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Luis Suarez says he'd only play for Liverpool in a Premier League return

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Luis Suarez graced the Anfield turf again on Sunday and vowed that if he ever returned to England, it would only be to play for Liverpool.</div>
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The Uruguayan forward was back on his old ground for the first time since his summer move to Barcelona to <a href="http://www.espnfc.us/liverpool/story/2371478/luis-suarez-returns-to-anfield-for-first-time-for-liverpool-charity-game" style="color: #1eb848; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">play a part in the Liverpool FC Foundation All-Star charity</a> match between teams picked by Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher.</div>
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He came on as a half-time substitute alongside another ex-Reds hero Fernando Torres, with the two delaying their entrance before being met with huge cheers from those in attendance.</div>
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Suarez had an impact too, winning a penalty off Carragher moments after nutmegging him, and Gerrard netted that spot-kick to go with his earlier 12-yard conversion in a game which finished 2-2.</div>
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The 28-year-old led the lap of honour with Liverpool's club captain after the match and told LFCTV that were he to return to the Premier League, Anfield would be his only destination.</div>
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"You never know in football what the future holds, but if I ever play in England again I will play for the Liverpool team and not another team," he said.</div>
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It was no surprise to see Suarez receive such adulation from the Reds faithful after a goal-laden three-and-a-half-year spell with the club. While he is forging his own reputation in Barcelona now, he still fondly remembers his spell in England.</div>
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"I've missed the fans," added Suarez, who scored the winner in <i>El Clasico</i>against Real Madrid seven days ago.</div>
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"The atmosphere is unbelievable, it's amazing. Everyone who's played for Liverpool knows how important the supporters are. They know they are in my heart."</div>
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Torres himself may have been more taken aback by the positive reception he received, though, after initially souring his relationship with Liverpool fans when he left for Chelsea in 2011.</div>
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However, any fears he may have had about supporters still holding a grudge were allayed when his name was read out to cheers before the game and the Spaniard's name was chanted by the Kop in the second half.</div>
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"It was very emotional, I didn't know how to react," he added on LiverpoolFC.com.</div>
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"I wasn't expecting them to sing the song.</div>
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"I still remember the great games we had here at Anfield in the Champions League, in the league and fighting for trophies. I have the song in my head, it was so important for me.</div>
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"Those three-and-a-half years changed my entire life and career. I remember the song from the Kop in important games. To hear that once again is something I will never, ever forget."</div>
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Carragher's team had gone two goals ahead through Mario Balotelli and Chelsea's Didier Drogba before Gerrard, playing on the same ground where he earned his rapid dismissal against Manchester United a week ago, slotted home the two spot-kicks to ensure a draw</div>

SOCCER Luis Suarez says he'd only play for Liverpool in a Premier League return

Luis Suarez graced the Anfield turf again on Sunday and vowed that if he ever returned to England, it would only be to play for Liverpool. ...

Neymar not planning on Premier League transfer like Alexis Sanchez

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Barcelona forward Neymar has said he has no current plans to follow Alexis Sanchez to the Premier League.</div>
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Neymar, 23, signed for Barcelona from Santos in 2013 and has formed an impressive understanding with Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez up front.</div>
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The forward was in England at Emirates Stadium on Sunday for <a href="http://www.espnfc.us/international-friendly/match/414250/brazil-chile/report" style="color: #1eb848; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Brazil's 1-0 win over Sanchez's Chile</a>, and Neymar was asked about the possibility of a move away from La Liga.</div>
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<a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3018071/Barcelona-star-Neymar-enjoys-playing-against-big-friend-Alexis-Sanchez-no-intention-moving-Premier-League.html" style="color: #1eb848; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Neymar said</a>: "As for playing in England myself, I'm very happy playing for Barcelona and I still have a long road to walk here."</div>
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In June last year, <a href="http://www.espnfc.us/story/1918704/pele-told-santos-striker-neymar-to-turn-back-on-chelsea" style="color: #1eb848; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Neymar revealed</a> in his book, "Neymar: My Story," how Pele helped persuade him to turn down a move to Chelsea and stay with Santos.</div>
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And in 2010, then-Brazil coach <a href="http://www.espnfc.us/story/815276/brazil-boss-tells-neymar-to-turn-down-chelsea-chance" style="color: #1eb848; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Mano Menezes cautioned</a> Neymar against joining Chelsea, saying the teenager would benefit from continuing his education with Santos.</div>
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Sanchez was teammates with Neymar at Camp Nou until he signed for Arsenal last summer.</div>
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"Alexis is a big friend," Neymar added, "and someone who I had the privilege of playing with at Barcelona. We used to get along very well on and off the field, so I'm very happy to see him so well at Arsenal."</div>
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Sanchez echoed Neymar's sentiments by expressing his admiration for the Brazil international, who has scored 17 La Liga goals for Barca this season.</div>
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"Neymar raised everyone's spirits as he is a very joyful person," Sanchez said. "I hope he never changes.</div>
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"His happiness is contagious and that's something I really like. Regarding his quality, I cannot come up with something new. Everybody knows how good he is.</div>
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"He dares to so some stuff with the ball no one would dare to that. That's the beauty of football."</div>
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Meanwhile, French newspaper Le Parisien <a href="http://as.com/diarioas/2015/03/31/english/1427783146_104818.html" style="color: #1eb848; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">reports</a> that Paris Saint-Germain are considering making an approach for Neymar next summer, with a view to replacing Zlatan Ibrahimovic, whose contract expires in 2016.</div>

SOCCER Neymar not planning on Premier League transfer like Alexis Sanchez

Neymar was in action for Brazil against Chile on Sunday. Barcelona forward Neymar has said he has no current plans to follow Alexis Sanch...

Burning questions before the Masters

00:43 Unknown 0

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With Masters week quickly approaching, there are several questions heading into Augusta. Will Tiger return to golf at the Masters? Is Jimmy Walker a contender?</div>
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Our scribes dive into those topics and more in the latest edition of Four-Ball.</div>
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1. Should Tiger Woods play the Masters?</h3>
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<a class="enlarge" credit="Todd Warshaw/Getty Images" href="http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2015/0330/tiger_woods_chips_400x600.jpg" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #999999; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[+] Enlarge<img alt="Tiger Woods, The Masters, golf" border="0" height="300" src="http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2015/0330/tiger_woods_chips_200x300.jpg" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 4px 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="200" /></a><div style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 200px;">
<cite style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #ababab; display: block; margin: 0px 0px 4px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Todd Warshaw/Getty Images</cite>Aside from Tiger Woods' hurt back, his short game was in disarray in his last appearance in San Diego. Is Augusta the right place for Woods to return to the game?</div>
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<strong style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"SportsCenter" anchor Matt Barrie:</strong> Yes. Yes. And Yes. Also, yes. Tiger Woods should play at the Masters. By the time players drive up Magnolia Lane, it will have been eight weeks since Tiger took his leave of absence to get healthy and improve his game. It's time.</div>
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<strong style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"SportsCenter" anchor Jonathan Coachman:</strong> I am always going to say Tiger should play in the Masters. Finishing in the top five in 2010 with no previous tournaments makes me still a believer. We only have so many Tiger-included Masters left. I don't want 2015 to be minus the world's most famous player. However, if Tiger still has the yips, then I don't think it serves anyone's best interest to have Tiger at Augusta. Here's to hoping his impeccable short game is back.</div>
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<strong style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">ESPN.com senior golf analyst Michael Collins:</strong> No way Tiger should play in the Masters this year. It's one thing to be tournament-ready, and he did say he wouldn't come back until he feels that way. It's a whole other thing to be ready to compete at a major championship. While people will say, "but he came back at the Masters once before and finished well." True, but that was with a yip-free short game.</div>
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<strong style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">ESPN.com senior golf writer Bob Harig:</strong> Assuming he is healthy, yes. Woods needs to return somewhere, and perhaps Augusta National is the place that spurs some good vibes. He can certainly use them at this point. There is danger, too, in returning at the Masters. The course is far from an easy venue to do so. And if his chipping woes linger, trying to execute shots off the tight lies of Augusta will not help. But there's only so long you can practice at home and play golf with your buddies. Woods might very well have needed such a break, but, if his body is willing, it's time to get back to competing.</div>
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2. True or false: Jimmy Walker will contend at Augusta National?</h3>
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<strong style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Barrie:</strong> Yes. If not for Jimmy Walker's third-round 76 at last year's Masters, he would've been at the top of the leaderboard with Bubba Watson. As it was, Walker tied for eighth. He's started two seasons in a row in impressive fashion. What that does is build confidence in his game. And you need all of the confidence you can get, heading into Augusta National. The problems for Walker are Bubba, Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth and Henrik Stenson -- four players who will be a factor at the Masters for the next decade. Finding a way to fit in will be challenge.</div>
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<strong style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Coachman:</strong> Jimmy Walker has become a legit contender and closer. I am absolutely putting him on my short list of contenders. He hits it straight, makes putts and wants to win. It took Jimmy a long time to start winning. I believe it was for a reason. And now he is making up for lost time. Walker isn't fazed by much. He won't be fazed by contending at Augusta.</div>
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<strong style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Collins:</strong> True. Walker may be the best example ever of a late bloomer, but, boy, has he blossomed. A lot of that can be attributed to the work he has done with Butch Harmon since August of 2012. The 36-year-old is plenty long enough off the tee for Augusta and can work the ball from right to left. The question is if the putter will stay hot enough to win.</div>
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Follow @ESPNGolf</h4>
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<strong style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Harig:</strong> True. Walker has just a single Masters result to gauge, and it was a good one. In his first appearance at Augusta National last year, he finished tied for eighth, 8 strokes behind winner Bubba Watson. And that was with a third-round 76. He has to be going there now with a ton more confidence. He's added two victories since his first Masters appearance, not to mention a strong showing at the Ryder Cup. And he appears to be peaking at the right time.</div>
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3. What took so long for a PGA Tour player to win twice so far this season?</h3>
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<strong style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Barrie:</strong> The parity right now in golf has never been better. There are so many world-class players, winning just one tournament has never been harder. It's a scary thought that Rory has yet to win on the PGA Tour this year. Tiger has been out. Phil Mickelson is finding his game. Adam Scott is adjusting with a new putter. If and when those players find their form, winning will be even more difficult. It's a fun time to watch tournaments. You never know who is going to rise to the top.</div>
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<strong style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Coachman:</strong> Parity is a crazy thing. This is not Kentucky or Duke or Michigan State. It is very very hard to win and win a lot. You are trying to beat 143 other players every week. You have to put four good rounds together in a row. Instead, I look at consecutive years with a win. I think that is the new gold standard. And if you look at that list, it is pretty impressive. Look at Phil Mickelson. He hasn't won since July of 2013. He is a Hall of Famer. Winning is hard.</div>
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<strong style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Collins:</strong> Parity. It's amazing for the sport that the level of golf from top to bottom may be the best in the history of the professional game. Granted, that's for the hard-core golf fans. The downside is -- just like when Norman, Faldo, Seve and Nick Price all took turns as world No. 1 -- getting new eyes to focus on the game is a gargantuan task. Golf needs a dominant force to get mainstream sports fans to watch golf.</div>
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<strong style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Harig:</strong> You can call it a fluke, perhaps. Before Walker won on Sunday, there were several players who had a chance to win multiple events, including Patrick Reed and Dustin Johnson, both of whom have won tournaments and lost in playoffs. And we've had three players this season -- Ryan Moore, Walker and Matt Every -- defend titles from the previous year. But this is really more about the lack of a truly dominant player on the PGA Tour and the enormous depth.</div>
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4. The Shell Houston Open ... good tournament to warm up for the year's first major?</h3>
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<strong style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Barrie:</strong> It is what it is: a tournament for players who want swings going into the Masters. I had Bubba Watson on "SportsCenter" last week, and he told me his plan was to "sneak off to Augusta and get in a couple rounds." Most of the top players in the world go this route. But for those who want tournament-type pressure, and a little confidence builder, the Shell Houston Open is a nice tuneup.</div>
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<strong style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Coachman:</strong> I always enjoy the Shell Houston Open. If I were a player, I would not miss this event. I would not worry about fatigue or wearing out. Getting into intense tourney mode prior to getting to Augusta is paramount. They also try to set up the tournament as close to Augusta as possible. That is good enough for me. Game on.</div>
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<strong style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Collins:</strong> 75 percent yes, 25 percent no. Yes, because if you didn't play San Antonio, having an event set up to semi-mimic Augusta conditions is always a good thing, especially when it comes to the short game. Chipping from tight lies in tournament conditions can never hurt. No, because this time of year thunderstorms pop up regularly, so getting into a good rhythm during a round is hard or, even worse, having to play up to 36 holes in a day in wet conditions is not what's needed to prep for the exhaustion major weeks bring.</div>
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<strong style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Harig:</strong> It certainly has become that, and you can just look at the field to see a strong number of players who play in Houston the week prior to the Masters. Nobody will ever confuse the course with Augusta National, but tournament organizers have done their best to mimic conditions by widening the fairways, cutting down the rough and tightly mowing the grass around the greens. For those who like to compete in a tournament the week prior to playing in a major championship -- and that is the main reason here -- Houston has become a very good place to do so.</div>

GOLF Burning questions before the Masters

With Masters week quickly approaching, there are several questions heading into Augusta. Will Tiger return to golf at the Masters? Is Jimmy...

Shane Ray's way out

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<b style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">SO HERE COMES</b> the son of a Missouri football legend, in size 52 husky pants. You cannot take your eyes off of him, not because of his speed or agility but because he can't keep those damn pants up over his rear end. He doesn't run so much as he waddles. He is awkward, unsure of himself -- abandonment issues, his mother says -- and, if there are 22 boys on this football field, he'd probably be picked 21st.</div>
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But it is the fall of 2006, the year before her son starts high school, and Sebrina Johnson is desperate. She knows this has to work. Her only child's idol is an older cousin who has taken up with the wrong crowd, and, in a few months, will be murdered in a botched robbery attempt. Sebrina will be the one who identifies the body of that cousin, Justen Johnson, and will make the funeral arrangements.</div>
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Football might not look as if it will weigh too prominently in Shane Ray's future at this particular moment -- he'd already quit the sport once, in fifth grade -- but it's the best lifeline Sebrina can come up with. She can feel him slipping away, closer to the streets. She takes the doughy eighth-grader to a park where the 39th Street Giants are playing. The area is known for being sketchy, but it feels safe. She is greeted by a man named Tom Shortell, dentist by day, football coach by night.</div>
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In a moment that would change Shane Ray's life, Shortell sizes up the kid and asks him, "Son, do you want to play football?"</div>
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"Yeah, I guess," Shane says.</div>
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<img alt="Sane Ray " border="0" height="324" src="http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2015/0327/espn_a_shaneray_mem_576x324.jpg" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="576" /><cite style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #ababab; display: block; font-size: 10px !important; margin: 0px 0px 4px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Thom McCallum</cite>"I know if there wasn't football ... I could be dead," Shane says.</div>
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<b style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">MOST FOOTBALL FANS</b> would say that Shane Ray's life-changing moment hasn't happened yet. It will come late next month, when the consensus All-America defensive end from Missouri is selected in the NFL draft, possibly as one of the first 10 names called on the Auditorium Theatre stage in downtown Chicago.</div>
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After sleeping on floors and living in a ZIP code known as Kansas City's murder factory, Shane will not want for a comfortable bed in a safe neighborhood. He will make millions of dollars from an NFL team salivating for his first-step explosiveness, his strength and his versatility.</div>
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Sebrina will weep when his name is called. Shane will hold up an NFL jersey and be whisked to a new city and life. But it will not be his defining moment. He has had too many of those already.</div>
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"Everybody's like, 'Will he go first?'" Sebrina says. "That's great, but who that guy is and what kind of a man he is ... that's the biggest win ever. He's going to make somebody a good husband. He's going to impact so many lives beyond this platform.</div>
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More From SC Featured</h4>
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<b style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Prospect:</b> <a href="http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=12556547" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: rgb(96, 143, 214) !important; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">How Shane Ray beat all the odds</a></div>
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<b style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Her Voice:</b> <a href="http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=12561555" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: rgb(96, 143, 214) !important; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Imani McGee-Stafford's slam poetry</a></div>
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<b style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Pope's Team:</b> <a href="http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=12525872" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: rgb(96, 143, 214) !important; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">A cricket match 500 years in the making</a></div>
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"That's my biggest accomplishment."</div>
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For at least half of her life, Sebrina says, she didn't know a good man. She knew smooth-talking men with beautiful faces and large muscles. She knew the kind of men whose lives were preordained for trouble.</div>
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But a good man? She wasn't even sure one existed.</div>
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She'd first encountered Shane's father, Wendell Ray, at a Bally's gym in Kansas City. He was the biggest man she'd met in her life. She'd never seen anyone so handsome. It wasn't until after they started going out that she learned who Wendell once was, star defensive lineman at the University of Missouri, drafted by the <a href="http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/_/name/min/minnesota-vikings" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #225fb2; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Minnesota Vikings</a>in 1981 before injuries derailed his career.</div>
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Everything with Sebrina and Wendell moved fast. About seven months after they met, she was pregnant. Right around the time she was due, in the spring of 1993, she knew that their relationship was over and that Shane would be her responsibility alone.</div>
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He weighed 10 pounds at birth. He arrived several weeks late, tangled in the umbilical cord, and had to be removed by cesarean section. Wracked with pain and hopped up on morphine, she didn't see him until a day or two after the delivery. When she held him, the baby stared at her.</div>
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Sebrina promised him the best life ever.</div>
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She insisted on giving him a name that was nonspecific racially: Shane Michael Ray. Sebrina's mother, Louise, balked about it, convinced her grandson was going to get beat up regularly because it sounded like a white boy's name.</div>
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Sebrina told her mom that was OK. "When he puts his name on an application," she said, "he'll get an interview."</div>
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Being an African-American male, Sebrina says, is difficult. Especially without a father. So she did proactive things to make sure he had an opportunity. He was not allowed to use slang. "Hell, no," she says.</div>
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Sebrina lugged the kid around while she pursued her college degree, exposing him to books and deep thoughts and expanded vocabularies. But no matter what she did, Shane still yearned for his father.</div>
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Sebrina eventually married a man named Emanuel McCrainey when Ray was around 6. McCrainey and Sebrina opened a Cajun restaurant called The Red Vine in Kansas City's jazz district. Sebrina made sweet-potato cheesecake; McCrainey coached Shane's youth football team. They were a family.</div>
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But then the marriage collapsed, the restaurant closed, and Sebrina and Shane, who was about 10 at the time, were on their own again. Sebrina had an information technology job before she got into the restaurant business, but that was gone, and she scrambled to find work.</div>
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They were thrown back into the inner city, back to the murder factory. Their street was constantly in the news. A small sampling of what Shane saw: a woman busting open a man's head with a baseball bat; a dead body lying in the street.</div>
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As times got tougher, Shane's outer shell became harder. One of the most important males in his life at the time was his cousin Justen, who was eight years older and had survived another shooting years before his eventual death in 2007. Shane always wanted to tag along with Justen. And the longer he was around that life, the more it seemed palatable. Sebrina knew she was losing him.</div>
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"Sometimes even parents out here lose hope," Shane says, looking back. "You have no outlet. You're stuck in this, and that's what they continue to feel. They're stuck in it forever. What's the point? Everyone else is on the corner selling drugs; everyone else is toting guns.</div>
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"When I think about my situation, I just always remember, whenever I would stick my head in the pond, someone was pulling me out."</div>
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<img alt="Shane Ray" border="0" height="324" src="http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2015/0327/espn_a_shaneray_576x324.jpg" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="576" /><cite style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #ababab; display: block; margin: 0px 0px 4px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">AP Photo/Brynn Anderson</cite>Shane evolved into one of the best defensive ends in the Kansas City area, which earned him a scholarship to Mizzou.</div>
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<b style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">THE CONCORD FORTRESS OF HOPE CHURCH</b> is one of the many places Sebrina would pray for her son. J.J. Smith, a former running back for the <a href="http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/_/name/kc/kansas-city-chiefs" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #225fb2; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Kansas City Chiefs</a>, also attended the church, and he became someone Sebrina could turn to for advice. Smith urged her to see Tom Shortell, the coach of the 39th Street Giants.</div>
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The park was chaotic the day Sebrina and Shane arrived, with adolescents running around and paperwork flying about. Sebrina asked Shortell whether he needed some help. Of course he did. She grabbed a clipboard and became the team mom, driving kids around, handling details.</div>
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People around the program at the time of Shane's debut with the Giants paint a similar and rather unflattering picture of the future SEC Defensive Player of the Year. Shortell says he was shaped like a toad.</div>
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About the only place Shane moved quickly, apparently, was in front of a refrigerator. His cousin Ronnie Johnson says Shane would often go to a relative's house and polish off leftovers meant for a family of four. Maybe the food comforted him, Sebrina says.</div>
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But when Shane was on the field, he tried so hard. He'd go against anybody, get his butt kicked and come back for more.</div>
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Playing for the Giants did something else for Shane. He was surrounded by positive male figures. Shortell, who is white, has four boys, two of whom played with Shane for the Giants.</div>
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They immediately became like his brothers. He'd spend weekends at the Shortells' home, and the boys would wrestle and roughhouse. Shane was so polite that Shortell got to calling the kid the "New Eddie Haskell," a knockoff of the brown-nosing character from the old TV show "Leave It to Beaver."</div>
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<a class="enlarge" credit="Thom McCallum" href="http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2015/0327/espn_shaneray3_600x400.jpg" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #999999; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[+] Enlarge<img alt="Shane Ray in and around his hometown" border="0" height="200" src="http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2015/0327/espn_shaneray3_300x200.jpg" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 4px 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="300" /></a><div style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 300px;">
<cite style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #ababab; display: block; margin: 0px 0px 4px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Thom McCallum</cite>Playing for the 39th Street Giants allowed Shane to be surrounded by positive male role models.</div>
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They ate hamburgers and hot dogs together, and Shane's weekends with the Irish-Catholic sports-crazed family flew by. Shortell says he didn't make a point of trying to help Shane. It just seemed natural. So when it was time for high school for Shane, Shortell suggested that Sebrina send him to Bishop Miege, a private Catholic school just over the state line in Roeland Park, Kansas. There, he told her, Shane would have structure. He'd follow a dress code and get hounded about his grades, and he'd play for Tim Grunhard, a former Kansas City Chiefs lineman.</div>
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There was only one problem. Bishop Miege cost nearly $10,000 a year. Sebrina worked and made sacrifices to send him there. But freshman year, Shane rebelled against the school's strict rules. He was constantly in detention, late for football practice and challenging the school's dress code.</div>
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Shane was going through a lot at the time. Not only had he lost Justen, but his aunt Carmelita had died of colon cancer a few months later.</div>
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Carmelita was one of Shane's biggest supporters. She collected his football jerseys. To get an idea of how close-knit the Johnson family is, everything revolves around Louise Johnson's house. She's the matriarch, mother of Sebrina and Carmelita, grandma to Shane. The cousins would play football in a patchy lot beside her house; the adults would always lean on Louise. Carmelita spent her final days in Louise's house, ultimately dying in her bed. For years, Louise refused to replace the bed.</div>
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Shane was a concern for much of the family, but nobody thought he was a bad kid. He was acting out, Shortell says, because he needed help.</div>
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2015 NFL DRAFT</h4>
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<img alt="NFL Draft" class="floatright" src="http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2009/0823/nfl_e_draft_65.jpg" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; float: right !important; margin: 0px 0px 4px 8px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" /><b style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Round 1:</b> April 30, 8 p.m. ET<br /><b style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Rds. 2-3:</b> May 1, 7 p.m. ET<br /><b style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Rds. 4-7:</b> May 2, noon ET<br /><b style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Where:</b> Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University, Chicago<br /><br /><b style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://espn.go.com/nfl/draft" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: rgb(96, 143, 214) !important; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">NFL draft home page</a></b></div>
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• <a href="http://espn.go.com/blog/nflnation/post/_/id/165130/2015-nfl-draft-order-2" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: rgb(96, 143, 214) !important; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">2015 NFL draft order</a><br />• <a href="http://insider.espn.go.com/nfl/draft/mock/?season=2015&version=3&source=Mel-Kiper-Mock-Draft" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: rgb(96, 143, 214) !important; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Mel Kiper Jr.: Mock 3.0</a> <img align="absmiddle" src="http://a.espncdn.com/icons/in.gif" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br />• <a href="http://insider.espn.go.com/nfl/draft/mock/?season=2015&version=4&source=Todd-McShay-Mock-Draft" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: rgb(96, 143, 214) !important; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Todd McShay: Mock 4.0</a> <img align="absmiddle" src="http://a.espncdn.com/icons/in.gif" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br />• <a href="http://insider.espn.go.com/nfl/draft/mock/?season=2015&version=14&source=Todd-McShay-Top-32" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: rgb(96, 143, 214) !important; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Todd McShay's Top 32</a> <img align="absmiddle" src="http://a.espncdn.com/icons/in.gif" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br />• <a href="http://insider.espn.go.com/nfl/draft/mock/?season=2015&version=16&sourceId=2" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: rgb(96, 143, 214) !important; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Mel Kiper Jr.'s Big Board</a> <img align="absmiddle" src="http://a.espncdn.com/icons/in.gif" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br />• <a href="http://insider.espn.go.com/nfl/draft2015/story/_/id/12331333/mel-kiper-top-10-ranking-prospects-every-position-nfl-draft-2015" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: rgb(96, 143, 214) !important; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Top 10 prospects by position</a> <img align="absmiddle" src="http://a.espncdn.com/icons/in.gif" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br />• <a href="http://insider.espn.go.com/nfl/draft/rankings?year=2015" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: rgb(96, 143, 214) !important; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">NFL draft player rankings</a> <img align="absmiddle" src="http://a.espncdn.com/icons/in.gif" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" /></div>
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After all the troubles his freshman year, Shane wanted out of Miege. Sebrina was on the verge of pulling him when Grunhard encouraged her to give it another year to see whether he could work things out. His sophomore season, Shane was injured during a game, hit in the head/neck area. As he lay on the turf, he couldn't move, and he had to be carried off on a stretcher. It turned out to be a bad stinger, but Grunhard could see the look of fear in his eyes. For about 30 minutes, Shane thought everything might be over for him.</div>
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"He was given a second chance to kind of wake up and do it the right way," Grunhard says. "I think at that point he decided to make a change in his lifestyle."</div>
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By that time, Shane was starting to look the part of a serious football player. He had spent the summer before his sophomore year visiting relatives in New Orleans and mowed lawns from morning until night in the Louisiana heat. By the time he got back to Kansas City, he was hardly recognizable. He was no longer chubby, and he had experienced a significant growth spurt.</div>
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Shane committed himself to football, and slowly evolved into one of the best defensive ends in the Kansas City area. He led Bishop Miege to the state championship his junior season.</div>
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The University of Missouri, his father's old school, offered him a scholarship. When Grunhard found out that coach Gary Pinkel was going to extend the offer, he called Sebrina. He knew how important this was to her.</div>
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Grunhard had her hide in the hallway outside his office while Shane took the call from Pinkel. When the coach delivered the news, Shane's face lit up. Grunhard could tell he wanted to call his mom when he hung up. Then Sebrina walked into the room. Mother and son cried and hugged. In their minds, they had made it.</div>
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"She's very tough," Grunhard says. "She had to be the dad. She had to be the disciplinarian. But the biggest compliment I can give her is this: She was one hell of a mother."</div>
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Shane went to Missouri, endured more growing pains and attitude adjustments, and after redshirting in 2011, he backed up <a href="http://espn.go.com/nfl/player/_/id/16773/kony-ealy" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #225fb2; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Kony Ealy</a> and Michael Sam before becoming a starter as a junior. Before games, Sebrina would send him the same text. "Be great," the texts would say. "Be as great as God intended you to be."</div>
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His junior year, he recorded 14.5 sacks, breaking the Mizzou single-season record held by Sam and <a href="http://espn.go.com/nfl/player/_/id/13988/aldon-smith" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #225fb2; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Aldon Smith</a>.</div>
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Sebrina was a regular in the stands at Missouri. And so was Shane's father.</div>
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Wendell, who was cited for nonpayment of child support, insists he's always had a relationship with his son. That's why he made the 125-mile trips from his home in St. Louis to Columbia to watch his son's games. When he sees Shane play, it reminds him of himself.</div>
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More from ESPN.com</h4>
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<img border="0" class="floatright" src="http://a.espncdn.com/i/columnists/chadiha_jeff_m.jpg" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; float: right !important; margin: 0px 0px 10px 8px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" />Shane Ray drew interest from the Steelers and other teams with his speed and dexterity at Missouri's pro day, writes Jeffri Chadiha.<b style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://espn.go.com/blog/nflnation/post/_/id/164691/pass-rusher-shane-ray-shows-off-speed-moves-at-mizzou-pro-day" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: rgb(96, 143, 214) !important; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Story</a></b></div>
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<img border="0" class="floatright" src="http://a.espncdn.com/i/columnists/mcshay_todd_m.jpg" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; float: right !important; margin: 0px 0px 10px 8px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" />Todd McShay updates his rankings of the top players at every position ahead of the 2015 NFL draft. <b style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://insider.espn.go.com/nfl/draft2015/story/_/id/12551725/ranking-top-prospects-every-position-2015-nfl-draft" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: rgb(96, 143, 214) !important; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Story</a></b><img alt="Insider" border="0" height="11" src="http://assets.espn.go.com/icons/in.gif" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="11" /></div>
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At Shane's pro day recently, Wendell wore a T-shirt that said "The Original Shane Ray." When Sebrina and her mother, Louise, saw the shirt, they became upset. They asked him to take the shirt off or cover it up because they believed it was taking away from Shane's day. Wendell eventually put on his jacket.</div>
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He scoffs at the notion that he wore the shirt to draw attention to himself. He says he was an "icon" at Missouri and wore the shirt because he's proud to be Shane's dad.</div>
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"I don't want to sound arrogant," Wendell says, "but when Shane was born, here I am, 6-foot-5, 240 pounds, with my physical build and everything ... I expected him to be an athlete. "Sebrina has males on her side of the family. None of them are athletic at all. None of them played hopscotch. He got that athleticism from the Ray family. Right here from this family."</div>
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When Wendell's football career ended, it launched him into a depression. He couldn't even watch the game on TV for a couple of years.</div>
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But he loves watching Shane. Last year, after an early-season game, Wendell found Shortell near the locker room and extended his hand. He thanked the coach for spending time with his son and helping him out.</div>
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Shortell understands why, despite feeling abandoned for two decades, Shane would want to get to know his father. Life is too short, he says, and the bitterness would only eat Shane up inside.</div>
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Wendell says that he tried to be in his son's life when he was younger but that it's complicated. He says Sebrina didn't want him around their son. He relays a story about waiting in a Kansas City hotel to pick up Shane, but nobody in the house answered the phone. At the drop of a hat, Sebrina can rattle off the times Wendell wasn't there, and how it devastated their son. His signing day for Missouri. His high school games. The times when Shane was spiraling out of control.</div>
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Wendell grew up in north St. Louis, a rough area he says is nicknamed "The Belly of the Beast." He says it would make Shane's old neighborhood look nice. Although he concedes that Sebrina did a good job bringing up Shane, he insists he would've been there more if Sebrina had let him.</div>
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"He can't say I kept him from him," Sebrina says, "because that was never the case."</div>
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Wendell says he isn't interested in Shane's money or fame. He just wants to see him and enjoy him.</div>
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<img alt="Shane Ray" border="0" height="324" src="http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2015/0327/espn_g_shaneray_mizzou_576x324.jpg" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="576" /><cite style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #ababab; display: block; margin: 0px 0px 4px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Jamie Squire/Getty Images</cite>Today Shane wants to be sure the other boys in his family get the same support he had in high school and at Mizzou.</div>
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<b style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">IT'S A COLD TUESDAY</b> in Missouri, and Shane Ray is at his mom's house in Raytown, getting a haircut. Ray is debating the nutritional virtues of Chipotle vs. McDonald's with his cousin Ronnie, who has taken a liking to a vegan diet.</div>
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Ronnie is four years older than Shane, who lived with Ronnie's family during some of the tough times, when Sebrina was just divorced and looking for work. Ronnie, like Shane, battled weight problems as a kid. But there was an advantage to that; they were about the same size. They shared a pair of Sean John jeans one school year. Ronnie would wear them one week, Shane the next.</div>
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Ronnie, who's going to the University of Missouri-Kansas City, plans to live with his cousin once Shane gets drafted. He's ready to transfer to another school and finish his degree in communications, ready to try something new. He also wants to look out for his cousin as he navigates his rookie season in the NFL.</div>
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Whenever Shane's in town, Ronnie wants to go out, but Sebrina usually nixes their plans. One night recently, they hung out, and Sebrina woke up in the middle of the night and didn't see Shane's car in the driveway. She called Ronnie, Ronnie's dad and Shane. Turns out, Shane was home. She just didn't see his car.</div>
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"I will tell you this," Ronnie says. "His mother has always been very protective. I'm like, 'Auntie, you can't live like that. Anything can happen to anybody.'"</div>
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Sebrina knows this. She just doesn't want it happening to her son. When he's home, near the murder factory, near the place her nephew died, it's instinct that makes her pull him in tighter, even though he's a grown man.</div>
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Before Justen was shot, he had a son. Shane saw the path his cousin's life was taking, and, although he wasn't even a teenager yet, he made big Justen a promise: If anything happened to him, Shane would take care of little Justen.</div>
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A few months ago, Shane was in town when he found out little Justen, 8, had gotten himself in trouble. He found out Justen had stolen some candy from a dollar store. He took the boy into a bedroom at Shane's grandmother's house.</div>
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Shane told Justen he wasn't going to tolerate stealing. He said he'd be checking on him weekly and would call his teachers if he had to. When Shane left, the little boy was crying. He said he wasn't going to get in any more trouble.</div>
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Shane wants to make sure that someone's always there pushing little Justen to be better, even though his dad is gone.</div>
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"I know if there wasn't football ... I could be dead," Shane says. "I could be in jail; I could be in the streets. I could have nothing."</div>
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Ronnie Johnson was there for the toughest times, but he isn't sure that's true. There's no way Shane could've fallen. He had too many people waiting to catch him.</div>

NFL Shane Ray's way out

SO HERE COMES the son of a Missouri football legend, in size 52 husky pants. You cannot take your eyes off of him, not because of his spee...

Duke Heads To Final Four After 66-52 Win Over Gonzaga

22:51 Unknown 0

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HOUSTON (AP) — A special group of freshmen is taking Duke and Coach K back to the NCAA Final Four.</div>
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The Blue Devils and their trio of freshmen starters are going to their 16th Final Four, a record-matching 12th for coach Mike Krzyzewski, after a 66-52 win Sunday in the South Regional over Gonzaga.</div>
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Justise Winslow, the freshman playing home in Houston, had 16 points, including a big 3-pointer in the closing minutes. Matt Jones had also had 16 points while freshman Tyus Jones had 15 points, while Jahlil Okafor nine points and eight rebounds.</div>
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Duke (33-4), the region's No. 1 seed, is going to Indianapolis to play Michigan State in the Final Four. The other national semifinal game Saturday matches undefeated Kentucky and Wisconsin.</div>
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Krzyzewski is going to the Final Four for the 12th time, matching UCLA's John Wooden for the most by a head coach and five more than anyone else.</div>
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No. 2 seed Gonzaga (35-3) had taken a 38-34 lead less than 4 minutes into the second half, putting the Blue Devils in their largest deficit of this tournament.</div>
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These young Blue Devils responded with nine straight points and never trailed again. They had stretched it to 60-51 when Winslow made a 3-poitner from the left wing with 2:28 left.</div>
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<img alt="DUKE GONZAGA 2015" src="http://i.huffpost.com/gen/2777578/images/n-DUKE-GONZAGA-2015-large570.jpg" /></div>

Duke Heads To Final Four After 66-52 Win Over Gonzaga

HOUSTON (AP) — A special group of freshmen is taking Duke and Coach K back to the NCAA Final Four. The Blue Devils and their trio of fres...

Daley Blind: Spain will be out for revenge against Netherlands

11:14 Unknown 0

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Daley Blind believes Spain will be seeking revenge for their World Cup thrashing when they meet Netherlands on Tuesday.</div>
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Vicente del Bosque's side arrived in Brazil last summer as reigning champions but suffered their heaviest defeat since 1963 as they lost their first group game 5-1 to a Netherlands team including Manchester United's Blind.</div>
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Spain were eliminated in the group stage, while Louis van Gaal's Dutch team went on to finish third.</div>
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The sides face each other again in a friendly in Amsterdam, and Blind expects the heavy defeat last June to motivate Spain.</div>
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"I think so -- I would have some revenge feelings if I lost against a team too," he told MUTV. "That wouldn't only be after a game at the World Cup, though.</div>
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"If you lose against any team, you always want to win the next time you play them. So I think they will have those feelings."</div>
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Blind set up Robin van Persie's spectacular equaliser in Brazil with a long pass that the Netherlands captain met with a superb diving header.</div>
<figure style="-webkit-transition: margin 0.25s; background-color: white; color: #282a2f; font-family: BentonSans, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 44px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; transition: margin 0.25s;"><img alt="Robin van Persie's flying header versus Spain is one of the several standout moments at the World Cup thus far." src="http://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i/?img=/photo/2014/0613/soc_g_persie01jr_1296x729.jpg&w=738&site=espnfc" style="-webkit-transition: width 0.25s; border: 0px; transition: width 0.25s; width: 643px;" title="Robin van Persie's flying header versus Spain is one of the several standout moments at the World Cup thus far." width="738" /><figcaption style="border-bottom-color: rgb(241, 241, 241); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; font-family: BentonSans; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 18px; padding: 22px 0px 24px;">Robin van Persie's header was on of the FIFA goals of the year.</figcaption></figure><div style="background-color: white; color: #282a2f; font-family: BentonSans, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 30px; margin-bottom: 36px; margin-top: 36px;">
The injured Van Persie will miss the game but Blind could come up against United teammate David de Gea, who he thinks is one of the outstanding goalkeepers in the game.</div>
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"David is doing a great job here this season," the former Ajax player added. "He's one of the best keepers in the world at the moment.</div>
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"We're very happy that he's in goal, and he has made some great saves. All the credit goes to him. He works very hard and is getting better all the time.</div>
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"His shot-stopping is one of his best skills, but you also have to look at how he plays [with his feet] and how he comes for crosses -- the way he has improved that is very impressive.</div>
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"He has got better in every way. The skills when he is saving goals and also the skills with his feet: they make him an all-round keeper and that's one of the best things about him."</div>

SOCCER Daley Blind: Spain will be out for revenge against Netherlands

Daley Blind believes Spain will be seeking revenge for their World Cup thrashing when they meet Netherlands on Tuesday. Vicente del Bosqu...

Carlo Ancelotti's success in Europe tainted by lack of domestic titles

11:13 Unknown 0

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<img alt="Real Madrid's Champions League title last May was Carlo Ancelotti's third as a manager." src="http://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i/?img=/photo/2015/0214/soc_a_carl33_cr_1296x729.jpg&w=738&site=espnfc" style="-webkit-transition: width 0.25s; border: 0px; font-family: BentonSans, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; transition: width 0.25s; width: 643px;" title="Real Madrid's Champions League title last May was Carlo Ancelotti's third as a manager." width="738" /></h1>
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<figure style="-webkit-transition: margin 0.25s; margin: 44px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; transition: margin 0.25s;"><figcaption style="border-bottom-color: rgb(241, 241, 241); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; font-family: BentonSans; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 18px; padding: 22px 0px 24px;">Real Madrid's Champions League title last May was Carlo Ancelotti's third as a manager.</figcaption></figure><div style="font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 30px; margin-bottom: 36px; margin-top: 36px;">
It wasn't exactly a new scenario for Carlo Ancelotti, so he pointed to an old excuse. Real Madrid had just been beaten 2-1 by Barcelona in the latest Clasico, leaving the Italian again looking up at another leader in a title race, and he duly deflected by pointing to the quality of the display and competitions beyond the domestic front.</div>
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"We are disappointed, but it is better to have better feeling in the way we played," <a href="http://www.espnfc.com/real-madrid/story/2362668/carlo-ancelotti-says-luis-suarezs-goal-changed-the-clasico-then-hailed-complete-ronaldo" style="color: #1eb848; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Ancelotti said</a>. "We can have more confidence in the future games in the league and the Champions League."</div>
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He can certainly have confidence in regards to the latter. Ancelotti has famously won the joint highest number of Champions Leagues, with three alongside former Liverpool boss Bob Paisley, and clearly has a knack for continental competition. But in regards to the domestic league, it's a lot more complicated, and shouldn't inspire the same confidence.</div>
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It's actually one of the game's great contradictions. How can a manager with such a historic record in Europe have such an average record in regards to league titles?</div>
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Despite spending 18 consecutive years at the continent's wealthiest clubs, Ancelotti only has three domestic medals. In Italy, he was often described rather disparagingly as a "perpetual runner-up", but that is only half the story. In half of those 18 years, he has actually finished third or lower in the league. It is barely even a 'good' record given the clubs he's been at, who should always expect to be at least competing. It is about par.</div>
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For context, compare that to his most successful peers, the type of managers that winning three Champions League titles should put you alongside.</div>
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Paisley won the league with Liverpool six times in nine years, and finished second twice. Ferguson won 13 titles in 27 years at Manchester United, and was runner-up on another seven occasions. Jose Mourinho has meanwhile won seven titles in 11 seasons at such competitive clubs, and only finished lower than second once -- last season.</div>
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For all the obvious prestige of the Champions League, these types of records display the relentlessness that really separates the elite managers, that hard-edged competitive baseline. These are qualities that Ancelotti doesn't seem possess, even if he does possess all those European medals.</div>
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The issue is almost the difference in competitions. The fact that it is a cup competition means it is far more open to blind luck and all the one-off nuances that knock-up football involves, although a canny coach can roll the dice and surf those idiosyncrasies. Ancelotti has often managed that, but leagues just aren't open to fortune in the same way. They tend to reflect reality much more, whether that is rewarding the wealthiest team or the best manager.</div>
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As Bayern Munich's Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said on appointing Pep Guardiola in the summer of 2013, "The Champions League is a competition where there are no guarantees and the things you take for granted in domestic football don't always work."</div>
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Whereas managers like Guardiola and Mourinho have succeeded Ferguson as the closest to a sure thing in football, Ancelotti offers none of those guarantees.</div>
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His teams are oddly undependable. Just look at his big-game record, which Spanish newspaper AS <a href="http://as.com/diarioas/2015/03/23/english/1427134849_391731.html" style="color: #1eb848; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Spain's Diario As raised in the aftermath</a> of the latest Clasico defeat. For a man who the big teams turn to when they need a safe pair of hands, Ancelotti hasn't exactly turned over their main opposition much: In 71 league games against other top-four teams, he has won 26, drawn 17 and lost 28.</div>
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Along the same lines, his famous Champions League collapses with Milan against Deportivo la Coruna and Liverpool have parallels with some poor finishes to league campaigns. You only have to look at the way Real Madrid fell away last season.</div>
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Ancelotti has also himself admitted that it was a bad domestic title race that actually helped him win his first Champions League, with Milan in 2002-03.</div>
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"We had lost our determination in Serie A, so our focus was now on the European Cup," he wrote in his autobiography. That book was jokingly -- but also accurately -- titled 'I prefer Cups'.</div>
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He certainly isn't an autocrat with the same aggressive arrogance as Ferguson or Mourinho. The Italian simply sees life, and the game, in a different way. It is probably the reason that makes Ancelotti such an adept knock-out round coach -- not to mention a very likeable man -- and also makes him a relatively average title-race manager.</div>
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Consider Paolo Maldini's description of the type of coach he is in a dressing room: "Carletto remains what he has always been: an unparalleled comedian. He managed to crack jokes before the Champions League final. He talks about roast dinners, he cocks an eyebrow, and we go on to win, because we are relaxed."</div>
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The vast majority of those in the game say this is often the best approach to big one-off games, because the problem is usually that the top players are over-motivated. In that case, Ancelotti is perfect. It is not perfect, however, for maintaining that hardness and intensity throughout a season.</div>
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"Out of all the locker-room management techniques I've witnessed, his is definitely the least problematic," Maldini elaborated. "He holds in all his own worries and pressures, and so the team preserves its tranquility."</div>
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That is essentially the opposite of the likes of Ferguson, Guardiola and Mourinho, who have always instilled a competitive intensity, a real hardness. The difference tends to tell when the margins are slimmest.</div>
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It means there is a significant gap between their league records and that of Ancelotti. None of this is to say the Italian is not a good manager. His Champions League record means he will go down in history. It does not, however, necessarily mean he is one of the best coaches in history.</div>
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To change that, he needs to change his league record in the future.</div>
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SOCCER Carlo Ancelotti's success in Europe tainted by lack of domestic titles

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