Pirate Galaxy » et a favourable response. He was furious

ATLANTA -- The Colorado Rockies optioned Canadian left-hander Jeff Francis to triple-A Colorado Springs to clear a roster spot for right-hander Chad Bettis. Bettis was called up from Double-A Tulsa to start in his major league debut against the Braves on Thursday night. The Rockies are without outfielders Michael Cuddyer and Carlos Gonzalez for Thursday nights game. Manager Walt Weiss says Cuddyer is away on a family emergency and it is not known when he will return. Gonzalez left Wednesday nights game after aggravating his sprained right middle finger. Weiss says Gonzalez will be rested a couple of days to see if the injury improves. Francis, of North Delta, B.C., is 2-5 with a 6.63 ERA in 12 games, including 11 starts. He allowed three hits and two runs in 2 1-3 innings against the Braves on Tuesday. Shop Air Jordans Shoes Free Shipping .ca! Hi Kerry, Its another day and here we are looking at another dubious hit to the head. In this case Blue Jackets forward Brandon Dubinsky elbowed Saku Koivu in the head about a second after he dished off the puck to a teammate, knocking him unconscious. Cheap Authentic Jordans . -- Al Jefferson found a groove just in time for the Charlotte Bobcats. http://www.wholesaleauthenticairjordan.com/ .C. -- Todd Fiddler scored a hat trick, including the overtime goal, as the Prince George Cougars survived an 8-7 win against the Kamloops Blazers in Western Hockey League play Sunday. Wholesale Jordans China . "It was nerve-wracking, but we pulled through," said Collaros, who threw four touchdown passes to lead the Toronto Argonauts (8-4) to a 33-27 win over the Calgary Stampeders (9-3) in front of 28,781 fans at McMahon Stadium. Authentic Air Jordan Retro China .Y. - Nelson Mandela will be honoured by the New York Yankees with a plaque in Monument Park. Bengal v Uttar Pradesh, Calcutta, 1997-98I was aware that people were talking about my performances and how I was hyped as a big star from Uttar Pradesh about to play for India even before I made my Ranji Trophy debut. In 1996, I had been part of India Under-15s World Cup final win over Pakistan. I had played the Under-19 World Cup in 1998 in South Africa. I had made decent runs for UP Under-19s. Yet, I felt breaking into the Ranji Trophy squad would be tough and I had to work much harder.At the time, I was in the youth hostel in Kanpur, sharing a room with five others. Your reputation didnt matter there - if you were a junior, you would be ragged. One night, before the ragging session, my room-mates and I decided to turn the lights off and not open the door even if someone knocked. We hoped they would go away after seeing the lights off. Predictably in the night, there was a knock on the door. We didnt open the door for fifteen minutes. After a while, I realised it must be something important and opened the door. It was the warden, who informed me of my selection for the Ranji Trophy match against Bengal in Calcutta. We didnt have mobile phones or internet then, so the association had sent the message through our hostel warden.Soon after I was picked, I called my father from a telephone booth. He told me one thing: Remember, this is UP. To shine here, you have to fight your way through. If someone makes 100, you have to make 175. Even if you make 101, it may not be enough.The next day at training, everyone was talking about playing in Calcutta, but I didnt understand the significance. I didnt really know about the history of Eden Gardens or how special it was for an Indian cricketer to play there. So I didnt understand what the fuss was. Only before we left for the match, we were told this match was to be played at tthe Calcutta Cricket and Football ground.ddddddddddddI had batted at No. 3 for most of my junior days, and so was told to bat in the same position on my debut. I remember walking out and being taunted by the opposition. I didnt understand every word of it, but it was something on the lines of Hes made runs in junior cricket; lets see what he does here. Every minute spent there was torture. Finally, I was out nicking to Saba Karim for 11. While walking back, I wondered if I would get another chance, because in UP the culture was such that if you had to work your way up the system you would get just one chance, and I had missed the chance.I was surprised when I was picked for the next game, which was a quarter-final against Haryana. Our opener Rakesh Sharma was off the field and couldnt open the batting. Our coach Venkat Sundaram went around asking the other players if they would open, but didnt get a favourable response. He was furious. I was sitting in a corner when he asked me, Chhotu, open karega?. I immediately said Yes. I went out and made a century. That made me feel I belong. Thats when I realised, however hard it was for me in the dressing room to mingle with the group, especially the senior players, you are your own man on the field. If you score runs there, it doesnt matter what happens in the dressing room.Maybe I survived my debut season because I had my elder brother Mohammad Saif also playing around the same time. So I used to feel a little comfortable that there was someone I could talk to. Musi Raza, my room-mate, was also in and around the fringes of the team. These two helped me in my debut season, because of which I became a much better player. As told to Shashank Kishore ' ' '