Grüße und Vorstellung » Then the one day we hit it clean with a lot

TORONTO - Over a dozen cameras and upwards of 30 reporters gathered in the hallway on the third floor of the Air Canada Centre, jockeying for position outside the Raptors practice facility Tuesday afternoon. Damion Ratley Jersey . No, they were not staking out a spot for the playoffs, now 11 days away. They were not there to take in the teams final scheduled regular season practice. They were not on hand to inquire about the injured Kyle Lowry or Amir Johnson, both of whom had returned to the court. The gravity of Jonas Valanciunas drunk driving charge and arrest had transcended basketball, it was bigger than sport. It was news, and rightfully so. The Raptors starting centre was arrested early Monday morning for impaired driving in Wasaga Beach - roughly two hours north of Toronto - where he spent Sunday evening visiting friends. Valanciunas did not speak to the media Tuesday, as he had not yet met with his legal representatives, but those that did - GM Masai Ujiri, coach Dwane Casey and a couple of his veteran teammates - said all the right things. Understanding the severity of the 21-year-olds poor judgment, the organization made their message clear. Without condoning his actions, they stood united in support of their youngest player. "Like I told him, Im upset with him and disappointed in him but hes mine," said Casey. "So we love him." "He made a mistake, like any other young man has probably done before. We all make mistakes and its what we do after it [that] is how were going to be judged." The news of his arrest was surprising to those within the organization. Coaches, teammates and even fans have come to know the wide-eyed sophomore for his sincere, albeit quirky personality. Mondays events seemed out of character, to say the least. "Hes a great person, great kid," said Ujiri, maintaining Valanciunas hasnt, to his knowledge had prior plights with excessive alcohol use or bad decision making. "Weve never had any issues here with him, thats the honest truth." Valanciunas met with Ujiri for an hour on Monday. The following morning he sat down with Tim Leiweke and Larry Tanenbaum before addressing his coaches and teammates ahead of practice. "He sat in my office there yesterday," said the Raptors GM. "He knew, face in his hands, that he was sorry about it." "Hes very apologetic," Lowry echoed. "I mean hes sick right now. Hes really hurt by it, hes really embarrassed by it [and] very disappointed in himself. I can tell you that for sure." Per NBA policy, no punishment - from the league or the team - can be handed down until the legal process plays out. Although the Raptors are unlikely to issue any supplementary discipline, the league will come down on Valanciunas with a suspension - of likely two games - when and if hes convicted or theres a plea of guilt. The ramifications for Valanciunas - the player - are modest. Hell continue to play. Any suspension he faces wont take into effect until the beginning of next season, at the earliest. He will not be required to attend his initial court date on Apr. 22, shortly after the Raptors begin their first-round playoff series. Hes been enjoying one of the best stretches of his career and theres no reason why that shouldnt continue, assuming he can stave off the legal distractions that are likely to ensure. For Valanciunas - the person - the consequences are intricate. He has some damage control, some image repair to do. Most importantly, he has some growing up to do. In the last year, his second in the NBA, weve watched Valanciunas blossom on the court, sometimes losing sight of the fact that he is also growing and learning as a young man. Valanciunas - less than a month away from his 22nd birthday - made a mistake, a stupid one. Thankfully no one was hurt as a result. Given what we know about the young seven-footer its not hard to believe that the apology he made to his team, to his coaches, to the organization and fans was a sincere one. Some athletes, upon putting themselves in a similar predicament, have apologized mostly for being caught, which doesnt seem to be the case for a remorseful Valanciunas. What many of those other athletes havent had is the support system the Raptors can offer their young centre. Both Casey and Ujiri have positioned themselves as mentors and father figures, not only for Valanciunas but for all their players, while the teams locker room is filled with positive influences who have already begun to steer the sophomore in the right direction. "Be smart," Casey told him. "We all have to be smart. All of us have to be smart in what we do, how we carry ourselves off the floor, where we are [and] who we hang out with." "I talked to him and I made him understand that the things he did were wrong," Lowry said. "He just has to suffer the consequences that come with that." "Its unfortunate that it happened to such a good kid in JV," the 28-year-old point guard continued, "but it happened. Hes 21, hes going to learn from it and Im sure hes never going to make that mistake again." Ultimately, thats the true test, as Casey wisely pointed out. How does he learn from Mondays incident? Will he grow as a result of it? He made a mistake. What does he do next? 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He was invited to the Houston Texans rookie camp, but was not offered a contract.Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford added a quadruple throw to their program this year to push themselves as much as to push the sport.The difficult element has helped propel the Canadians up the pairs figure skating rankings.Duhamel and Radford go into the Grand Prix Final this week ranked No. 2, trailing Olympic silver medallists Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov of Russia.The two-time world bronze medallists spent much of the off-season perfecting the quad throw Salchow, which has Radford throwing Duhamel four revolutions through the air.Anything that pushes us and pushes the sport we feel is important, Duhamel said. Adding the throw quad to our skating has kept us really motivated, its encouraged us. . . and not just for us, were looking to push the sport of skating. Weve been seeing the throw triple Salchow for 30 or 40 years now, so I think its time that people push it and try harder things.Canada has three entries at the Final in Barcelona — Duhamel and Radford, and ice dancers Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje, and Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier.Duhamel, from Lively, Ont., and Radford, from Balmertown, Ont., had considered doing the throw quad years ago, but their coaches believed it wasnt worth the risk. They decided to add it this past off-season, and drew an audience when they were working on it during practices in Montreal.Every day it got closer and closer, eventually I would land on my feet and put my hand down, or I would step out, and it was so exciting for us and our coaches and teammates, they would all stand back and watch, and would be like Ooh, is this the one shes going to nail? Duhamel said.Then the one day we hit it clean with a lot of flow out of it, we were like, Oh thats it, thats what it feels like. And weve been able to repeat that feeling quite consistently.Duhamel landed the quad throw at Skate Canada International, but then fell on it at the NHK Trophy two weeks ago in Japan.The Canadians have a seasons best score of 210.74 points, just behind the Russians, whose best is 211.97. Yuko Kavaguti and Alexander Smirnov, the only other pairs team in the world currently doing the quad throw, are also in the field.Partly because of the quad throw, Duhamel and Radford went into this season reinvigorated after a gruelling Olympic campaign that saw them finish seventh in Sochi.We dont have any fear when were skating anymore. Last year, I was always scared, I was scared we would lose, I was scared wed be bad, I was scared the other Canadian teams would score higher than me, Duhamel said. Im so happy. . . that I didnt decide to quit last year because I would never know what it feels like to skate with this freedom and relaxation that weve found.There was a lot of pressure last season, and at the end we realized we put too much pressure on ourselves, Radford added. We were always comparing ourselves with everybody else, rather than just concentrating on ourselves, and I think that weve just sort of learned to let all of that go, all of that extra worrying and energy that we put everywhere else.Weaver and Poje, from Waterloo, Ont., will also be in the gold-medal hunt in BBarcelona. Denzel Rice Jersey. The Canadians have the seasons second-best ice dance score behind Americans Madison Chock and Evan Bates.The post-Olympic landscape for ice dancing has changed with the absence of Canadians Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir and Americans Meryl Davis and Charlie White, and Weaver and Poje could be favourites three years from now at the Games in South Korea.Its been very exciting, its a new year, a new quadrennial and were happy to be at the forefront of it, and hoping to continue Canadas tradition of great domination in ice dance, Weaver said.Asked if theyd sought out any advice on how to handle the new pressures that came with heightened expectations, Weaver mentioned Canadian bobsledder Kaillie Humphries.The biggest thing she has is confidence in herself, and she knows how shes prepared and she knows that thats the best she can do, and I think thats what really exudes from her, Weaver said. Its tough in a different sport with something like bobsled where youre racing against the clock and you dont have to convince people youre the best. But that type of persona is fun to learn from, and I consider us pretty different individuals, but that strength of power and confidence is something I would love to bring as a part of our game as well.In mens singles, Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu hopes to defend his title and recover his winning form after a scary on-ice accident.Hanyu won last years final at home in Japan. He then started the year by claiming gold at the Sochi Games in February, and a month later he won the world title to become the first man to complete the Olympic-world double in the same year since Alexei Yagudin in 2002.But Hanyu, who turned 20 on Sunday, barely qualified for the Final after he was injured in a collision with another skater during warm-ups at the Cup of China in early November, receiving bruises on his head and hurting his left thigh.Three weeks later, he could only manage a fourth-place finish at the last of six qualifying events in Tokyo. That result, however, was just good enough for him to join the other five finalists and keep alive his bid to repeat.Ill be going to the final as a challenger, Hanyu said. It doesnt matter if you are Olympic champion, people know they can beat the Olympic champion. Ill be starting from scratch and aiming to get to the top by any means.Hanyu will be up against Japanese teammates Tatsuki Machida and Takahito Mura, Russian rivals Maxim Kovtun and Sergei Voronov, and Spanish skater Javier Fernandez.Fernandez, the European champion, trains in Canada with former Olympic silver medallist Brian Orser. Orser also coaches Hanyu.Four Russian teenagers will look for a possible medal sweep in the womens final against Ashley Wagner of the United States and Rika Hongo of Japan. Hongo qualified after American skater Gracie Gold withdrew because of a broken foot.The Russian contingent includes two-time junior world champion Elena Radionova (15), European champion and world silver medallist Julia Lipnitskaia (16), Anna Pogorilaya (16) and Elizaveta Tuktamysheva (17).— With files from The Associated Press. 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