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Over the past two seasons, the B.C. Lions have had good teams that havent won a playoff game. And because of that those good teams are not remembered as exceptional, just non-producing playoff teams. This is a high pressure year in Lions football because of that fact. You can justify losing once, especially coming off a Grey Cup winning year, but losing twice transitions your team into re-evaluation and, sometimes, over-evaluation. Losing three times tends to lead to a more dramatic change. But can you build a team in May and June for success in October and November? Part of me thinks yes, if you have exceptional depth and a quarterback who performs at his best when the pressure is highest - playoff football. Also, a nice balance of veterans and youth helps on your roster. Veteran guys know and have the ability to rise to a challenge, a playoff game, because they know how to raise urgency both individually and collectively. My argument that you cant develop a playoff capable team early relates to how teams change as the season progresses. Injuries are the single biggest factor. If you lose a lot of players over a season it is difficult to find new performers to play as well as their predecessors. Or if you lose key players, a quarterback, a top defensive back, your best receiver, that individual may not be able to be replaced without a drop-off in production. When it comes to training camp and the regular season, all you can do is demand and hope for progressive and consistent improvement so come playoff time, you are at your best and competing against yourself. Last year BC was good on defence but needed to improve on offence. They finished with the third-ranked rushing offence, averaging 107 yards per game, but only seventh in passing with 244 yards per game. On the other side of the ball there was a clear contradiction. They allowed the fewest passing yards but were at the league bottom in red zone defence. It was tough to move the ball against the Lions between the 20s, yet easier from the 20-yard line in. The vast majority of the time the opposite is true: the closer to the goal line, the tougher to advance because the defence has less space to defend. An unusual contradiction. Still, when you study last season and notice that BC was seventh in kickoff returns and eighth in punt returns, you see just what may be the priority for improvement may not be anything with or without the ball. Where you start drives and the length of field you have to overcome determines success in a season as much as any other aspect of football. As always, the Lions strength will be personnel change at just the right time. More youth on the offensive line and more experience at quarterback will prove beneficial at key moments of the season. Travis Lulay will be ready to go but that is not the concern. It is whether he will be ready for 18 games as his shoulder will be tested at some point in the season. In what may turn out to be the smartest move in the draft, acquiring Kevin Glenn as a veteran alternative is a nice luxury that only half the league has.The Lions will win their fair share of games, maybe even more than what is fair. The question will be whether they can break the “one and done” streak in the playoffs. You cant really prepare for it until the week of. And that week is months away. Michael Cooper Jersey . The hard-serving 22-year-old from Thornhill, Ont., became the first Canadian to be ranked in the Top 10 on the ATP World Tour thanks to his runner-up performance at Rogers Cup in Montreal. Pau Gasol Lakers Jersey . Coming off a 6-0 drubbing at Chelsea on Saturday, Arsenal endured another demoralizing result after rallying for a 2-1 lead -- only to concede a fluke equalizer. https://www.lakersjerseycheap.com/231j-james-worthy-jersey-lakers.html . -- Jonathan Vilmas season is over and his future on the football field is in doubt. Zach Norvell Jr. Lakers Jersey . The weekend at Oriole Park has been less kind, with three players suffering varying degrees of injury. The worst ailment of the three, at least optically, is the deep bone bruise suffered by Adam Lind when he fouled a pitch off the top of his right foot in the sixth inning of Saturdays game. Charlie Scott Jersey . Strasburg (1-1) got 14 consecutive outs in one stretch and allowed only three hits, including Marcell Ozunas homer in the seventh. The right-handers lone walk was to the last batter he faced. Washingtons starter Wednesday, Jordan Zimmermann, left after a career-low 1 2-3 innings, leaving the bullpen "taxed," as manager Matt Williams put it.LONDON -- Andy Murray won his first match since adding Amelie Mauresmo as his new coach, beating Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-4, 6-4 in the second round of the Queens Club grass-court tournament on Wednesday. "I was looking forward to getting back on the court," Murray said. "I enjoy playing here. I love being back on the grass. "I thought I was quite disciplined with my movement today. I moved pretty well. I wasnt sliding about too much. Yeah, it was a good start." Top seed and Australian Open winner Stanislas Wawrinka also advanced into the third round when Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus retired with a right shoulder injury as the Swiss led 3-2. There was victory too for 2011 finalist and fifth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France, who weathered a close first set before overwhelming Belgiums David Goffin 7-6 (5), 6-2. Since his loss to Roger Federer in the 2012 Wimbledon final, Murray has won 19 consecutive matches on grass and captured three titles, including the 2012 London Olympic gold at the All England Club, and Wimbledon and Queens last year. Murray hired former top-ranked player and two-time major winner Mauresmo as his coach on Sunday, initially for the grass-court season. He has been without a coach since he parted ways with Ivan Lendl in March. Hiring a female coach has generated a great deal of attention, and although he previously worked with his mother, Judy, for a long period, he admits that such a move at his level of the game was unusual. "At first when I thought about it, it was obviously a consideration, because for a few years I havent worked with a woman," he said. "Now the decision has been made, its not something that Im thinking about. Its more about the qualities that she can bring that will help me and my tennis and my team as well. I hope it works out long term because I like her. Shes a good person. I hope it works out well." Murray was impressed with Mauresmo when they met, and saw the qualities she could bring. "t;After I spoke to her the first time I just really liked her.dddddddddddd She was calm. She asked a lot of questions. She listened. She listened a lot. I liked chatting to her, so then I decided to sit down and speak to her and had a good chat with her about tennis. "This week, theres not going to be any big changes in my game. I also wouldnt expect any before Wimbledon. But well definitely work on some things after the tournament is finished here." Vasek Pospisil of Vancouver lost 6-4, 6-4 to Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine while Torontos Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia defeated Wawrinka and Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria 7-6 (4), 7-5. Pospisil also lost in mens doubles. Ernests Gulbis, who reached his maiden Grand Slam semifinal at the French Open last week, fell to Kenny De Schepper of France 7-6 (3), 7-5. "I like the grass," Gulbis, the sixth seed from Latvia said. "But I never played well the first tournament. I always played decent in Wimbledon if I practiced well. So now Im going to stay here, practice two weeks on grass. Im going to be fully fine for Wimbledon." Lleyton Hewitt remains one victory short of Roger Federers record of 122 match wins on grass after being beaten 6-3, 6-4 by Feliciano Lopez. Hewitt, a four-time champion at Queens, was broken once in each set and failed to earn a single break point against the Spaniard. Its the first time the Australian has lost to Lopez in five meetings. Hewitt had been bidding to become the first player to win Queens five times. He shares the record of four titles with Andy Roddick. "I played a bit of a loose game the second game of the match," he said. "Then, yeah, he served really well the whole match. He had a lot better rhythm today than he did yesterday in his first-round match. He hit his spots really well." Dmitry Tursunov of Russia and Nicolas Mahut of France were beaten, but there were wins for eighth seed Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine and Radek Stepanek. ' ' '