nable to return to their hotel, the French players decided to stay at the stadium, keeping their opponents company for several hours.It was very positive that the French, on that night when we were in Paris, gave us full support, Loew said Wednesday. They delayed theiir departure and waited until we w

RIO DE JANEIRO -- There were first-tee jitters, for sure. This was something new, something distinctive, and even at 7:30 a.m. local time, Graham DeLaet felt a unique vibe as he plunged his tee into the ground on the first tee of the Olympic Golf Course.Golf returned to the Olympic Games for the first time since 1904, and DeLaet was in the opening group on purpose. Canadian George Lyon won the individual Olympic gold in St. Louis 112 years ago, the last time golf made an appearance in the games, and it wasnt lost on the organizers that DaLaet is from that part of the world.I was a little bit nervous actually, said DeLaet, 34, who opened the Olympic tournament with a 5-under-par 66 and is tied for second with Henrik Stenson but trails Australian leader Marcus Fraser by 3 strokes. We do this for a living week in and week out, but there was something different about that first tee shot today. It was a different announcement for us, and it was just a really cool feeling.I was playing with a Brazilian (Adilson da Silva), and that was neat. We had a lot of people out, especially for 7:30 in the morning, more than I anticipated. It was a lot of fun. We said as we were walking off the first tee, this is pretty cool, first time in over a hundred years, and were kind of the lead group. It was nice.If DeLaet was experiencing any trepidation, he didnt show it -- although later he did hint at it. And it has far more to do with what hes been battling around the greens than any nervousness associated with playing in the Olympics.On the eve of the Memorial Tournament in June, DeLaet took the unusual step of going to Twitter to announce he was withdrawing.Im dealing with incredible anxiety while chipping/pitching right now, he wrote. Its not fun. I needed to WD to get it sorted and get back ASAP.Yikes. Any golfer knows the fear associated with the dreaded yips, whether it be putting, chipping or with the full swing. We saw it painfully play out with Ernie Els on the first green at the Masters. None other than the great Ben Hogan dealt with putting problems. Same with Bernhard Langer. Earlier last year, it was believed that Tiger Woods was battling those demons as he inexplicably couldnt hit a chip shot.Whether that was actually the diagnosis for DeLaet is unclear, but he undoubtedly had issues chipping the ball from around the green. After withdrawing from the Memorial, he has played just three tournaments, two of them opposite-field events and the last the Canadian Open three weeks ago, where he had more chipping problems and missed the cut.A little bit of a break for my brain and just try to regroup, DeLaet said of his self-imposed break. Everything is feeling better and better all the time. I know that when I finally get through the whole thing, its just going to be a little blip on my radar when I look back on my career and thats how I look going forward.Understandably DeLaet doesnt go into a lot of specifics. It is a difficult subject, and one that he has yet to conquer. For those who have endured such troubles, the thought always looms that a poor chip shot -- an embarrassing one even -- could occur the next time a ball does not find a green.For this day at least, DeLaet performed quite well. His name is near the top of the leaderboard after one round of the Olympic tournament. And a little perspective never hurts.When you see how much (the Olympics) means to the other athletes, they have been working at this for four straight years and they are trying to peak for this time, and coming out in the opening ceremonies, you can see how much it means to them, and the pride and the excitement that they have, DeLaet said; Thats been probably the neatest thing for me to see is just how much this means to those other people.Discount Vapormax .C. Lions has come to an end. Banks told TSN on Jan 2 that he had no interest in playing out the option year of his contract with the Lions in 2014, and he again made that clear in a conversation with Lions GM Wally Buono last week. Off White Vapormax Clearance . But what about the officials? Every sport has officials and they also have stories about hard work and sacrifice but their accomplishments are seldom recognized by anyone outside their inner circle. http://www.clearancevapormax.com/cheap-vapormax-2020-clearance.html . 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Andrew Luck lost his favourite target and the Indianapolis locker room lost one of its most revered leaders when Reggie Wayne was diagnosed Monday with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee that will cost him the rest of the season.MARSEILLE, France -- As his Germany team prepares to face France in the European Championship semifinal, coach Joachim Loew has paid tribute to a bond between the teams forged amid the chaos and bloodshed of Novembers Paris attacks.Explosions rang out at the Stade de France when three suicide bombers detonated their devices near the stadium during the last meeting between the teams, a friendly on Nov. 13. It was part of a wave of gun and bomb attacks across Paris which left 130 people dead and many more wounded.France and Germany played out the game as news of the attacks filtered through to the shocked spectators, who gathered on the field after the final whistle, fearful of leaving the ground. French President Francois Hollande was spirited out of the stadium by security officials to coordinate the governments response.With the German team unable to return to their hotel, the French players decided to stay at the stadium, keeping their opponents company for several hours.It was very positive that the French, on that night when we were in Paris, gave us full support, Loew said Wednesday. They delayed theiir departure and waited until we were also out of the stadium.dddddddddddd They really cared about us.That obviously shows a fundamentally very, very good relationship, also between the players, who know each other, some of whom play together (at club level).Despite Loews gratitude to the French for their help in Paris in November, he added that the bond between the teams would not influence the European Championship semifinal.The rivalry on the pitch tomorrow in the semifinal is obviously enormous, he said. Both sides want to get to the final, so of course I dont think this will play a role tomorrow.The score of the Nov. 13 game, a 2-0 win for France, was almost an afterthought. Still, it means Germany has only won twice against France in eight meetings since Germany was reunified in 1990.However, the Germans took victory in the only competitive game in that era, winning 1-0 with a Mats Hummels goal in the 2014 World Cup quarterfinals on the way to being named world champions. ' ' '