 6-2 win against sixth-seeded Edouard Roger-Vasselin in an all-French match. Wholesale NBA Jerseys . The team also announced Tuesday that the Braves will wear a commemorative patch on the right sleeve during the season. The patch, shaped like home plate, carries the number 715, Aarons autograph and a "40th Anniversary" banner. http://www.chinanbajerseys.com/ . It is a cliché dragged out by fans and pundits regularly when discussions take place around which teams are better than others. Discount NBA Jerseys Store . But Bourque, who has missed three games with a lower-body injury, wont be in the lineup when the Habs travel to Buffalo to take on the Sabres on Wednesday. Cheap Basketball Jerseys From China . "Jeff is a hard worker who was an important special-teams contributor for us last season," said Stamps GM John Hufnagel.For 16 years, the rhythm of my life in August was simple: helmet, pads and two-a-days. The schedule repeated like clockwork every year, from Glenbard West High School to the University of Iowa to the NFL.Until I retired in 2007.And then I thought: What do normal people do in August?The freedom was a bit jarring, after spending seven seasons in the cocoon of the NFL, where everything -- and I mean everything -- is scheduled and regimented from August through the end of the season.The NFL players who retired just this week will most likely have the same feelings. Eugene Monroe, Phil Loadholt and Greg Jennings all could still play ball, but they shut it down -- for good.We all retire for different reasons. I had a couple of small offers to play an eighth year for my fifth NFL team, but for what? To cover kicks again, to attack the four-man wedge, to scrap for a roster spot? Nah. Im good. I didnt see the value, and family life was calling.My wife was pregnant at the time with our second son, Patrick. Irish twins, they call it. And my oldest, Matthew Jr. -- who has Down syndrome -- was in therapy. I couldnt bring myself to move everyone across the country. Or to leave them behind for a job. No way.Family, ultimately, was my deciding factor. For others, its the grind of another season. It was no surprise to see vets like Monroe, Loadholt and Jennings call it quits on the eve of training camp. Even without the old-school two-a-days, the anticipation of a pro camp can absolutely crush your soul as a player.And remember, these vets arent built out of rubber like the rookies. They have injuries to deal with, their bodies are beaten down to almost nothing and the daily maintenance required to just get on the practice field can wear down even the toughest dudes.Plus, the players in todays game are now more educated than ever. They get it when it comes to injuries, concussions and future risks. Get paid, cash out and move on. Look at Calvin Johnson, who made more than $100 million playing ball. Hes already a Hall of Fame player, in my opinion. Hang it up? Why not? His body was starting to hurt.But just because the decision is clear doesnt make it easy. I remember staring at my retirement papers on the kitchen counter for days. It was like a piece of my life waiting to die.dddddddddddd.My wife mailed them. She had to. I just couldnt do it.The NFL has some nice benefits waiting down the road for vested veterans -- annuity, 401k, pension -- but all the security in the world cant prepare you for your first August without that familiar routine.I was in my early 30s when I hung em up. I drifted around for a while, jobless and without a plan. I had a degree in journalism from Iowa. That counts, right? But whats next?For me, it was graduate school. A masters in writing and publishing from DePaul in Chicago. Poetry classes. Non-fiction. Short story workshops. I entered an unknown environment. No one cared about NFL football, which I needed. Those classes became a bridge, a part of the transition.Was it a perfect jump into life outside of football? Not really. It was hard. Heck, its still hard. You never really get over losing that piece of your life.Sure, I miss the games. But those are secondary. What I really miss is being on a team and spending everyday inside a competitive environment with like-minded people. You cant recreate that stuff when you leave the game.Coaching DBs at IC Catholic Prep in Elmhurst, Illinois, is the closest Ive come. The opportunity to get back on the grass, to compete, to talk football ... thats priceless. Sure, it keeps me young. And I love the kids. Thats a special thing when you build a relationship with your players. Man, its awesome. So is the feeling when your guys start to develop in a football program you believe in.But, more than anything, I needed that competitiveness in my life. It gives me balance with family and work. It gives me an opportunity to escape the real world for three hours a day on the practice field and on Friday nights. And it brings me back to an environment that fits my personality.Ive been told Im a football guy. Thats probably true. I think its the best game in the world. And it prepared me for life more than I ever expected. But Im still adjusting to life without it. And in some ways, I always will be.ESPN.com NFL analyst Matt Bowen played seven seasons as a defensive back in the NFL. ' ' '