Davis life story Interesting is nominated for Autobi

ASHBURN, Va. -- Not too long ago, Ty Nsekhe was making $150 a week playing Arena Football and running on hope.Now hes the starting left tackle for the Washington Redskins -- an opportunity afforded him after Pro Bowler Trent Williams suspension and years of patience. Nsekhe has four games to prove what he has always believed and tried to show during every tryout: he belongs in the NFL.I always knew in the back of my mind I was destined to be here, so something just stayed with me, Nsekhe said this week. I cant really tell you what it was, but I just knew I was going to be here. Im here.Nsekhes travels took him from Texas State to Tarleton State, a Division II school, and then to AF2, the Arena Football Leagues developmental program. At 6-foot-8, Nsekhes size garnered NFL attention, and he said Miami was about to sign him in 2011 when the lockout began.If the AFLs San Antonio Talons hadnt called in 2012, Nsekhe was content to continue operating his private security business. Reluctant to go back to banging up his body for $150 a week -- with a $50 bonus for a win -- he needed the Talons to match his salary.When they did, he was back in the game.I went down there, and the rest is history, Nsekhe said.Nsekhe had brief stays with the Indianapolis Colts, St. Louis Rams, New Orleans Saints and the Redskins, and he bounced to the Canadian Football League and back to the Arena League.After a career of catch and release, he signed with Washington in May 2015 at 29 and started two games in place of Williams last season.All I really wanted was to have the opportunity to become an NFL player, he said. I just wanted somebody to believe in me and give me a chance, and I appreciate that.That opportunity came from coach Jay Gruden and the Redskins, who believed Nsekhe had the size to play left tackle in the NFL but was very raw.Experienced offensive line coach Bill Callahan helped him develop his technique, with Williams and right tackle Morgan Moses also lending a hand in the learning process.Luckily, we had the opportunity to keep him here and let him develop in a system and learn the system, the calls, and just watch him progressively get better and better, Gruden said. And hes been a joy to watch, quite frankly.Right now Nsekhe isnt thinking about where he would be if football didnt work out -- though he often does. Right now, hes focused on starting for the Redskins.Just everything falling into place, he said. I dont know. Sometimes things happen for a reason, and you cant explain them sometimes.Williams suspension, imposed last week for violations of the NFLs substance abuse policy, allows Nsekhe to show what he can do for the Redskins -- and, as a restricted free agent once the season ends, perhaps for other teams looking for a capable tackle.Washington general manager Scot McCloughan has said Nsekhe can be a starter, and Nsekhe will have a chance to show that potential beginning with a game against the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday.Gruden said little will change with the Redskins offense because he has faith in Nsekhes ability to fill in for Williams.Quarterback Kirk Cousins isnt worried, either, knowing Nsekhe will be protecting his blind side.Mentally, he really understands it and knows where to be and who to get on each protection and each play in the run game, Cousins said. Hes got a big frame and it really helps to have that size, and hes worked really hard.It hasnt been an easy path, but so many of these guys in an NFL locker room, they wouldnt be here if they had given up at the first sign of adversity. Tys a great example of someone who just kept pushing and kept going, and now, hes in a great position to be successful.Game notes Gruden said an MRI on WR DeSean Jacksons left shoulder showed rotator cuff issues. Jackson missed practice for the second consecutive day, and his status for the Vikings game is uncertain. ... Gruden confirmed undrafted rookie Robert Kelley remains the starting running back and was noncommittal about the role of former No. 1 Matt Jones. ... Moses (sprained left ankle) and S Will Blackmon (broken left thumb) were limited participants in practice Thursday.---For more NFL coverage: http://www.pro32.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP-NFL Cheap Custom Cowboys Jersey . 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Authentic Custom Cowboys Jersey . - Goaltender Philippe Desrosiers of the Rimouski Oceanic has broken a shutout record that was only three months old in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.Timing-wise, it just felt right, says Steve Davis, as he reflects on his decision to end a 38-year career in professional snooker with a public farewell at the Crucible Theatre a fortnight ago. Audiences at Sheffields snooker mecca saw Davis win six world titles during an era of dominance that coincided with the sports boom under Barry Hearns guidance in the 1980s. As he held the trophy aloft ceremonially - and a little sheepishly - for a final time, there was a feeling of relief that the circle was closed.It just slowly got harder to compete at the top level. Its not that I didnt love the game, its just that Ive been playing competitively for so long that when you practise, you practise with a view to playing in a tournament, Davis says. And if youre losing every match then it perhaps isnt worth practising.Six years after he last qualified for the World Championship, the game was up.Just Jimmy White remains active of the 80s giants who laid bare on the baize a range of contradictory personalities that helped propel a pub game out of the Pot Black era and into the big-time.A BBC film called The Rack Pack chronicling a fictionalised version of Davis rivalry with Alex Higgins was released in January, and the nostalgia - the sense he was part of the past rather than the present - played its role in the 58-year-olds retirement. Davis rivalry with Alex Higgins was a cornerstone of snookers success in the early 1980s More influential, though, was the death earlier this year of his father Bill, whose unswerving practical, technical and paternal support took his son from the south London clubs to the amateur circuit and, in just a few years, to the top of the world.Things coincided with my father passing away, Davis says. I didnt really feel the desire to play on longer with him not around, and by complete coincidence The Rack Pack came out. That just brought home that first wave of enthusiasm for snooker to hit the UK - everything seemed to be leading towards the conclusion that it was the end of an era.What an era, though. Davis emerged in the late 70s as a kind of other-worldly automaton pitted against the all-too-human Higgins and the unaffected Whites outrageous talent, and he had ringmaster Hearn in his corner.Given the way Essexs great sporting impresario has subsequently exploited the pantomime potential of boxing and darts - for the benefit of player and promoter alike - it is tempting to wonder whether the man vs machine narrative of the time was at all scripted. Not so, says Davis. Barry Hearn (right) backed Davis rise to the top of snooker and helped commercialise the sport It was just the way it was. We were all pushing boundaries in our own way, and you just did what you did the way you could do it. Part of your personality comes out on the table - you cant really do very much about that.The robotic, emotionless person I was on the table was how I dealt with the problem at hand. It wasnt so much Barry Hearns influence as [a reflection of] the way each one of us lived our life at the time. I was pretty regimented, probably the hardest practiser.That treadmill of practice-competition-practice took him to 28 ranking titles, and a genuine passion for a hobby-turned-profession helped maintain his meticulous approach even during the harrowing time when Stephen Hendry was wresting control of the sport.The Scot bolted a total lack of fear onto Davis merciless professionalism and toppled snookers king, surpassing his record of six Crucible wins. Somewhere along the line, though, that new vulnerability - first glimpsed in the famous final-black world final defeat to Dennis Taylor in 1985 - meant the snooker-watching public came to love Davis where once hed been merely admired. Daviis roll of honour Six World Championship titles 28 ranking titles 53 non-ranking titles 355 century breaks A genial willingness to embrace Spitting Images Interesting Steve Davis caricature did no harm, and he remains the only snooker player to win the BBCs Sports Personality of the Year award, but Davis wonders now whether he or any of the circuits fabled 80s characters would leave a mark in todays post-internet, multi-channel world.dddddddddddd.I think the trouble is that the worlds become quite immune to characters. The analogy of Big Brother would spring to mind. The first winner of Big Brother [Liverpudlian everyman-type Craig Phillips in 2000] was just a normal bloke called Craig. Nowadays, it seems youve got to be some sort of absolute weirdo even to get on the show.I think the same applies in the world of sport. What was once considered to be a character now doesnt cut the mustard. The way we look back at some of the old characters... I dont think the modern-day players are any different to them. People have become a bit immune.Think of the relative lack of interest in say, the brash idealism of Judd Trump or Mark Allens spiky outsider status, and it is easy to agree. The exception, of course, is Ronnie OSullivan, who spoke after his recent Crucible exit about the combined pressures of being snookers new figurehead and its most popular player. Davis sympathises. Davis and Jimmy White pose ahead of the 1984 World Championship final The same thing happened for Jimmy and for Alex, he says. People wanted them to do so well, and when they werent youd get people shouting come on Jimmy and come on Alex. Sometimes I felt as though that hindered them more than helped. That didnt happen too often from my perspective, but actually perversely [the lack of support] was probably easier to deal with.Ronnies certainly got the pressure of not only being the No 1 ranked player when he wants to be, hes also got the pressure of everybody wanting him to win. Its a double-edged sword.Davis now has the luxury of looking on from a distance, and although his enduring love for the sport is obvious both from the way he talks and from his insightful television analysis, the tone is one of proud granddad ruffling the hair of his favourite grandson.It is time for some of his other passions to share top billing now. Already a published author - he has co-written two books on chess - Davis life story Interesting is nominated for Autobiography of the Year at the prestigious Cross Sports Book Awards. Snooker legend Davis retires Steve Davis is to stop playing snooker 35 years after winning his first World Championship An interest in music - from rare 70s soul to obscure prog rock - has been a matter of record for years but has brought new opportunities recently after promoters tuned into his community radio show and spotted his potential for bringing out-there electronica to a wider audience.Acclaimed DJ sets have followed, and when Davis answers his phone to Sky Sports he is busy rooting through the racks in a record shop in Manchester.Its great fun, he says. One minute were doing a radio show, the next minute someones asked us to play a music festival, and now all of a sudden were DJs. Its been brilliant, amazing.A rapid rise from part-timer to pro? A burgeoning career he describes as a hobby gone berserk? All sounds a bit familiar... Also See: Rocket warned over no-show Bring the party to snooker ' ' '